Objective: The role of endovascular treatment in the management of patients with brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) remains uncertain. AVM embolization can be offered as stand-alone curative therapy or prior to surgery or stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) (pre-embolization). The Treatment of Brain AVMs Study (TOBAS) is an all-inclusive pragmatic study that comprises two randomized trials and multiple registries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The role of surgery in the treatment of malignant gliomas in the elderly is not settled. The authors conducted a randomized trial that compared tumor resection with biopsy only-both followed by standard therapy-in such patients.
Methods: Patients ≥ 70 years of age with a Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) score ≥ 50 and presenting with a radiological suspicion of operable glioblastoma (GBM) were randomly assigned between tumor resection and biopsy groups.
Objective: The Treatment of Brain Arteriovenous Malformations Study (TOBAS) is a pragmatic study that includes 2 randomized trials and registries of treated or conservatively managed patients. The authors report the results of the surgical registry.
Methods: TOBAS patients are managed according to an algorithm that combines clinical judgment and randomized allocation.
Hormone-associated meningiomas tend to stop growing or decrease in size after cessation of certain progestins, mainly cyproterone acetate. We report three observations on the natural history of hormone-associated intraosseous meningiomas, showing in a first patient that those tumors may grow rapidly under nomegestrol. We then demonstrate the sustained growth of intraosseous hormone-associated meningiomas after cessation of promesgestone and nomegestrol, independently of the intracranial portion, which concurrently decreased in size in the second case or was resected at the time of nomegestrol withdrawal in the third case, thus giving new insights into the tumorigenesis mechanisms of hormone-associated intraosseous meningiomas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) has demonstrated its efficacy on motor complications in advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) but does not modify disease progression. Genetic forms of PD have been associated with different cognitive progression profiles.
Objective: To assess the effect of PD-related genetic mutations on cognitive outcome after STN-DBS.
Intracranial dural arteriovenous fistulas (dAVFs) may be difficult to treat by endovascular means, especially when the arterial feeders to the fistula are tortuous. 1 The usual main feeder to intracranial dAVFs is the middle meningeal artery, which may present very tight loops that are often difficult to cross with a microcatheter. 2 Direct puncture of a subcutaneous artery feeding the fistula indirectly via transosseous branches may be a valuable strategic option to overcome this limitation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA high tumour mutational burden (hypermutation) is observed in some gliomas; however, the mechanisms by which hypermutation develops and whether it predicts the response to immunotherapy are poorly understood. Here we comprehensively analyse the molecular determinants of mutational burden and signatures in 10,294 gliomas. We delineate two main pathways to hypermutation: a de novo pathway associated with constitutional defects in DNA polymerase and mismatch repair (MMR) genes, and a more common post-treatment pathway, associated with acquired resistance driven by MMR defects in chemotherapy-sensitive gliomas that recur after treatment with the chemotherapy drug temozolomide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To characterize how disease progression is associated with mortality in a large cohort of patients with Parkinson disease (PD) with long-term follow-up after subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS).
Methods: Motor and cognitive disabilities were assessed before and 1, 2, 5, and 10 years after STN-DBS in 143 consecutive patients with PD. We measured motor symptoms "off" and "on" levodopa and STN-DBS and recorded causes of death.
Background: The objective of the study was to evaluate the outcomes in terms of efficacy and safety of a large consecutive series of 362 patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) brain metastases treated using stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) era.
Patients And Methods: From 2005 to 2015, 362 consecutive patients with brain metastases from RCC were treated using SRS in 1 fraction: 226 metastases (61 patients) using Gamma-Knife at a median of 18 Gy (50% isodose line); 136 metastases (63 patients) using linear accelerator at a median of 16 Gy (70% isodose line). The median patient age was 58 years.
Objective: Meningiomas confined to the cavernous sinus (MCSs) are benign tumors. Due to the high risk of severe complications, the intracavernous surgical procedure was abandoned in favor of radiotherapy. However, the choice of treatment remains complicated due to the fact that the natural history of this lesion has not yet been described.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLittle is known about the natural history of cancer and its evolution to metastasis. Paget was the first to postulate the important role played by microenvironment in metastasis progression. Since, the concept of his "seed and soil" theory has been supported and confirmed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hypophysectomy performed by craniotomy or percutaneous techniques leads to complete pain relief in more than 70% to 80% of cases for opioid refractory cancer pain. Radiosurgery could be an interesting alternative approach to reduce complications.
Objective: To assess the analgesic efficacy compared with standard of care is the primary goal.
Objective: The reasons for failure of surgical treatment for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) associated with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) remain unclear. This retrospective study analyzed seizure, cognitive, and psychiatric outcomes, searching for factors associated with seizure relapse or cognitive and psychiatric deterioration after MTLE-HS surgery.
Methods: Seizure, cognitive, and psychiatric outcomes were reviewed after 389 surgeries performed between 1990 and 2015 on patients aged 15-67 years at a tertiary center.
Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been proposed to treat patients with severe Tourette's syndrome, and open-label trials and two small double-blind trials have tested DBS of the posterior and the anterior internal globus pallidus (aGPi). We aimed to specifically assess the efficacy of aGPi DBS for severe Tourette's syndrome.
Methods: In this randomised, double-blind, controlled trial, we recruited patients aged 18-60 years with severe and medically refractory Tourette's syndrome from eight hospitals specialised in movement disorders in France.
OBJECTIVE Meningeal solitary fibrous tumors/hemangiopericytomas (MSFTs/HPCs) are rare intracranial tumors resembling meningiomas. Their classification was redefined in 2016 by the World Health Organization (WHO) as benign Grade I fibrohyaline type, intermediate Grade II hypercellular type, and malignant highly mitotic Grade III. This grouping is based on common histological features and identification of a common NAB2-STAT6 fusion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Long-term stability after intracranial aneurysm exclusion by coiling is still a matter of debate; after surgical clipping little is known.
Objective: To study outcome after endovascular and surgical treatments for unruptured intracranial aneurysms in terms of short- and long-term angiographic exclusion and risk factors for recanalization.
Methods: From 2004 and 2009, patients treated for unruptured berry intracranial aneurysms by coiling or clipping were reviewed.
Background: Hippocampal sclerosis is the most common cause of drug-resistant epilepsy amenable for surgical treatment and seizure control. This study aimed to analyze morbidities related to surgery of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy associated with hippocampal sclerosis and to identify possible risk factors for complications.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of postoperative complications was made for 389 operations performed between 1990 and 2015 on patients aged 15-67 years (mean 36.
Object: The anterior choroidal artery (AChoA) is a rare location for intracranial aneurysms. The treatment of these aneurysms may be challenging due to the risk of occlusion of such a small and eloquent artery as the AChoA. We aimed to evaluate the risk factors for complications in AChoA aneurysm treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOBJECTIVE Grade II meningiomas, which currently account for 25% of all meningiomas, are subject to multiple recurrences throughout the course of the disease and represent a challenge for the neurosurgeon. Radiosurgery is increasingly performed for the treatment of Grade II meningiomas and is quite efficient in controlling relapses locally at the site of the lesion, but it cannot prevent margin relapses. The aim of this retrospective study was to analyze the technical parameters involved in producing marginal relapses and to optimize loco-marginal control to improve therapeutic strategy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Deep brain stimulation within or adjacent to the subthalamic nucleus (STN) represents the most common stereotactic procedure performed for Parkinson disease. Better STN imaging is often regarded as a requirement for improving stereotactic targeting. However, it is unclear whether there is consensus about the optimal target.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe blood-brain barrier (BBB) limits the delivery of systemically administered drugs to the brain. Methods to circumvent the BBB have been developed, but none are used in standard clinical practice. The lack of adoption of existing methods is due to procedural invasiveness, serious adverse effects, and the complications associated with performing such techniques coincident with repeated drug administration, which is customary in chemotherapeutic protocols.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys
June 2016