Opsoclonus in Uremia With Resolution After Hemodialysis.

A 78-year-old man was evaluated for altered mentation in the setting of significant uremia. On examination, he was found to be encephalopathic with generalized myoclonus and spontaneous opsoclonus. He had no known risk factors for the development of opsoclonus and upon undergoing hemodialysis, experienced near resolution of his eye movement abnormalities, thus highlighting a possible link between the uremic state and opsoclonus.

Subthalamic Gamma Knife Radiosurgery in Parkinson's Disease: A Cautionary Tale.

Introduction: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) targeting the subthalamic nucleus (STN) has been shown to reliably improve several symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) in appropriately selected patients. Various factors may preclude patients from undergoing DBS and for them, non-invasive lesion-based therapies such as focused ultrasound and Gamma Knife (GK) radiosurgery may present a safer alternative.

Materials And Methods: Based on preliminary positive reports of STN GK for PD, we conducted a prospective, open-label, single-center, pilot study in PD patients deemed potential candidates for unilateral DBS based on their disease characteristics, but contraindicated due to age >74, an irreversible bleeding diathesis, or significant comorbid medical disease.

Understanding risk factors for perioperative ischemic events with carotid stenting: is patient age over 80 years or is unfavorable arch anatomy to blame?

Objective: Several studies have reported increased perioperative risk after carotid artery stenting (CAS) for patients ≥80 years of age; however, most have not considered unfavorable anatomic features noted more frequently in this population as a confounding variable. The purpose of this study was to show a correlation between poor aortic arch anatomy and perioperative ischemic complications after CAS.

Methods: Our prospectively maintained database was queried for all CAS procedures performed on symptomatic patients between 2009 and 2011.

Results of stent-assisted vs non-stent-assisted endovascular therapies in 489 cerebral aneurysms: single-center experience.

Background: Whether the addition of stenting to intracranial aneurysm coil embolization results in benefit in terms of occlusion rates or additional risk in terms of periprocedural adverse events is not clear.

Objective: To report retrospectively analyzed results of endovascular aneurysm treatment comparing stent-assisted coiling with coiling without stents at our hospital from 2005 to 2009.

Methods: In this retrospectively reviewed case series, aneurysms were grouped as intent-to-treat or initially treated with stent-assisted coiling (A) vs coiling alone (B) or as-treated-those that ultimately received a stent (C) or not (D).