Neurosurgical bleeding in platelet storage pool disorder: a case report.

Dense-granule deficiency (DGD) is an inherited platelet disorder due to the absence of dense granules essential for activation of platelets in the event of vascular injury. Decreased platelet dense granules can be detected by electron microscopy, while other tests of hemostasis, including platelet function analyzer (PFA®) closure times, may be normal. The present case report describes a patient with a lifelong history of mucocutaneous bleeding and excessive hemorrhage with resection of vestibular Schwannoma.

The ABC's of Spinal Decompression: Pearls and Technical Notes.

Objective: The foundation of spine surgery centers on the proper identification, decompression, and stabilization of bony and neural elements. We describe easily reproducible and reliable methods for optimal decompression and release of neural structures to alleviate symptoms and improve patients' quality of life.

Methods: Multiple spinal decompression techniques were described in procedures for which the goal of surgery was decompression alone or decompression and fusion.

A case series of atypical features of patients with biopsy-proven isolated IgG4-related hypophysitis and normal serum IgG4 levels.

Background: IgG4-related hypophysitis is a rare clinical entity that forms part of an emerging group of multi-organ IgG4-related fibrosclerotic systemic diseases. The rare prevalence of the disease, presenting features that overlap with other sellar pathologies, and variable imaging features can make preoperative identification challenging.

Purpose And Methods: We report three cases of isolated IgG4-related hypophysitis with atypical clinical and imaging features that mimicked those of pituitary apoplexy and other sellar lesions.

The utility of high-resolution intraoperative MRI in endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery for pituitary macroadenomas: early experience in the Advanced Multimodality Image Guided Operating suite.

Objective: Endoscopic skull base surgery has become increasingly popular among the skull base surgery community, with improved illumination and angled visualization potentially improving tumor resection rates. Intraoperative MRI (iMRI) is used to detect residual disease during the course of the resection. This study is an investigation of the utility of 3-T iMRI in combination with transnasal endoscopy with regard to gross-total resection (GTR) of pituitary macroadenomas.

Dura splitting decompression for Chiari I malformation in pediatric patients: clinical outcomes, healthcare costs, and resource utilization.

Background: Dural splitting decompression may be an effective and safe treatment for Chiari I malformation.

Objective: To compare clinical outcomes, complications, and resource utilization for patients undergoing Chiari I decompression with or without duraplasty.

Methods: Between 2000 and 2009, the senior author performed 113 Chiari I decompression operations with dural splitting or duraplasty in children less than 18 years of age; 110 were included in a retrospective cohort analysis of safety, efficacy, and treatment cost.

The future of practice science: challenges and opportunities for neurosurgery.

Outcomes-directed approaches to quality improvement have been adopted by diverse industries and are increasingly the focus of government-mandated reforms to health care education and delivery. The authors identify and review current reform initiatives originating from agencies regulating and funding graduate medical education and health care delivery. These reforms use outcomes-based methodologies and incorporate principles of lifelong learning and patient centeredness.

Indocyanine green fluorescence endoscopy for visual differentiation of pituitary tumor from surrounding structures.

Object: As demonstrated by histological and neuroimaging studies, pituitary adenomas have a capillary vascular density that differs significantly from that of surrounding structures. The authors hypothesized that intraoperative indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence endoscopy could be used to visually differentiate tumor from surrounding tissues, including normal pituitary gland and dura.

Methods: After institutional review board approval, 16 patients undergoing endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery for benign pituitary lesions were prospectively enrolled in the study.

Dural augmentation: part I-evaluation of collagen matrix allografts for dural defect after craniotomy.

Objective: Primary closure of the dura remains difficult in many neurosurgical cases. One option for dural grafting is the collagen sponge, which is available in multiple forms, namely, monolayer collagen and bilayer collagen. Our primary goal was to assess differences in the incidence of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak, including fistula and pseudomeningocele, and postoperative infection between monolayer collagen and bilayer collagen grafts.

Successful ventricle to direct heart shunt placement as a salvage cerebrospinal fluid diversion technique. Case report.

The authors report a complex case in a 35-year-old woman who underwent shunt placement at birth for myelomeningocele. She had previously undergone more than 30 shunt revisions, with placement of the distal catheter in the peritoneum multiple times, and also in the pleura, the gall bladder, and the upper venous system. All shunts had failed and the possible placement sites were now anatomically hostile.

Magnetic resonance approaches to brain aging and Alzheimer disease-associated neuropathology.

The noninvasive, nonradioactive, quantitative nature of magnetic resonance techniques has propelled them to the forefront of neuroscience and neuropsychiatric research. In particular, recent advances have confirmed their enormous potential in patients with Alzheimer disease (AD). Structural and functional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging have demonstrated significant correlation with clinical outcomes and underlying pathology and are used increasingly in the AD clinic.

Self-inflicted nail-gun injury with 12 cranial penetrations and associated cerebral trauma. Case report and review of the literature.

In this case report, the authors describe a 33-year-old man who presented with headache due to the presence of 12 nail-gun nails impacted in his cranium and cerebral parenchyma. The authors also review the relevant literature regarding penetrating brain injury. The patient's physical examination revealed a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 15 and impairment of abduction of the right eye and abduction of the jaw producing dysarthria; the remaining results of the neurological examination were normal.

Neuromonitoring in neurological critical care.

In this article, we review technologies available for direct monitoring of cerebral oxygenation and metabolic status, including jugular venous oxygen saturation, brain tissue oxygen tension, transcranial cerebral oximetry with near-infrared spectroscopy, Positron emission tomography oxidative metabolism, single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography perfusion and functional imaging, and cerebral metabolite measurement using microdialysis. We also introduce a novel method of monitoring cerebral perfusion that may substitute for direct monitoring of oxygenation in the future.

Preservation of functional hearing after gamma knife surgery for vestibular schwannoma.

Object: The goal of this retrospective study was to define the rates of preservation of functional hearing and growth control of vestibular schwannomas (VS) treated by gamma knife surgery (GKS) involving a consistent 12-Gy prescription dose.

Methods: One hundred thirty-four patients with unilateral VS underwent GKS between 1994 and 2000. The mean magnetic resonance (MR) imaging follow-up period was 31.