Prospective assessment of mask versus frame fixation during Gamma Knife treatment for brain metastases.

Purpose: The newest generation of the Leksell Gamma Knife (GK) allows frame based as well as frameless treatment. We here report outcomes of a prospective non-randomized study on mask fixation (MF) versus frame fixation (FF) for GK treatment of brain metastases.

Methods: The decision for FF or MF was made on a case-by-case basis.

Study Protocol: Early Stereotactic Gamma Knife Radiosurgery to Residual Tumor After Surgery of Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma (Gamma-GBM).

Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor in adult patients. Tumor recurrence commonly occurs around the resection cavity, especially after subtotal resection (STR). Consequently, the extent of resection correlates with overall survival (OS), suggesting that depletion of postoperative tumor remnants will improve outcome.

On the meaning of "drug seeking".

The term "drug seeking" is frequently used but poorly defined. By soliciting nurses' comments and suggestions, a survey was developed to identify behaviors that may cause nurses to refer to a patient as drug seeking, to identify what nurses think the term "drug seeking" means, to explore how nurses regard the use of the term "drug seeking" in health care, and to identify differences between general nurses, emergency nurses, and pain management nurses with regard to these items. Behaviors that would cause the majority of all three nurse groups to refer to a patient as drug seeking were as follows: going to different emergency departments to get opioids, telling inconsistent stories about pain or medical history, or asking for a refill because the prescription was lost or stolen.

Cytogenetics and P-glycoprotein (PGP) are independent predictors of treatment outcome in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Clinical and biological features have recognized prognostic significance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). To evaluate the interaction of these variables and weighted effect on treatment outcome, prognostic variables from 96 previously untreated patients were analyzed for association with expression of the MDR1 gene product P-glycoprotein (Pgp), and effect on response to induction chemotherapy, progression-free survival and overall survival. Multivariate relationships were analyzed using six prognostic variables, including age, cytogenetic pattern, gender, CD34+ surface phenotype, AML type (de novo versus secondary) and Pgp.

Postgadolinium enhancement of a compressive neuropathy of the optic nerve.

We report the MR and CT findings of a case of postgadolinium signal enhancement of the optic nerve secondary to an extrinsically compressive lesion in a 24-year-old woman with hypertrophy of the anterior clinoid.