Penetrating intracranial injury from a pencil in a pediatric patient: illustrative case.

Background: Intracranial penetrating injuries from a pencil are exceptionally rare. The most common mechanism is a child running while holding a pencil. Potential consequences of intracranial pencil injury include direct trauma to brain structures, vascular injury, and intracranial abscess formation.

Incidental durotomy during tubular microdiscectomy does not preclude same-day discharge.

Purpose: One of the major advantages of a minimally invasive microdiscectomy is that when CSF leak occurs, there is minimal anatomic dead space for ongoing leakage following removal of the tubular retractor. However, there are no published reports that address the safety and long-term outcomes of same-day discharge for CSF leak after tubular microdiscectomy.

Methods: This is a retrospective compartive study of 30 patients with incidental durotomy during minimally invasive tubular microdiscectomy occurring between January 1, 2009 to August 31, 2023 at our institution.

Neurosurgical Operative Cancellations in Canada: A Multicentre Retrospective Cohort Study.

Introduction: Operative cancellations adversely affect patient health and impose resource strain on the healthcare system. Here, our objective was to describe neurosurgical cancellations at five Canadian academic institutions.

Methods: The Canadian Neurosurgery Research Collaborative performed a retrospective cohort study capturing neurosurgical procedure cancellation data at five Canadian academic centres, during the period between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2018.