Comparison of Efficacy and Safety of Levetiracetam Versus Phenytoin for Post-craniotomy Seizure Prophylaxis.

Superiority of levetiracetam over phenytoin for postcraniotomy seizure prophylaxis in patients with a supratentorial brain tumor is controversial. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of levetiracetam versus phenytoin for postcraniotomy seizure prophylaxis in supratentorial brain tumor. In a randomized controlled trial study, 80 patients with a supratentorial brain tumor who underwent craniotomy were allocated to levetiracetam or phenytoin group, 40 patients each.

Adopting Clinical Practice Guidelines for Pharmacologic Management of Acute Spinal Cord Injury from a Developed World Context to a Developing Global Region.

Background: Proper utilization of high-quality clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) eliminates the dependence of patients' outcomes on the ability and knowledge of "individual" health care providers and reduces unwarranted variation in care. The aim of this study was to adapt/adopt two CPGs for pharmacologic management of acute spinal cord injury (SCI) using guideline adaptation methods.

Methods: This study was conducted based on the ADAPTE process.

Diversity in tumor territory of meningioma: Protein expression in vascular endothelial growth factor and epidermal growth factor.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) are involved in tumor development and progression. But, the classified-based data of protein expression (PE) in meningiomas is unavailable. Therefore, we aimed to explore the PE of VEGF and EGF in meningiomas by considering evolutionary strategy and the regional tumor-based assay.

Comparison of Surgical Outcome Between Diabetic Versus Nondiabetic Patients After Lumbar Fusion.

Background: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is increasing worldwide. Thereby, an increasing rate of patients with DM are subjecting to spine surgery. Reviewing the literature, a higher rate of surgery-related complications is reported in DM patients.

Anatomical considerations for insertion of pedicular screw in cervicothoracic junction.

This study aimed to investigate the pedicle dimension and angulation in cervicothoracic junction (CTJ) using the findings of computed tomographic (CT) to help accurate insertion of pedicular screw. Forty three patients with high quality CT images of CTJ were evaluated. Pedicle width (PW), pedicle height (PH), pedicle axis length (PAL), transverse angle (TA) and sagittal angle (SA) were measured bilaterally from C6 to T2.

Accuracy of magnetic resonance spectroscopy in distinction between radiation necrosis and recurrence of brain tumors.

Background: Distinction between radiation necrosis and recurrence of intraparenchymal tumors is necessary to select the appropriate treatment, but it is often difficult based on imaging features alone. We developed an algorithm for analyzing magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) findings and studied its accuracy in differentiation between radiation necrosis and tumor recurrence.

Methods: Thirty-three patients with a history of intraparenchymal brain tumor resection and radiotherapy, which had developed new enhancing lesion were evaluated by MRS and subsequently underwent reoperation.