High versus low positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) levels for mechanically ventilated adult patients with acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Background: In patients with acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), mortality remains high. These patients require mechanical ventilation, which has been associated with ventilator-induced lung injury. High levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) could reduce this condition and improve patient survival.

Mortality in Critically Ill Elderly Individuals Receiving Mechanical Ventilation.

Background: Previous studies that evaluated mortality in elderly subjects who received mechanical ventilation had conflicting results. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effects of age on mortality.

Methods: A number of medical literature databases and the references listed (from 1974 to May 2015) were searched for studies that compared 2 different age groups.

Implantation of Depth Electrodes in Children Using VarioGuide® Frameless Navigation System: Technical Note.

Background: Electrode placement in epilepsy surgery seeks to locate the sites of ictal onset and early propagation. An invasive diagnostic procedure, stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) is usually implemented with frame-based methods that can be especially problematic in young children.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of a new technique for frameless SEEG in children using the VarioGuide® system (Brainlab AG, München, Germany).

Pediatric cerebellar giant cavernous malformation: case report and review of literature.

Background And Importance: Giant cavernous malformations (GCM) are low flow, angiographically occult vascular lesions, with a diameter >4 cm. Cerebellar GCMs are extremely rare, with only seven cases reported based on English literature. These lesions are most commonly seen in the pediatric age group, which is known to have an increased risk of hemorrhage, being surgery clearly recommended.

Risk factors for worsened quality of life in patients on mechanical ventilation. A prospective multicenter study.

Objective: To identify risk factors for worsened quality of life (QoL) and activities of daily living (ADL) at 3 and 12 months after discharge from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in patients on mechanical ventilation (MV).

Design: A prospective, multicentric observational study was made.

Setting: Three ICUs in Argentina.

Neuroendoscopic Intraventricular Biopsy in Children with Small Ventricles Using Frameless VarioGuide System.

Endoscopic biopsy for intraventricular tumors in pediatric patients with small ventricles is a challenging procedure because of the risk of morbidity during the intraventricular approach. We describe the use of the VarioGuide system for intraventricular endoscopic biopsy in 9 consecutive pediatric patients with intraventricular lesions and small ventricular size. All patients had lesions in the anterior part of the third ventricle with a median frontal and occipital horn ratio of 0.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Mortality in a Single Center According to Different Definitions.

Background: Mortality in acute lung injury (ALI) remains high, with outcome data arising mostly from multicenter studies. We undertook this investigation to determine hospital mortality in patients with ALI in a single center.

Methods: We studied patients admitted between 2005 and 2012 with ALI and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) according to the American European Consensus Conference (AECC) criteria and recorded clinical variables.

[Choroid plexus tumour treatment at Hospital Infantil Niño Jesús in Madrid: Our experience over the last three decades].

Objective: To review childhood patients with choroid plexus tumors (CPT) who underwent surgery at Hospital Infantil Niño Jesús of Madrid since January 1981 to September 2014.

Material And Methods: Registered charts were analyzed based on the epidemiology, tumor grade, clinical profile, location, dissemination characteristics, therapy, prognosis and complications.

Results: Seventeen childhood patients were recorded with CPT.

[Spinal stenosis at the level of atlas in a boy with Down syndrome. A case report and literature review].

Introduction: The appearance of congenital anomalies at the level of atlas is frequent in patients with neural alterations, as well as in the Down syndrome. The presence of clinical stenosis for alteration in the posterior arch of C1 without a previous atlantoaxial subluxation hasn't been described in the literature thus far.

Case Report: We report an exceptional case of myelopathy due to compression at the level of the atlas in a 5-year-old boy with Down syndrome provoked by a developmental anomaly of the posterior arch of C1.

Lung function and organ dysfunctions in 178 patients requiring mechanical ventilation during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic.

Introduction: Most cases of the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) infection are self-limited, but occasionally the disease evolves to a severe condition needing hospitalization. Here we describe the evolution of the respiratory compromise, ventilatory management and laboratory variables of patients with diffuse viral pneumonitis caused by pandemic 2009 influenza A (H1N1) admitted to the ICU.

Method: This was a multicenter, prospective inception cohort study including adult patients with acute respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation (MV) admitted to 20 ICUs in Argentina between June and September of 2009 during the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic.

Experience with coflex interspinous implant.

A first generation of Coflex implant for non-rigid stabilization of lumbar spine was presented by Samani (Study of a semi-rigid interspinous U fixation system. Spinal Surgery, Child Orthopaedics: 1707, 2000).We started to treat patients with this Coflex device in 2004 and since then more than 600 patients have been operated in our Neurosurgical Department.

[Black esophagus due to acute necrotizing esophagitis: report of one case].

Acute esophageal necrosis, which presents as a black esophagus on endoscope, is an uncommon occurrence. It is defined as a dark pigmentation of the esophagus associated with histological mucosal necrosis. We report a 75-year-old man who developed black esophagus due to acute esophageal necrosis caused by septicemia.

[Thoracoabdominal periaortic lymphoma mimicking acute aortic syndrome. Report of one case].

Systemic lymphoma that involves the aorta is called periaortic lymphoma, and may be misdiagnosed clinically or in CT sean, mimicking a thoracic aortic aneurysm, dissection, penetrating ulcer or an intramural hematoma. We report a 70 year-old woman in whom a systemic non-Hodgkin 's lymphoma ivas diagnosed after she presented with the clinical features of an acute aortic syndrome. A CT sean showed the presence of a large thoracoabdominal periaortic soft tissue mass without aneurism or dissection.

[Cranial lesions due to forceps delivery].

Deliveries with forceps or vacuum-extraction increase the incidence of perinatal craneoencephalic lesions, for which reason cesarean sections are performed more frequently. We report 3 cases of cranial lesions due to forceps deliveries, 2 with depressed skull fractures and 1 with a depressed fracture and an associated epidural hematoma. Diagnosis is made on clinical and radiological founds with CT scan or MRI.

[Childhood spinal tumours].

We report a large series of 48 childhood spine tumors diagnosed and treated at our Hospital between 1986 and 2006. Spinal tumors in children are a rare and heterogeneous condition that frequently are diagnosed late because of their uncharacteristic clinical picture. Symptoms are usually limited to diffuse back pain or spinal deformities, prior to leg paresis or sphincter dysfunction.

[Brain-stem tumors in children].

We report a large series of brain-stem tumors seen during 18 years of at our hospital. We diagnosed and treated a total of 42 patients between 1988 and 2006; 36 of them were operated with partial resection in most cases. Brain-stem tumors constitute a rare condition with very bad prognosis.

Prognosis of cerebellar astrocytomas in children.

Objective: Our main objective is to review a large series of cerebellar astrocytomas in children and evaluate the outcome of the patients depending on astrocytoma class. The effect of astrocytoma characteristics on the children's prognosis was determined by grouping a series of cerebellar astrocytomas by their location, radiological aspect, size, and histology and determining whether this was related with outcome.

Materials And Methods: Two hundred and three children with cerebellar astrocytomas were retrospectively reviewed, and their tumors were classified by location, macroscopic radiological appearance, size, and histology.

Angiographic and clinical results after endovascular treatment for middle cerebral artery berry aneurysms.

Sixty-five middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysms in 59 patients treated by endovascular treatment (EVT) without the remodelling technique were analyzed. For ruptured aneurysms, the patients in bad condition are predominant and those with Fisher group four is 47.8% and with Hunt and Hess grade (HHG) IV or V are 43.

Complex motor behaviors in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Complex motor behaviors differing from typical automatisms were found in 12 of 502 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Movements involved proximal limb segments (6) or body axis (6) and were often preceded by auras and followed by automatisms. Seven of 12 patients are seizure free after surgery.

Cerebral fluid edema: an unusual complication of ventriculoperitoneal shunts.

Introduction: A case of accumulation of CSF into the brain parenchyma simulating a brain tumor, secondary to an obstructed ventriculoperitoneal shunt, is presented. Until now, only seven cases of this rare complication have been described.

Case Report: Magnetic resonance showed an expansive, low-density intracranial lesion on the right frontal and parietal lobe.

Continuous giggling and autistic disorder associated with hypothalamic hamartoma.

We present the case of a child affected since early infancy from recurring episodes of giggling mixed with stereotypical behaviours, mingled with head drops, and eventually with falls, in the context of an autistic disorder. Scalp video-EEG recordings revealed an epileptic encephalopathy with generalized slow spike-and-wave complexes alternating with electrodecremental periods, which generally corresponded to the onset of the aforementioned clinical sequences. A resection of a hypothalamic hamartoma was achieved at the age of two.

Subdural empyema with extension to vertebral canal secondary to salmonellosis in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Case Report: A case of supratentorial subdural empyema extending to the superior subdural cervical space in a 14-year-old patient with systemic lupus erythematosus is presented. The presumed etiology of the empyema was an intestinal nontyphoidal salmonella infection.

Discussion: We review the neurological and neurosurgical complications in systemic lupus erythematosus.