Whole brain radiation therapy alone versus radiosurgery for patients with 1-10 brain metastases from small cell lung cancer (ENCEPHALON Trial): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Conventional whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) has been established as the treatment standard in patients with cerebral metastases from small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), however, it has only modest efficacy and limited prospective data is available for WBRT as well as local treatments such as stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).

Methods/design: The present single-center prospective randomized study, conducted at Heidelberg University Hospital, compares neurocognitive function, as objectively measured by significant deterioration in Hopkins Verbal Learning Test - Revised total recall at 3 months. Fifty-six patients will be randomized to receive either SRS of all brain metastases (up to ten lesions) or WBRT.

Disgust and fear recognition in paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis.

Paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis (PNLE) affects limbic portions of the brain associated with recognition of social signals of emotions. Yet it is not known whether this perceptual ability is impaired in individuals with PNLE. We therefore conducted a single case study to explore possible impairments in recognising facially, vocally and bodily expressed emotions, using standardised emotion recognition tests.

DTI of commissural fibers in patients with Chiari II-malformation.

Chiari II-malformation is a complex congenital deformity of the brain which is frequently associated with hydrocephalus. Abnormalities of the corpus callosum are known to occur in the majority of patients. The objective of the present study was to study the microstructure of the corpus callosum (CC) and the anterior commissure (AC) to differentiate between different mechanisms of damage to these structures.