Laparoscopic rectal cancer resection yields comparable clinical and oncological results with shorter hospital stay compared to open access: a 5-year national cohort.

Purpose: Although widely applied, the results following laparoscopic rectal resection (LRR) compared to open rectal resection (ORR) are still debated. The aim of this study was to assess clinical short- and long-term results as well as oncological resection quality following LRR or ORR for cancer in a 5-year national cohort.

Methods: Data from the Norwegian Registry for Gastrointestinal Surgery and the Norwegian Colorectal Cancer Registry were retrieved from January 2014 to December 2018 for patients who underwent elective resection for rectal cancer.

Intramedullary spinal cord and filum tumours-long-term outcome: single institution case series.

Background: Intramedullary spinal cord tumours are rare and account for about 2-4% of primary CNS tumours. Ependymomas and astrocytomas are most frequent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term neurological outcome, quality of life (QoL), survival, need for additional treatment and frequency of neuropathic pain in a patient group treated at a tertiary university hospital.

Diverting stomas reduce reoperation rates for anastomotic leak but not overall reoperation rates within 30 days after anterior rectal resection: a national cohort study.

Purpose: A diverting stoma is commonly formed to reduce the rate of anastomotic leak following anterior resection with anastomosis, although some studies question this strategy. The aim of this study was to assess the leak rates and overall complication burden after anterior resection with and without a diverting stoma.

Methods: A 5-year national cohort with prospectively registered data of patients who underwent elective anterior resection for rectal cancer located < 15 cm from the anal verge.

Lower conversion rate with robotic assisted rectal resections compared with conventional laparoscopy; a national cohort study.

Background: Conversion from laparoscopic to open access colorectal surgery is associated with a poorer postoperative outcome. The aim of this study was to assess conversion rates and outcomes after standard laparoscopic rectal resection (LR) and robotic laparoscopic rectal resection (RR).

Methods: A national 5-year cohort study utilizing prospectively recorded data on patients who underwent elective major laparoscopic resection for rectal cancer.

Quality of Life in Patients with Vestibular Schwannomas Following Gross Total or Less than Gross Total Microsurgical Resection: Should We be Taking the Entire Tumor Out?

Background: The goal of microsurgical removal of a vestibular schwannoma is to completely remove the tumor, to provide long-term durable cure. In many cases, less than gross total resection (GTR) is performed to preserve neurological, and especially facial nerve function.

Objective: To analyze long-term quality of life (QoL) in a cohort of patients who received either GTR or less than GTR.

Genetic landscape of sporadic vestibular schwannoma.

OBJECTIVE Vestibular schwannoma (VS) is a benign tumor with associated morbidities and reduced quality of life. Except for mutations in NF2, the genetic landscape of VS remains to be elucidated. Little is known about the effect of Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) on the VS genome.

The Norwegian Cervical Arthroplasty Trial (NORCAT): 2-year clinical outcome after single-level cervical arthroplasty versus fusion-a prospective, single-blinded, randomized, controlled multicenter study.

Purpose: Standard surgical treatment for symptomatic cervical disc disease has been discectomy and fusion, but the use of arthroplasty, designed to preserve motion, has increased, and most studies report clinical outcome in its favor. Few of these trials, however, blinded the patients. We, therefore, conducted the Norwegian Cervical Arthroplasty Trial, and present 2-year clinical outcome after arthroplasty or fusion.

Patient- versus physician-reported facial disability in vestibular schwannoma: an international cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE Patient-reported outcomes are increasingly used in studies of vestibular schwannoma (VS); however, few studies have examined self-evaluated facial nerve function and its relation to physician-reported outcomes. The primary objective of this study was to compare patient self-evaluations of facial disability with physician-evaluated facial nerve status and with self-evaluations of a healthy control group. The second objective was to provide insight into the controversial subject of the optimal initial management of small- and medium-sized VSs; consequently, the authors compared patient-reported facial nerve disability following treatment via observation (OBS), Gamma Knife surgery (GKS), or microsurgery (MS).

Surgical salvage of recurrent vestibular schwannoma following prior stereotactic radiosurgery.

Objectives/hypothesis: To evaluate outcomes of salvage surgery for vestibular schwannoma (VS) that failed primary stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).

Methods: Case-control study of 37 patients who underwent surgical resection of sporadic VS following prior SRS at two tertiary academic referral centers between 2003 and 2015. A cohort of nonirradiated control subjects, matched according to tumor size, age, and treatment center, were used as comparison.

Heterotopic ossification and clinical outcome in nonconstrained cervical arthroplasty 2 years after surgery: the Norwegian Cervical Arthroplasty Trial (NORCAT).

Purpose: Heterotopic ossification is a phenomenon in cervical arthroplasty. Previous reports have mainly focused on various semiconstrained devices and only a few publications have focused on ossification around devices that are nonconstrained. The purpose of this study was to assess the occurrence of heterotopic ossification around a nonconstrained cervical device and how it affects clinical outcome 2 years after surgery.

The Neck Disability Index (NDI) and its correlation with quality of life and mental health measures among patients with single-level cervical disc disease scheduled for surgery.

Background: The Neck Disability Index (NDI) is widely used as a self-rated disability score in patients with cervical radiculopathy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the NDI score correlated with other assessments of quality of life and mental health in a specific group of patients with single-level cervical disc disease and corresponding radiculopathy.

Methods: One hundred thirty-six patients were included in a prospective, randomized controlled clinical multicenter study on one-level anterior cervical discectomy with arthroplasty (ACDA) versus one-level anterior cervical discectomy with fusion (ACDF).

Long-term quality of life in patients with vestibular schwannoma: an international multicenter cross-sectional study comparing microsurgery, stereotactic radiosurgery, observation, and nontumor controls.

Object: The optimal treatment for sporadic vestibular schwannoma (VS) is highly controversial. To date, the majority of studies comparing treatment modalities have focused on a narrow scope of technical outcomes including facial function, hearing status, and tumor control. Very few publications have investigated health-related quality of life (HRQOL) differences between individual treatment groups, and none have used a disease-specific HRQOL instrument.

Predictors of vertigo in patients with untreated vestibular schwannoma.

Objectives: Previous studies have shown that vertigo is the most powerful negative predictor of quality of life in patients with vestibular schwannomas, but the variability in vertigo symptom severity is still poorly understood. We wanted to find out whether vertigo could be related to objective parameters such as tumor size, location, vestibular nerve function, hearing, and postural stability in patients with untreated vestibular schwannomas.

Study Design: Baseline data from prospective cohort study.

Conservative management or gamma knife radiosurgery for vestibular schwannoma: tumor growth, symptoms, and quality of life.

Background: There are few reports about the course of vestibular schwannoma (VS) patients following gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) compared with the course following conservative management (CM). In this study, we present prospectively collected data of 237 patients with unilateral VS extending outside the internal acoustic canal who received either GKRS (113) or CM (124).

Objective: The aim was to measure the effect of GKRS compared with the natural course on tumor growth rate and hearing loss.

Working disability in Norwegian patients with vestibular schwannoma: vertigo predicts future dependence.

Objective: We examined whether reduced hearing, tinnitus, dizziness, and unsteadiness affected the patients' ability to maintain work within a time frame of 2-10 years after diagnosis.

Methods: A total of 434 consecutive patients were followed at regular intervals. Data on symptoms were scored prospectively and dichotomized by visual analog scales for tinnitus and vertigo.

Vestibular schwannoma: surgery or gamma knife radiosurgery? A prospective, nonrandomized study.

Objective: To conduct a prospective, open, nonrandomized study of treatment-associated morbidity in patients undergoing microsurgery or gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) for vestibular schwannomas.

Methods: Ninety-one patients with vestibular schwannomas with a maximum tumor diameter of 25 mm in the cerebellopontine angle were treated according to a prospective protocol either by GKRS (63 patients) or open microsurgery (28 patients) using the suboccipital approach. Primary end points included hearing function, according to the Gardner-Robertson scale, and facial nerve function, according to the House-Brackmann scale at 2 years.

Treatment of vestibular schwannomas. Why, when and how?

Sporadic vestibular schwannoma (VS) causes unilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo and unsteadiness. In many cases, the tumour size may remain unchanged for many years following diagnosis, which is typically made by MRI. In the majority of cases the tumour is small, leaving the clinician and patient with the options of either serial scanning or active treatment by gamma knife radiosurgery (GKR) or microneurosurgery.

Untreated vestibular schwannomas: vertigo is a powerful predictor for health-related quality of life.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to characterize the relation between quality of life (QOL) and the four major complaints (hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, and unsteadiness) caused by unilateral vestibular schwannomas (VS) in a cohort of well-characterized untreated patients.

Methods: One hundred ninety-nine consecutive patients (91 men, 108 women) with a mean age of 56.9 years were studied prospectively during the 4-year period from 2001 to 2004.

[Chronic whiplash syndrome is no indication for craniocervical fixation].

Throughout many years, a large number of publications have focused on structural changes in soft tissues in the cervical spine in patients with whiplash associated disorders I-II. In recent years the development in MRI techniques have made it possible to visualize the small ligaments in the craniocervical junction; a small number of publications have investigated the association between signal changes in these ligaments and whiplash associated disorders I-II. The results are, however, not conclusive, and no prospective studies have demonstrated any causal connection between type of whiplash injury and signal changes in these ligaments.

Vestibular schwannomas: clinical results and quality of life after microsurgery or gamma knife radiosurgery.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the overall treatment efficacy (tumor control, facial nerve function, complications) and quality of life for patients treated primarily for unilateral vestibular schwannomas of 30 mm or less, either by microsurgery or by gamma knife (GK) radiosurgery. The results for the two treatment groups are compared with each other, with main emphasis on the long-term quality of life.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of 189 consecutive patients, 86 treated by microsurgery and 103 by gamma knife.

[Treatment of acoustic neuroma].

Background: Acoustic neuroma is the most common tumour in the cerebello-pontine angle.

Material And Methods: We present the results after surgery in 99 cases, and the natural course of the disease in 82 patients followed for up to 20 years (mean 3 years).

Results: During the observation period, 43% of the tumours increased in size.

Acoustic neuroma--treatment modalities. Surgery, gamma-knife or observation?

We present our results of 211 patients with acoustic neuroma over a period of 10 years, 1988-97. We operated on 100 and 111 had Gamma-knife (GK) treatment (69 were available to follow-up). The results are excellent for surgery on small and intracanalicular tumours.

[Central nervous pain in patients with spinal cord injury. Medical and surgical treatment].

About 50% of patients with spinal cord injury suffer from persistent central neurogenic pain. The authors review the case of a patient with traumatic paraplegia who developed persistent central neurogenic pain. The pain was described as burning in the buttock area, icing in the rectum area and as lancinating pain to the lower extremities.