Development and evaluation of a 3d printed training model for endoscopic third ventriculostomy in low-income countries.

Introduction: Pediatric hydrocephalus is highly prevalent and therefore a major neurosurgical problem in Africa. In addition to ventriculoperitoneal shunts, which have high cost and potential complications, endoscopic third ventriculostomy is becoming an increasingly popular technique especially in this part of the world. However, performing this procedure requires trained neurosurgeons with an optimal learning curve.

3D Stereoscopic View in Neurosurgical Anatomy: Compilation of Basic Methods.

Background: Stereoscopy has been demonstrated to be a useful method of education in the field of anatomy because it allows users to see, in a simulation, the anatomical structures in their actual volume and depth.

Methods: Cadaveric specimens preserved under formaldehyde using the Thiel and Klinger techniques have been dissected and photographed in the medical school anatomy laboratory (University Miguel Hernández) for the past 10 years. The photographic material and technique required to capture and project stereoscopic photographs have been described in different fields of surgical neuroanatomy.

Shunt technology for infants and a lifetime.

The use of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunts remains a fundamental therapeutic modality in the management of hydrocephalus. Nowadays, neurosurgeons have an arsenal of different shunt technologies on their hands, with several companies producing many different configurations of them. The greatest difficulty of treating a child with hydrocephalus is to deal with a brain that will enormously change its size and hydrodynamic conditions and a body that will multiply its height and weight in a short time.

[Do differences exist in the neurosurgical handling of intracranial lesions of pregnant patient? Outcomes of our experience and literature review].

Objective: The main objective of our work is to revise our neurosurgical experience in pregnant patient and to carry out a revision of the related literature in order to optimize the neurosurgical handling of these kind of patients.

Method: Retrospective study between august 1993 and June 2010. We included patients who were pregnant at the time and who presented any trace of cranial neurosurgical or spinal disease.

Rhabdoid meningioma: a new subtype of malignant meningioma also apt to occur in children.

Case Report: The case of a 14-year-old girl who presented with a 2-week history of raised intracranial pressure is reported. A left frontal extra-axial tumor was totally removed, whose histopathologic diagnosis was rhabdoid meningioma (RM).

Discussion: Rhabdoid meningiomas constitute a special malignant phenotype of meningioma that has been recently included in the WHO classification of tumors of the nervous system.

Inflammatory atlanto-axial subluxation (Grisel's syndrome) in children: clinical diagnosis and management.

Background: Grisel's syndrome is a uni- or bilateral subluxation of the atlas on the axis associated with an inflammatory condition of the head or neck. This uncommon entity usually affects children. The condition seems to be secondary to hyperemia and laxity of the atlanto-axial joints.

Lumbar disc herniation in early childhood: case report and literature review.

Introduction: Lumbar disc herniation is a common condition in adults, uncommon in adolescents and exceptional below the age of 10 years.

Case Report: We report on a 6-year-old boy who presented with low-back pain and sciatica after having sustained an injury in a rear-end automobile accident. Due to our limited experience with protruded discs in this age group, we decided to be conservative initially.