Extent of resection and survival for oligodendroglioma: a U.S. population-based study.

Background: National guidelines recommend maximal safe resection of low-grade and high-grade oligodendrogliomas. However, there is no level 1 evidence to support these guidelines, and recent retrospective studies on the topic have yielded mixed results.

Objective: To assess the association between extent of resection (EOR) and survival for oligodendrogliomas in the general U.

Impact of neurosurgeon specialization on patient outcomes for intracranial and spinal surgery: a retrospective analysis of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample 1998-2009.

OBJECTIVE The subspecialization of neurosurgical practice is an ongoing trend in modern neurosurgery. However, it remains unclear whether the degree of surgeon specialization is associated with improved patient outcomes. The authors hypothesized that a trend toward increased neurosurgeon specialization was associated with improved patient morbidity and mortality rates.

Management patterns of patients with cerebral metastases who underwent multiple stereotactic radiosurgeries.

With escalating focus on cost containment, there is increasing scrutiny on the practice of multiple stereotactic radiosurgeries (SRSs) for patients with cerebral metastases distant to the initial tumor site. Our goal was to determine the survival patterns of patients with cerebral metastasis who underwent multiple SRSs. We retrospectively analyzed survival outcomes of 801 patients with 3683 cerebral metastases from primary breast, colorectal, lung, melanoma and renal histologies consecutively treated at the University of California, San Diego/San Diego Gamma Knife Center (UCSD/SDGKC), comparing the survival pattern of patients who underwent a single (n = 643) versus multiple SRS(s) (n = 158) for subsequent cerebral metastases.

Cumulative Intracranial Tumor Volume (CITV) Enhances the Prognostic Value of the Lung-Specific Graded Prognostic Assessment (GPA) Model.

Background: Management of patients afflicted with brain metastasis requires tailoring of therapeutic strategies based on survival expectations. Therefore, the development of prognostic indices is of critical importance in this patient population.

Objective: To determine whether the cumulative intracranial tumor volume (CITV) of brain metastasis augments the prognostic value of the lung-specific Graded Prognostic Assessment (GPA) index.

Thirty-Day Perioperative Outcomes in Spinal Fusion by Specialty Within the NSQIP Database.

Study Design: Cross-sectional analysis of the American College of Surgeons' National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database between 2005 and 2011.

Objective: To determine whether differences exist in 30-day rate of return to the operating room, mortality, and other perioperative outcomes for spinal fusion by specialty.

Summary Of Background Data: Although both neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons perform spinal fusions, it is unclear whether surgeon specialty impacts perioperative outcomes.

Long-term follow-up of unruptured intracranial aneurysms repaired in California.

Object: Using a database that enabled longitudinal follow-up, the authors assessed the long-term outcomes of unruptured cerebral aneurysms repaired by clipping or coiling.

Methods: An observational analysis of the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) database, which follows patients longitudinally in time and through multiple hospitalizations, was performed for all patients initially treated for an unruptured cerebral aneurysm in the period from 1998 to 2005 and with follow-up data through 2009.

Results: Nine hundred forty-four cases (36.

Long-term outcomes of patients with nonsurgically managed uncomplicated appendicitis.

Background: Emerging literature has supported the safety of nonoperative management of uncomplicated appendicitis.

Study Design: Patients with emergent, uncomplicated appendicitis were identified by appropriate ICD-9 diagnosis codes in the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development database from 1997 to 2008. Rates of treatment failure, recurrence, and perforation after nonsurgical management were calculated.

Incidence and predictors of 30-day readmission for patients discharged home after craniotomy for malignant supratentorial tumors in California (1995-2010).

Object: Hospital readmission within 30 days of discharge is a major contributor to the high cost of health care in the US and is also a major indicator of patient care quality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence, causes, and predictors of 30-day readmission following craniotomy for malignant supratentorial tumor resection.

Methods: The longitudinal California Office of Statewide Health Planning & Development inpatient-discharge administrative database is a data set that consists of 100% of all inpatient hospitalizations within the state of California and allows each patient to be followed throughout multiple inpatient hospital stays, across multiple institutions, and over multiple years (from 1995 to 2010).

Gross-total resection outcomes in an elderly population with glioblastoma: a SEER-based analysis.

Object: There is limited information on the relationship between patient age and the clinical benefit of resection in patients with glioblastoma. The purpose of this study was to use a population-based database to determine whether patient age influences the frequency that gross-total resection (GTR) is performed, and also whether GTR is associated with survival difference in different age groups.

Methods: The authors identified 20,705 adult patients with glioblastoma in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry (1998-2009).