Immunoglobulin G4 hypophysitis in a 63-year-old woman with no autoimmune history: a case report.

Background: Immunoglobulin-G4-related hypophysitis is a rare inflammatory disease that can present as a tumefactive pituitary lesion mimicking hypophyseal neoplasms such as pituitary adenoma or craniopharyngioma. The literature on this entity is sparse, with fewer than 100 cases reported across 19 publications; a recent review found only 24 cases published from 2007 to 2018. Previous reports have described demographic differences, with immunoglobulin-G4-related hypophysitis in females tending to present in the second and third decades in association with other autoimmune disease, while males tend to present in the fifth and sixth decades of life without an autoimmune history.

Effectiveness and Safety of Continuous Infusion Regional Anesthesia Pumps for Pain After Thoracopelvic Fusion Surgery for Persistent Spinal Pain Syndrome.

Background: Postoperative pain after complex revision spine surgery, especially for the treatment of persistent spinal pain syndrome (PSPS), is frequently severe and can be debilitating, requiring the use of intravenous and oral opioids. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of a continuous infusion regional anesthesia pump placed after thoracopelvic fusion for the treatment of PSPS.

Methods: We performed a retrospective comparative study of consecutive patients who had undergone thoracopelvic fusion for PSPS.

Drainage, Irrigation, and Fibrinolytic Therapy (DRIFT) for Adult Intraventricular Hemorrhage Using IRRAflow® Self-Irrigating Catheter.

Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) is a devastating neurosurgical condition associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. It can occur as the result of several pathologies and typically presents with mental status changes, neurologic deficits, seizures, headaches, and decreased Glasgow Coma Scale score. These patients are often treated with placement of an external ventricular drain, which helps decrease the clot burden; however, they commonly clot off leading to multiple exchanges.

Resection of an extensive thoracic arachnoid cyst via less-invasive targeted laminoplasties.

Objective: Spinal arachnoid cysts are a known cause of spinal cord compression. When symptomatic, treatment of choice entails laminectomies over the length of the cyst in order to achieve complete cyst removal and fenestration.

Methods: A 60-year-old woman presented with a one-year history of progressive pain between the shoulder blades, exacerbated by sitting up or standing, and relieved by lying supine.

Anterior versus posterior approaches for thoracic disc herniation: Association with postoperative complications.

Objective: Thoracic disc herniations (TDH) represent 1.5-4% of all intervertebral disc herniations. Surgical treatment can be divided into anterior, lateral and posterior approaches and is an area of contention in the literature.

Thirty-day postoperative morbidity and mortality after temporal lobectomy for medically refractory epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE Temporal lobectomy is a well-established treatment modality for the management of medically refractory epilepsy in appropriately selected patients. The aim of this study was to assess 30-day morbidity and mortality after temporal lobectomy in cases registered in a national database. METHODS A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted using a multiinstitutional surgical registry compiled between 2006 and 2014.

The Effect of Smoking Status on Successful Arthrodesis After Lumbar Instrumentation Supplemented with rhBMP-2.

Objective: The primary objective of this study is to examine the effects smoking status on rhBMP-2 supplementation in spinal fusion constructs.

Methods: Patient records were reviewed retrospectively for a consecutive set of patients who underwent first-time posterolateral, instrumented fusion of the lumbar spine for degenerative spinal disease. All operations included arthrodesis supplementation with rhBMP-2.

Enhancing cold atmospheric plasma treatment of cancer cells by static magnetic field.

It has been reported since late 1970 that magnetic field interacts strongly with biological systems. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) has also been widely studied over the past few decades in physics, biology, and medicine. In this study, we propose a novel idea to combine static magnetic field (SMF) with CAP as a tool for cancer therapy.

Use of cold atmospheric plasma in the treatment of cancer.

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is an emerging modality for the treatment of solid tumors. In-vitro experiments have demonstrated that with increasing doses of plasma, tumor cells assays display decreased cell viability. CAP is theorized to induce tumor cells into apoptosis via multiple pathways including reactive oxygen and nitrogen species as well as cell cycle disruption.