Diversity in responses to oncolytic Lassa-vesicular stomatitis virus in patient-derived glioblastoma cells.

The difficulty of glioblastoma treatment makes it a good candidate for novel therapies, such as oncolytic viruses. Vesicular stomatitis virus expressing Lassa virus glycoprotein (Lassa-VSV) showed significant promise in animal models using established glioblastoma cell lines. These experiments were to determine the susceptibility of low-passage, patient-derived cell lines to Lassa-VSV oncolysis.

Cerebral arteriopathy in ACTA2 mutations: a spectrum of disease highlighted by a case of variable penetrance in two siblings.

Until recently, cerebral arteriopathy due to heterozygous mutations of the ACTA2 gene was considered a variant of moyamoya disease. However, radiographic analysis of patients with these mutations reveals a distinctive angiographic appearance from that seen in moyamoya disease. Several heterozygous missense ACTA2 mutations have been implicated in the development of this distinct cerebrovascular entity; however, the penetrance and systemic manifestations of these mutations vary based on the location of the amino acid replacement within the α-smooth muscle actin protein.

Cannabinoids in the Treatment of Back Pain.

Marijuana is increasingly utilized for the treatment of multiple medical problems, including back pain, in the United States. Although there is strong preclinical evidence supporting the promise of cannabinoids in the treatment of back pain, there is a paucity of clinical data supporting their use in clinical practice. Opioids are an important medication for the treatment of acute and chronic back pain, but utilization of opioid-based regimens have likely contributed to the growing opioid epidemic.

A multicenter study evaluating the frequency and time requirement of mechanical thrombectomy.

Introduction: There are few published data evaluating the incidence of mechanical thrombectomy among stroke centers or the times at which they occur.

Methods: A multicenter retrospective study was performed to identify all patients undergoing emergent thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke during a 3-month period (June through August 2016). Consultations that did not undergo thrombectomy were not included.

Clinical efficacy and safety of surface imaging guided radiosurgery (SIG-RS) in the treatment of benign skull base tumors.

Frameless, surface imaging guided radiosurgery (SIG-RS) is a novel platform for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) wherein patient positioning is monitored in real-time through infra-red camera tracking of facial topography. Here we describe our initial clinical experience with SIG-RS for the treatment of benign neoplasms of the skull base. We identified 48 patients with benign skull base tumors consecutively treated with SIG-RS at a single institution between 2009 and 2011.

Management patterns of patients with cerebral metastases who underwent multiple stereotactic radiosurgeries.

With escalating focus on cost containment, there is increasing scrutiny on the practice of multiple stereotactic radiosurgeries (SRSs) for patients with cerebral metastases distant to the initial tumor site. Our goal was to determine the survival patterns of patients with cerebral metastasis who underwent multiple SRSs. We retrospectively analyzed survival outcomes of 801 patients with 3683 cerebral metastases from primary breast, colorectal, lung, melanoma and renal histologies consecutively treated at the University of California, San Diego/San Diego Gamma Knife Center (UCSD/SDGKC), comparing the survival pattern of patients who underwent a single (n = 643) versus multiple SRS(s) (n = 158) for subsequent cerebral metastases.

Ventriculoperitoneal shunting versus endoscopic third ventriculostomy in the treatment of patients with hydrocephalus related to metastasis.

Background: Between 2005 and 2010, we treated patients with hydrocephalus related to cerebral metastases, who were not good candidates for surgical resection by either endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) or ventriculoperitoneal shunting (VPS). Patients were excluded from ETV if they had a clinical history suggestive of non-obstructive hydrocephalus, including: (1) history of infection or ventricular hemorrhage and (2) leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. The rest of the patients were treated with VPS.