Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis caused by Balamuthia mandrillaris.

A 51-year-old immunocompetent Japanese woman presented with a rare case of granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE) caused by Balamuthia mandrillaris. She was brought to our hospital with epilepsy. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed a homogeneously enhanced solitary mass in the left frontal lobe.

Translabyrinthine approach for vestibular schwannomas: operative technique.

For large vestibular schwannomas (VSs) for which removal is the primary therapy, the goals are complete tumor resection and maintenance of normal neurological function. The authors analyzed their results about facial nerve preservation, extent of resection and complications following resection of large VSs via a widened translabyrinthine approach. Between 1991 and 2001, 110 patients with a unilateral large VS (Koos stage IV) were operated on using the same technique in the same institution.