Pediatric tanycytic ependymoma of the cauda equina: case report and review of the literature.

Tanycytic tumors of the cauda equina region are being increasingly reported. Such tumors can occur among pediatric patients and adults. An unusual case of tanycytic ependymoma located at the region of the cauda equina is reported in a girl.

Demyelination or low-grade glioma? A diagnostic dilemma.

Background: Demyelination is a neurologic disease, usually diagnosed on the basis of clinical symptomatology and radiologic studies. Rarely, both may be deceiving and masquerading a neoplastic lesion or vice versa.

Case Description: In the present communication, we describe 2 cases with similar clinical profiles and radiologic pictures, but which turn out to be contrasting pathologic diagnoses.

Primary malignant melanoma of the optic nerve sheath: a case report.

Background: Primary malignant melanoma of the optic nerve or its sheath, without choroidal involvement, is rare.

Case Description: A case of primary malignant melanoma of the optic nerve in a 67-year-old man is presented.

Conclusions: With a preserved vision, normal fundoscopy makes the correct preoperative diagnosis a real challenge.

Calvarial lymphoma.

Meningioma-like dura based tumours or the radiological pictures of suspicious looking meningiomas may turn out to be lymphomas.

Cystic, exophytic teratoma of conus medullaris presenting with chronic renal failure.

Background: Pure chronic renal failure as a presentation of a conus neoplasm is a rare entity. In addition, few case reports exist describing an intramedullary teratoma among adults.

Case Description: We present a unique case of intramedullary mature cystic teratoma, presenting as isolated renal failure.

Contrasting behavior of endolymphatic sac tumors: a report of 2 cases and literature review.

Background: Endolymphatic sac is an established source of low-grade neoplasms, posing a difficult problem in local tumor control.

Case Description: Two cases of endolymphatic sac tumors are described in detail with regard to their clinical presentation and radiological findings. Both cases had diametrically opposite clinical outcomes in spite of repeated surgical interventions.

A report of two 'traumatic encephaloceles'; an unrecognized entity.

Purpose: An unusual complication following severe head trauma in two infants is described.

Method: 'Acute traumatic encephalocele' or 'extracalvarial herniation' is presented as an entity, different from 'growing skull fracture'.

Results: The acuteness of presentation and non-progressive calvarial fracture aperture, along with increasing size of herniated contents is the hall-mark of such pathology.

CSF fistula through the umbilicus following a shunt surgery: a case report and literature review.

Background: Ventriculoperitoneal shunting is among the commonest neurosurgical operations. Shunt catheters within the peritoneal cavity have migrated through and perforated almost all the intra-abdominal hollow viscera.

Case Description: A unique case of an infant is presented, in whom CSF leaked via a fistulous opening through the umbilicus.

Continuation of poor surgical outcome after elderly brain injury.

Background: In spite of the decline in mortality among trauma patients, with advanced trauma care, the outcome for elderly patients remains poor. Both operative and nonoperative outcome for elderly patients after head trauma has resisted improvement.

Methods: Forty-five consecutive patients 70 years or older were included in the study.

Are non-functioning intraventricular shunt catheters really dormant?

A unique case of a child is presented, in which there was formation of a peri-catheter cerebral abscess, a long time after it became non-functional and left after being considered dormant. The inadvertent intra-ventricular spillage of abscess contents, led on to the fatal ventriculitis. This case opens the debate for removing all non-functional catheters and asks for cautious weighing of catheter removal with a remote, but fatal ventriculitis.

Ventrally placed craniovertebral junction arachnoid cysts in children: a report of 2 cases and literature review.

Background: Arachnoid cysts at the craniovertebral junction are uncommon, and all the reported cases had location posterior to the brain stem. We describe 2 cases of ventral arachnoid cysts among children.

Case Description: Two children, in their first decades of life, presented with spastic quadriparesis without complaints of raised intracranial pressure.

Rhinocerebral mucormycosis: the disease spectrum in 27 patients.

The variable forms of clinical complaints, findings and time interval of presentation in 27 cases of mucormycosis have been described, which were encountered over a span of 8 years. The previous concept about this fungal infection attacking chronic, debilitated, immunocompromised patients does not appear to hold true. Seven of the 27 patients (22.

Effect of a gluten-free diet on growth and small-bowel histology in children with celiac disease in India.

Background And Aim: Follow-up studies on growth and histological recovery of children with celiac disease (CD) while on a gluten-free diet (GFD) are lacking from Asia. We therefore assessed the effects of this diet.

Methods: Forty-two children with CD were enrolled.

Internal carotid artery bifurcation aneurysms: surgical experience.

Internal carotid artery (ICA) bifurcation aneurysms are relatively uncommon and frequently rupture at a younger age compared to other intracranial aneurysms. We have treated a total of 999 patients for intracranial aneurysms, of whom 89 (8.9%) had ICA bifurcation aneurysms, and 42 of the 89 patients were 30 years of age or younger.

Orbital roof growing fractures: a report of four cases and literature review.

Trivial injuries among paediatric patients are usually underestimated. Such injuries may account for delayed problems such as growing fractures of skull vault. Growing fracture of the orbital roof is rarely reported.

Intramedullary abscess in association with tumor at the conus medullaris. Report of two cases.

The authors report on two patients with intramedullary tumors complicated by abscess formation. Both patients experienced abrupt onset of neurological deterioration and poor surgical outcome. An intratumoral abscess developed in one, whereas the other had a tumor-associated syrinx in which an intramedullary abscess developed.

Papillary glioneuronal tumor: a new entity awaiting inclusion in WHO classification.

Papillary glioneuronal tumor (PGNT) is a recently described lesion of the brain, which is still not included as a separate entity in WHO classification. To date 32 cases of PGNT have been reported in the world literature. We report the 33rd case, a 41-year-old male who presented with pain in the nape of the neck.

The 'human tail' causing tethered cervical cord.

Study Design: Human tails continue to elicit curiosity till the present times. A unique case of human cervical dysraphism is described.

Objectives: In addition to the cosmetic stigma, these cutaneous markers provide a lead to reach the underlying spinal dysraphic states.

True hemicranial decompression for severe pediatric cranial trauma: a short series of 4 cases and literature review.

Background: Traumatic acute SDH in pediatric patients is a life-threatening situation. There is a severe increase in ICP caused by acute SDH or diffuse brain swelling or secondary to ischemic brain damage. In certain situations, conventional measures may fail to control such a rapid increase in ICP.

Giant calvarial hyperostosis with biparasagittal en plaque meningioma.

We report a patient with an uncommon presentation in the form of massive bilateral calvarial hyperostosis with bi-parasagittal en plaque meningioma. The tumour was removed by bilateral fronto-parieto-occipital craniotomies. The patient was subjected to post operative radiotherapy to reduce the chances of recurrance.

Unusual presentations of craniovertebral junction tuberculosis: a report of 2 cases and literature review.

Background: CVJ tuberculosis is a described entity requiring challenging ways of management. Severe neck pain, causing restricted neck movements and torticollis, is a characteristic presentation of neurologically asymptomatic suboccipital Pott's disease.

Case Description: Two patients with unusual CVJ tuberculosis form the basis for the present communication.

Tethered brainstem repair and near-fatal ventriculoperitoneal shunt insertion. Case report.

The authors report a case of primary brainstem tethering, a component of a spinal dysraphic state, occurring in a 13-year-old girl. This patient also had associated hydrocephalus, a low-lying tethered cord, and a syrinx in her conus medullaris. The significance of imaging surveys of the craniospinal region and head in a case involving a low-lying tethered cord is highlighted.