Publications by authors named "Maria P Aguilera-Pena"

Objective: The escalating healthcare expenditures in the United States, particularly in neurosurgery, necessitate effective tools for predicting patient outcomes and optimizing resource allocation. This study explores the utility of combining frailty and comorbidity indices, specifically the Johns Hopkins Adjusted Clinical Groups (JHACG) frailty index and the Elixhauser Comorbidity Index (ECI), in predicting hospital length of stay (LOS), non-routine discharge, and one-year readmission in patients undergoing craniotomy for benign and malignant primary brain tumors.

Methods: Leveraging the Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD) for 2016-2019, we analyzed data from 645 patients with benign and 30,991 with malignant tumors.

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The right hemisphere has been underestimated by being considered as the non-dominant hemisphere. However, it is involved in many functions, including movement, language, cognition, and emotion. Therefore, because lesions on this side are usually not resected under awake mapping, there is a risk of unfavorable neurological outcomes.

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Objective: Intracranial dural arteriovenous fistulas (dAVFs) are rare vascular lesions that can be asymptomatic or can lead to devastating hemorrhage based on the dAVF's aggressiveness. Several approaches can be taken to treat dAVFs, such as endovascular embolization and surgical ligation. However, very few studies have evaluated the influence of surgery compared to endovascular approaches on patient outcomes.

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Purpose: The blood-brain barrier can prevent circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) derived from the central nervous system from entering the blood making it challenging to evaluate molecular features of leptomeningeal metastasis (LM). Accordingly, we sought to systematically compare the diagnostic power or significance of ctDNA derived from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) compared to plasma ctDNA in patients with LM.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed under the PRISMA guideline.

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Collet-Sicard syndrome (CSS) is the unilateral palsy of the cranial nerves (CN) IX, X, XI, and XII. To our knowledge, no review describes the characteristics of patients diagnosed with CSS. Therefore, this review aims to collect and describe all cases in the literature labeled as CSS.

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Cerebral Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are presumed congenital anomalies of the blood vessels, which can increase intracranial pressure by uncertain mechanisms. We report the rare case of a 55-year-old male patient who complained about CSF rhinorrhea. Persisting CSF leakage prompted CT, which evidenced a bone defect in the right middle cranial fossa with protruding brain tissue.

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Background: Posttraumatic spinal cerebrospinal fluid leak (CSFL) without neurological deficit is a rare entity. Historically, the first-line treatment is a nonsurgical approach, which includes Trendelenburg positioning, carbonic anhydrase inhibitor (acetazolamide), and subarachnoid catheter, with a high successful rate of leak correction. However, in some cases, this first-line treatment could fail, being necessary the surgical approach.

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Background And Aims: Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a clinical syndrome characterized by sudden anterograde amnesia not accompanied by other neurological symptoms. There is no consensus on the underlying pathophysiological mechanism. However, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has demonstrated hippocampal lesions in as many as 50% of cases.

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Background/objectives: We postulated that renal replacement therapy (RRT) in ICH patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with increased frequency and size of perihematomal edema (PHE) expansion and worse patient outcomes.

Methods: The Get With the Guidelines-Stroke Registry was queried for all patients admitted with ICH (N = 1089). Secondary causes, brainstem ICH, and initial HV < 7 cc were excluded.

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Background: There has been an increase in the incidence of ischemic stroke in young adults. It is believed that it is due to the increase in traditional cardiovascular risk factors. This change has affected the quality of life of young adults.

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