Pre-operative and post-operative psychiatric manifestations in patients with supratentorial meningiomas.

Objectives: In the present study, we have tried to delineate the nature of psychiatric abnormalities caused by supratentorial meningiomas and the effect of surgery on them. We have tried to find the patient and tumor characters influencing the psychiatric abnormalities and their post-operative outcome.

Materials And Methods: This is a prospective study conducted on patients with supratentorial meningiomas, admitted and operated in neurosurgery department, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, India, from July 2006 to July 2009.

Pre-operative and post-operative cognitive deficits in patients with supratentorial meningiomas.

Objectives: Cognitive deficits caused by extra-axial benign brain tumors like meningiomas and the course of these deficits after surgery is not well known. The aim of the study is to assess the pre-operative and post-operative cognitive functions in patients with meningiomas in the supratentorial compartment.

Materials And Methods: In this prospective study, patients with clinico-radiological diagnosis of supratentorial meningioma, operated upon and later confirmed by histopathological examination, were included.

Fulminant holocord intramedullary tubercular abscess with enigmatic presentation.

Background: Intramedullary and subarachnoidal tubercular abscesses are rare forms of spinal tuberculosis as compared with extradural collections secondary to vertebral tuberculosis.

Case Description: We herein present a 33-year-old, apparently healthy male patient who presented clinically as transverse myelitis, with a lesion at detected at conus cauda, developing fulminant holocord intramedullary tubercular abscess, treated with surgical evacuation and much later with anti-tubercular drugs. Atypical clinical, serological, imaging findings in addition to lack of knowledge of occurrence of fulminant intramedullary tuberculosis led to the delay in starting anti-tubercular treatment.

Optic chiasmatic-hypothalamic gliomas: is tissue diagnosis essential?

Background: Optic chiasmatic-hypothalamic gliomas are sellar-suprasellar lesions with variable radiological features. The advocated treatment is mainly primary radiotherapy without a histological diagnosis. However, in developing countries, like India infective granulomas (tuberculomas) in the suprasellar region radiologically can mimic optic chiasmatic-hypothalamic gliomas.