Deep brain stimulation for essential tremor in patients with ventriculomegaly.

Background: Deep brain stimulation of the nucleus ventralis intermedius (VIM-DBS) is considered a safe and effective treatment for medically intractable essential tremor (ET). However, ventriculomegaly can provide a surgical challenge, as there is an increased risk of breaching the ventricle during the procedure, with potential risk of intraventricular hemorrhage and target displacement.

Case Description: In this case series, we report successful bilateral VIM-DBS in a 72-year-old and 69-year-old female ET patient with significant ventriculomegaly.

Granular Cell Tumor of the Pituitary Presenting with Major Intraventricular Hemorrhage.

Granular cell tumors of the pituitary gland are rare, slow-growing lesions arising from the neurohypophysis or pituitary stalk. We describe an extremely rare presentation of a pituitary granular cell tumor mimicking an anterior communicating artery aneurysmal rupture with ventricular hemorrhage. The patient was admitted in a comatose state and underwent urgent bilateral external ventricular drainage.

Complete Resection of an Intradural Extramedullary Foramen Magnum Cavernous Malformation.

Only few case reports of intradural extramedullary-located cavernous angiomas are available. This report describes an extra-axial hemorrhagic lesion located on the lateral surface of the medulla oblongata at the foramen magnum. Follow-up magnetic resonance imaing clearly demonstrated growth of the lesion, probably due to repetitive intralesional hemorrhaging.

Hydroxyapatite cranioplasty: a retrospective evaluation of osteointegration in 17 cases.

Background: Cranial reconstruction with autologous bone is still the gold standard although several biomaterials are available to re-establish the integrity of the cranial vault. Due to their biological and morphological characteristics, hydroxyapatite implants show promising results in small clinical cohort studies, especially within the paediatric population. Its biocompatibility and osteoconductivity should allow the formation of osseous bridging at the skull-prosthesis interface.

Postarachnoiditis Anterior Spinal Arachnoid Cyst Formation with Compressive Myelopathy: Report of 2 Cases.

Background: Spinal cystic arachnoiditis is a rare complication of a subarachnoid haemorrhage or infectious meningitis. The inflammatory process leads to fibrosis, adhesions, and in severe cases cyst formation. Large arachnoid cysts are an uncommon cause of compressive myelopathy.

A Rare Cause of Dizziness and Gait Ataxia: CLIPPERS Syndrome.

In this paper we report the case of a 52-year-old woman with multiple contrast enhancing lesions associated with a chronic lymphocytic inflammation of the infratentorial structures. We discuss the symptoms, imaging and treatment of this rare disorder, in which magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has a crucial role in the diagnosis. Early recognition on MRI and radiological follow-up are also important to optimize the treatment.