Exposure of Dural Venous Sinuses: A Review of Techniques and Description of a Single-piece Troughed Craniotomy.

Intracranial lesions along the falx and tentorium often require exposure of a dural venous sinus. Craniotomies that cross a sinus should maximize exposure while minimizing the risk of sinus injury and provide a cosmetically appealing result with simple reconstruction techniques.  We describe the published techniques for exposing dural venous sinuses, and introduce a new technique for a single-piece craniotomy exposing the superior sagittal sinus or transverse sinus using drilled troughs.

Should Levetiracetam or Phenytoin Be Used for Posttraumatic Seizure Prophylaxis? A Systematic Review of the Literature and Meta-analysis.

Background: Posttraumatic seizure (PTS) is a significant complication of traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Objective: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare levetiracetam with phenytoin for seizure prophylaxis in patients diagnosed with severe TBI.

Methods: An inclusive search of several electronic databases and bibliographies was conducted to identify scientific studies that compared the effect of levetiracetam and phenytoin on PTS.