Outcome After Decompressive Craniectomy for Middle Cerebral Artery Infarction: Timing of the Intervention.

Background: Based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs), clinical guidelines for the treatment of space-occupying hemispheric infarct employ age (≤60 yr) and time elapsed since stroke onset (≤48 h) as decisive criteria whether to perform decompressive craniectomy (DC). However, only few patients in these RCTs underwent DC after 48 h.

Objective: To study the association between the timing of DC and (un)favorable outcome in patients with space-occupying middle cerebral artery (MCA) infarct undergoing DC.

Do older patients with acute or subacute subdural hematoma benefit from surgery?

Purpose: According to the international guidelines, acute subdural hematomas (aSDH) with a thickness of >10 mm, or causing a midline shift of >5 mm, should be surgically evacuated. However, high mortality rates in older patients resulted in ongoing controversy whether elderly patients benefit from surgery. We identified predictors of outcome in a single-centre cohort of elderly patients undergoing surgical evacuation of aSDH or subacute subdural hematoma (saSDH).

Neurologic Outcome After Decompressive Craniectomy: Predictors of Outcome in Different Pathologic Conditions.

Objective: Decompressive craniectomy (DC) has been proposed as a lifesaving treatment in patients with elevated intracranial pressure, but its effectiveness on reaching a favorable neurologic outcome remains unclear. We identified predictors of outcome in a large, single-center cohort of patients undergoing DC for different pathologic conditions.

Methods: This retrospective study included all patients undergoing DC from 2006 to 2014.

A dose escalating phase I study of GLPG0187, a broad spectrum integrin receptor antagonist, in adult patients with progressive high-grade glioma and other advanced solid malignancies.

Background: Integrin signaling is an attractive target for anti-cancer treatment. GLPG0187 is a broad spectrum integrin receptor antagonist (IRA). GLPG0187 inhibited tumor growth and metastasis in mouse models.

Phase I and pharmacological study of pazopanib in combination with oral topotecan in patients with advanced solid tumours.

Background: This phase I study evaluated the safety, tolerability, maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and pharmacokinetics of two dosing schedules of oral topotecan in combination with pazopanib in patients with advanced solid tumours.

Methods: Stage I of this study was to determine whether there was an impact of pazopanib on topotecan exposure. In stage II, the MTD and safety profile of oral topotecan given weekly on days 1, 8 and 15 in a 28-day cycle; or daily-times-five on days 1-5 in a 21-day cycle, both in combination with daily pazopanib, were explored.

CT within 6 hours of headache onset to rule out subarachnoid hemorrhage in nonacademic hospitals.

Objective: To investigate whether staff radiologists working in nonacademic hospitals can adequately rule out subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) on head CT <6 hours after headache onset.

Methods: In a multicenter, retrospective study, we studied a consecutive series of patients presenting with acute headache to 11 nonacademic hospitals. Inclusion criteria were (1) normal level of consciousness without focal deficits, (2) head CT <6 hours after headache onset and reported negative for the presence of SAH by a staff radiologist, and (3) subsequent CSF spectrophotometry.

Psychiatric diagnoses underlying the phenocopy syndrome of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia.

Introduction: The frontotemporal dementia (FTD) consortium criteria (2011) emphasise the importance of distinguishing possible and probable behavioural variant FTD (bvFTD). A significant number of possible patients with bvFTD do not show functional decline and remain with normal neuroimaging over time, thus exhibiting the bvFTD phenocopy syndrome. A neurodegenerative nature is unlikely but an alternative explanation is missing.

The added value of 18-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography in the diagnosis of the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia.

Unlabelled: Characteristic frontotemporal abnormalities on structural or functional neuroimaging are mandatory for a diagnosis of probable behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) according to the new criteria. 18-Fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET) imaging is commonly reserved for patients with suspected bvFTD without characteristic structural neuroimaging results. We studied the diagnostic value of 18F-FDG-PET in these patients.