Non-neoplastic, degenerative brain pathologies and fibroses diagnosed on the basis of ultra-small samples obtained by stereotactic biopsy.

Brain biopsy and other stereotactic procedures have evolved over the last decades. Recently, the morbidity and mortality decreased radically along with an increase in the number of successful histopathological diagnoses. Therefore, applications of appropriate treatments in neoplastic brain pathologies are now possible, especially of those located in deep regions.

[Multimodal intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring during cerebellopontine angle tumor surgery. Benefit or loss?].

In the Neurosurgery Department, Silesian University School of Medicine, continuous monitoring of selected neurophysiological functions of the central and peripheral nervous system was introduced in 1998 as a routine procedure in cerebellopontine angle surgery and some other operations performed in the petroclival region. Such benefits from this method as increased patient safety, availability of information about dynamic changes in the monitored structures, and the possibility of cranial nerves localization using stimulation in the operating area, are quite obvious. The paper presents results of a detailed statistical analysis of the amount of time required for preparation and for operating in 174 cerebellopontine angle tumor surgeries performed in the years 1986-2002 with (group M) and without (group BM, before the year 1998) intraoperative monitoring.

Correlation of facial nerve paresis and histopathological type of vestibular schwannoma.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the dependence of facial nerve paresis, as a symptom of cerebellopontine angle tumour, on the histopathological subtype of vestibular schwannoma, diagnosed from a post-operative histopathological examination. We retrospectively analysed 91 surgically treated patients with vestibular schwannoma. We studied the histopathological subtype and the preoperative condition of the facial nerve.