Idiopathic transdural anastomoses in elderly patients with atherosclerotic ischemic cerebrovascular disease. Two case reports.

Two patients with atherosclerotic ischemic cerebrovascular disease presented with transdural anastomoses. A 74-year-old woman had a cerebral infarct, and a 76-year-old man had dementia. Patients with atherosclerotic ischemic cerebrovascular disease may have developed transdural anastomoses, so care must be taken not to damage these functions during revascularization surgery.

The role of thrombin in the neo-vascularization of malignant gliomas: an intrinsic modulator for the up-regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor.

Thrombin is a key enzyme in the blood coagulation system where it converts fibrinogen to fibrin. It participates in a variety of biological processes such as the induction of mitogenesis and of morphological changes, the production of cytokines and growth factors, and apoptosis. To clarify the role of thrombin in the proliferation of human malignant gliomas, we investigated its effect on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in vitro and determined its intrinsic expression in human glioma tissues.