Publications by authors named "Raed Sweiss"

Due to its hypervascularity, hemangioblastoma, a rare primary central nervous system intracranial tumor, has been treated with pre-operative embolization prior to surgical resection. Here, we describe a case treated as such. A 37-year-old male presented with worsening chronic headache and right ear tinnitus was found to have a hypervascular, heterogeneous right cerebellar lesion suspicious for arteriovenous malformation or hemangioblastoma.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Infection associated with extraventricular drain (EVD)-related procedures is well known.

Objective: To investigate the impact of our institution's EVD care bundle on the infection rates associated with EVD-related procedures.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted from June 2022 to June 2023 to compare the infection rate six months before and six months after the implantation of the EVD care bundle.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Glymph is a fluid that circulates in the brain interstitium and, under pathological conditions, unusually accumulates and enhances the buildup of other noxious molecules. The study of this process of circulation, accumulation, and clearance is called glymphatics. We review the physiology of glymphatics and then dive into recent innovative research surrounding this neurological field of study and how it has applied to mainstream pathological processes, including Alzheimer's disease and spectrums of traumatic brain injury that range from a concussion to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in primary and secondary brain injuries. Secondary brain injury can lead to cerebral edema resulting in increased intracranial pressure (ICP) secondary to the rigid encasement of the skull. Increased ICP leads to decreased cerebral perfusion pressure which leads to cerebral ischemia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Pneumocephalus, the presence of gas or air within the intracranial cavity, is a common finding after cranial procedures, though patients often remain asymptomatic. Rare cases of cranial nerve palsies in patients with pneumocephalus have been previously reported. However, only two prior reports document direct unilateral compression of the third cranial nerve secondary to pneumocephalus, resulting in an isolated deficit.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability. Not all neuronal damage occurs at the time of primary injury, but rather TBI initiates a cascade of events that leads to secondary brain injury. Oxygenation is one crucial factor in maintaining brain tissue homeostasis post-injury.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pathophysiological mechanisms and cascades take place after a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) that can cause long-term sequelae, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy in patients with multiple concurrent TBIs. As diagnostic imaging has become more advanced, microanatomical changes present after mTBI may now be more readily visible. In this narrative review, the authors discuss emerging diagnostics and findings in mTBI through advanced imaging, electroencephalograms, neurophysiologic processes, Q2 biochemical markers, and clinical tissue tests in an effort to help osteopathic physicians to understand, diagnose, and manage the pathophysiology behind mTBI, which is increasingly prevalent in the United States.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction This article is a retrospective analysis of the neurosurgical census at our institution to determine an optimal threshold for brain tissue oxygenation (PbtO2). The use of brain tissue oxygen monitoring has been in place for approximately three decades but data suggesting optimal thresholds to improve outcomes have been lacking. Though there are multiple modalities to monitor cerebral oxygenation, the monitoring of brain tissue oxygen tension has been deemed the gold standard.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction It is common to start all patients on chemical prophylaxis for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in order to decrease the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and the associated adverse effects, including the potential for fatal pulmonary embolism (PE). There is no consensus in the literature on the optimal time to resume chemical DVT prophylaxis in patients who present with intracranial hemorrhage requiring neurosurgical intervention. The practice is variable and practitioner dependent.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction Neurosurgeons trained in the US are rigorously educated on the surgical management of neurosurgical conditions. These neurosurgeons have been trained through one of two avenues: the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or the American Osteopathic Association (AOA). With the formation of a single accreditation system from the AOA and ACGME accrediting bodies and significant changes introduced in the training of neurosurgeons from both bodies, we sought to identify common practice parameters and perceptions of preparedness of AOA-trained neurosurgeons.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A rare complication of cervical spine decompression is acute paralysis following the procedure. This neurologic deficit is thought to be due to reperfusion injury of a chronically ischemic spinal cord and is referred to as "white cord syndrome" given the pathognomonic finding of hyperintensity on T2-weighted MRI. Three prior cases have been reported.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Measurement of optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) using ocular ultrasonography has shown a promise in predicting increased intracranial pressure (ICP). However, this method is dependent on operator technique and equipment availability. We propose an alternative method of measuring ONSD and Marshall score grading by utilizing initial computed tomography (CT) head obtained on admission.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Surgical outcome prediction has assisted physicians in discussing surgical intervention or expectant management. While increasing pituitary tumor size would seem to be associated with increasing challenge of removal and associated complications, that relationship has not been borne in the literature.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of a consecutive cohort of pituitary surgeries completed at our institution.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The objective of this study was to investigate if data obtained from a computed tomography (CT) perfusion study on admission could correlate to outcomes for the patient, including the patient's length of stay in the hospital and their initial and final Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), as well as the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) on discharge. We present an initial subset of patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria: over the age of 18 with mild, moderate, or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Patients admitted with a diagnosis of TBI had CT perfusion studies performed within 48 hours of admission.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A systematic PubMed and Google Scholar search for studies related to the anatomy, history, surgical approaches, complications, and diseases of the superior sagittal sinus was performed. The purpose of this review is to elucidate some of the more recent advances of our understanding of this structure. One of the earliest anatomical landmarks to be described, the superior sagittal sinus (SSS, sinus sagittalis superior (Latin); "sagittalis" Latin for 'arrow' and "sinus" Latin for 'recess, bend, or bay') has been defined and redefined by the likes of Vesalius and Cushing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Context: Opioids may be prescribed for the short-term management of acute-onset back pain in the setting of trauma or for long-term management of chronic back pain. More than 50% of regular opioid users report taking them for back pain.

Objective: To investigate whether surgical intervention reduces opioid requirements by patients taking opioids for back pain and whether there is a difference between county and managed care hospitals in this postoperative reduction of opioid requirement.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) accounts for significant morbidity and mortality in the United States. Many studies have looked at the benefits of surgical intervention for ICH. Recent results for Minimally Invasive Surgery Plus Recombinant Tissue-type Plasminogen Activator for Intracerebral Hemorrhage-II trials have shown promise for a minimally invasive clot evaluation on improving perihematomal edema.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) in individuals with thalassemia is often the result of undertreated severe anemia. Radiation or surgery is often the chosen approach to handle spinal cord compression due to these paraspinal EMH elements. Our patient is a 28-year-old male with E-beta-thalassemia who presented with both upper thoracic and lower extremity symptoms of spinal cord compression and was successfully managed with the combination of transfusion and hydroxyurea.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Laminectomy, using a high-speed drill with an unprotected cutting drill bit, can be rapid and effective, but it has been associated with known complications. Another technique uses a pediatric craniotome drill with the footplate attachment. At present, there are no studies comparing clinical outcomes between these 2 stated decompressive techniques.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is a very common surgery performed globally. Although a few cases of expectorating screws or extrusion of screws into the gastrointestinal tract through esophageal perforations have previously been reported, there has not been a case reporting pharyngeal perforation and entire cervical construct extrusion in the literature to date. In this report the authors present the first case involving the extrusion of an entire cervical construct via a tear in the posterior pharyngeal wall.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Intracranial germ cell tumors are uncommon and account for only 0.3-3.4% of all intracranial tumors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: fopen(/var/lib/php/sessions/ci_session9jh5dk4o4bcfm7eq50kun3k6ucv91mi3): Failed to open stream: No space left on device

Filename: drivers/Session_files_driver.php

Line Number: 177

Backtrace:

File: /var/www/html/index.php
Line: 316
Function: require_once

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: session_start(): Failed to read session data: user (path: /var/lib/php/sessions)

Filename: Session/Session.php

Line Number: 137

Backtrace:

File: /var/www/html/index.php
Line: 316
Function: require_once