Optic nerve and chiasm gliomas in children.

In a 30 years period, 42 children were admitted for optic nerve and chiasm gliomas; 20 patients aged less than 5 years and 22 between 6 and 16 years. Duration of symptoms ranged from 13.15 months in children aged less than 5 years, to 10.

[Our experience with emergency surgical treatment of acute cholecystitis].

A clinical series of 580 patents (318, F, 199 M) personally observed at the Emergency Surgery and First Aid Division of the Fatebenefratelli and Ophthalmic Hospital Board of Milan between 1975 and 1980, and suffering from acute inflammation of the bile ways (gall bladder empyemas, acute cholecystitis, gangrene of the gall bladder, haemobilia due to gall bladder puncture), has been examined. Of these patients, 558 were subjected to surgery between 12 hours and 6 days after admittance. Operated patients are subdivided into 4 groups on the basis of their anatomo-pathological form and the average time interval between admittance and intervention.

Pressure volume relation in patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage and diffuse cerebral vasospasm.

Seven patients, presenting severe neurological status (grades IV and V according to Hunt and Hess) and cerebral vasospasm following subarachnoid haemorrhage were submitted to continuous ICP recording the study of the cerebral elastic properties by PVI compliance computation. All the patients presented low ICP values (below 20 mmHg) for the whole period of monitoring. The results of PVI and compliance measurements show that the pressure-volume curves in these patients are different from the physiological P-V curve.

Intracranial pressure in subarachnoid hemorrhage. Preliminary report in 36 cases.

Thirty-six patients with SAH were submitted to continuous ICP monitoring: in 33 cases a continuous ventricular fluid pressure recording was performed in acute stage. According to Hunt and Hess, 2 patients were graded I, one II, one III, 13 IV and 16 V. In the remaining 3 cases who developed a normal pressure hydrocephalus 15, 20 and 40 days from bleeding an extradural miniaturized transducer was applied.

Traumatic brain lacerations in children: surgical results and follow-up.

75 children ranging in age from 3 months to 14 years, operated on for post-traumatic cerebral lacerations, within an 18-year period, have been analyzed. These represent 2.1% of 3,460 children sustaining head injury and hospitalized during this same period.

Lipoma of the omentum in a child.

A solitary giant lipoma of the omentum and gastrocolic ligament in an 8-year-old boy is reported. The patient had a large abdominal mass and signs of partial intestinal obstruction. Radiographs showed the characteristic radiolucency of a fatty mass, excluding a mesenteric cyst.

Practical value of CSF cytological examination in the diagnosis of intracranial neoplasm. A preliminary report.

The authors examined 214 CSF samples, 187 of which had been obtained by lumbar and 27 by ventricular puncture. Within 10' from time of collection, each of the CSF samples were centrifuged in a Shandow cytocentrifuge for 15' at 1500 r.p.

[Vertebro-medullary lesions: recent therapeutic approaches (author's transl)].

Before initiating the treatment of vertebro-medullary lesions, a precise classification of the lesion and stabilization of injured bone structures are necessary. Particular attention should be given to the differential diagnosis between total and partial transverse lesions, which requires an exact neurologic and radiological examination, analysis of liquor cerebrospinalis and, in some cases, myelography. Laminectomy proved to be of little value for 157 patients with total transverse lesions treated at the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Milan.

Basal, cAMP- and cGMP-dependent protein kinases in human brain tumors.

Since the effects of cyclic nucleotides are mediated via protein kinases activation, we have studied the properties and regulation of these enzymes in cytosol and particulate fraction of normal cerebral tissues and of some human brain tumors. We found that distribution and activity of cyclic nucleotide-dependent protein kinases are regulated differently among various brain tumors and in comparison to normal gray and white matter. Pathological tissues show an higher cGMP-dependent protein kinase and this biochemical pattern is particularly evident in tumors with more pronounced malignancy.

The dysraphic state of the posterior fossa. Clinical review of the Dandy-Walker syndrome and the so-called arachnoid cysts.

The Authors report their case material concerning some basic items of the dysraphic pathology of the Posterior Fossa: 22 cases of Dandy Walker syndromes (DWS) and "Arachnoid Cysts" (PFC). The mean clinical findings (predominant involvement of the vestibular structures of the brain stem in the DWS, frequent epileptic seizures and some cases of hypothalamic disturbances in the PFC) are discussed in the light of current embryological theories on Weed's "area membranacea". Finally the results of differential surgical treatments are examined: good or satisfactory results were obtained with shunts, while still debatable seems to be the direct surgical approach.

Skull changes and intellectual status in hydrocephalic children following CSF shunting.

A total of 76 shunt-treated hydrocephalic children were examined at least once between two and 12-years after surgery to determine what skull changes had occurred and to assess the children's intellectual status. The high incidence of skull changes in shunt-treated, non-tumoral, hydrocephalic children was confirmed. A strict relationship existed between skull changes and low intracranial pressure.

Follow-up study of brain stem tumors in children.

In a series of 180 patients affected by brain stem tumors, 70 cases of children up to 16 years are analyzed. Diagnosis was made with clinical examinations, neuroradiological tests and, in 20 cases, with surgical explorations. A description is made concerning the clinical status with regard to site, extension and features of the tumor.