Chordoid meningioma in an adult patient presenting with chronic fatigue and systemic inflammation.

We report a 27-year-old woman presenting with chronic fatigue and depressive symptoms. Aspecific neurologic symptoms and biochemical indices of inflammation and anaemia triggered an MRI, revealing a tumor with compression of the medulla oblongata. After neurosurgical resection, anatomopathologic examination showed a chordoid meningioma.

Evolution of the brain tumour spheroid model: transcending current model limitations.

Tumour recurrence and the high mortality and morbidity associated with malignant brain tumours may be attributed to the failure of current therapeutic modalities (surgery, radiation and chemotherapy) to control the invasion of malignant brain tumour cells into healthy brain tissue. Several in vitro and in vivo models have been developed and used to study brain tumour invasion and cell motility. Here, we review some of the traditional in vitro models of brain tumour invasion and the latest adaptations to the widely used spheroid model.

Transesophageal echocardiography: a simple method for monitoring the patency of ventriculoatrial shunts. Technical note.

A new method for evaluating the patency of a ventriculoatrial shunt is described, and early experience with it is reported. Transesophageal echocardiography can demonstrate a cerebrospinal fluid leak in the right atrium through the atrial tip of a shunting device. This capability was an incidental discovery, and since then the accuracy of the technique in evaluating the patency of a ventriculoatrial shunt has been prospectively studied in 20 observations of 16 patients.