External decompressive craniectomy including resection of temporal muscle and fascia in malignant hemispheric infarction.

Decompressive craniectomy procedures are used for malignant hemispheric infarctions. However, the temporal muscle and fascia are significant limiting factors for external herniation of an edematous brain. Therefore, the authors performed a decompressive craniectomy and expansive duraplasty combined with resection of the temporal muscle and fascia for 15 patients with a malignant hemispheric infarction.

Effects of carbamazepine and amitriptyline on tetrodotoxinresistant Na+ channels in immature rat trigeminal ganglion neurons.

Although anticonvulsant drugs that block voltage-dependent Na+ channels have been widely used for neuropathic pain, including peripheral nerve injury-induced pain, much less is known about the actions of these drugs on immature trigeminal ganglion (TG) neurons. Here we report the effects of carbamazepine (CBZ) and amitriptyline (ATL) on tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTX-R) Na' channels expressed on immature rat TG neurons. TTX-R Na+ currents (I(Na)) were recorded in the presence of 300 nM TTX by use of a conventional whole-cell patch clamp method.