CSF hydrothorax: An unusual cause of pleural effusion.

A 20-year-old male with hydrocephalus managed with a ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VP) was diagnosed with a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleural effusion. Imaging studies revealed an intrathoracic course of a disconnected VP shunt. Physicians should consider CSF effusion in their differential diagnosis in patients with a VP shunt and an unexplained pleural effusion.

Routine but risky: a multi-centre analysis of the outcomes of cranioplasty in the Northeast of England.

Background: Cranioplasty is undertaken as a routine secondary operation following craniectomy. At a time when decompressive craniectomy is being evaluated by several large trials, we aimed to evaluate the morbidity associated with cranioplasty and investigate its potential effect on outcome.

Methods: The outcomes of 166 patients undergoing cranioplasty at two centres in the United Kingdom between June 2006 and September 2011 were retrospectively analysed.

Patient safety and image transfer between referring hospitals and neuroscience centres: could we do better?

Introduction: District general hospital scanners have historically been linked to regional neuroscience units for specialist opinions on scans and to make decisions on transfer of patients requiring neurosurgical management. The implementation of digital picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) in all hospitals in the UK has disrupted these dedicated links and technical and information governance issues have delayed reprovision of electronic transfer of images for rapid expert decision making in this group of patients. We studied improvement in image transfer to acute neurosurgery units over a 4-year period.