How does early decompressive craniectomy influence the intracranial volume relationship in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients?

Background: Decompressive craniectomy (DC) is a common neurosurgical procedure involving the removal of part of the skull vault combined with subsequent duroplasty. The goal of DC is to produce extra space for the swollen brain and/or to reduce intracranial pressure. In the present study, DC was performed in order to create space for the swollen brain.

Malignant middle cerebral artery (MCA) infarction in people over 85 years old - Diagnosis, management and risk factors.

Introduction: Malignant ischemic stroke of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory causes neurological deterioration due to the effects of space occupying cerebral edema. The prognosis is poor, and death usually occurs as a result of brainstem compression. There is no information on ischemic stroke, especially the malignant ones, in patients over 85 years old.

Levels of selected pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in cerebrospinal fluid in patients with hydrocephalus.

.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in treatment of post polio syndrome.

Background: Post polio syndrome is a rare disease that occurs decades after polio virus infection. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a treatment option with proved effectiveness in drug resistant depression. Possibly it can be helpful in therapy of other neurological diseases including post polio syndrome.

Importance rating of risk factors of ischemic stroke in patients over 85 years old in the polish population.

Introduction: The European population is aging and the number of elderly patients suffering from ischemic brain stroke increases. A better knowledge of the correlation between the risk factors and the course of the disease in old people may be useful for planning medical care and prophylactic strategies.

Aim: This prospective study aimed to perform a demographic and clinical analysis of the etiology of ischemic stroke, survival rate and severity of post-stroke disability in patients who developed ischemic stroke at the age of over 85 years in the Polish population.

Discriminant Analysis of Intracranial Volumetric Variables in Patients with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus and Brain Atrophy.

A method was developed for the computerized volumetric assessment of the intracranial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) distribution. The study involved 62 patients differentiated into two groups: with CSF resorption disorders (normal pressure hydrocephalus - 30 patients) and without CSF resorption disorders (various types of brain atrophy - 32 patients). The goal of the study was to ascertain whether the assessment, depending on the linear discriminant analysis of volumetric brain features, could be an effective tool differentiating the two groups.

Polymerase chain reaction based detection of bacterial 16S rRNA gene in the cerebrospinal fluid in the diagnosis of bacterial central nervous system infection in the course of external cerebrospinal fluid drainage. Comparison with standard diagnostics currently used in clinical practice.

Background And Purpose: External drainage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a commonly used neurosurgical procedure. Complications of the procedure comprise central nervous system (CNS) bacterial infections, the frequency of which is estimated at around 6-10%. Detection of these infections is ineffective in many cases.

Analysis of intracranial volume ratios by means of cerebrospinal fluid deployment indicators.

Introduction: Imaging studies make it possible not only to visualize the general structure of the brain but also to take precise measurements of brain tissue volume and the size of individual lobes and their structure. The aim of this study was to determine the ratio of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume contained in the intracranial ventricular system to the brain tissue volume and the ratio of CSF volume in the subarachnoid space and basal cisterns to the brain tissue volume.

Material And Methods: The evaluation of volumetric measurements of computed tomographic (CT) images was undertaken on 23 male and female patients (average age 56.

[The usefulness of the evaluation of volumetric and posturographic parameters in the differential diagnosis of hydrocephalus].

Introduction: A variety of diagnostic methods in normal pressure hydrocephalus and brain atrophy, it testifies to the difficulties in contrast to both teams. Develop a safe diagnostic tool having comparable statistical accuracy of the infusion test results would be of great clinical significance. The chances of implementing such a procedure in clinical practice, it may be a combination of these syndromes in the functional assessment (Posturography) the assessment of morphological CNS (volumetric).

[Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the differential diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus and brain atrophy].

Unlabelled: Clinical symptomatology of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus, due to its overlap with dementias and neurodegenerative brain disorders, makes diagnosis challenging. As the neurological deficits are reversible there is a need for prompt and reliable noninvasive testing. The aim was to try to use and introduction into clinical practice of new non-invasive method--diffusion tensor imaging (DTI-Diffusion Tensor Imaging) discriminating patients classified as normal pressure hydrocephalus and patients diagnosed with brain atrophy.

Decompressive craniectomy in trauma: when to perform, what can be achieved.

Subject: The goal of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the decompressive craniectomy (DC) concerning its various parameters.

Material And Methods: Forty-five patients were studied (6 female, 39 male, mean age 53 years). All patients were treated because of severe traumatic brain injury.

Nanofiber nets in prevention of cicatrization in spinal procedures. Experimental study.

Excessive cicatrisation or epidural fibrosis in the operative field is an inappropriate event occasionally occurring after neurosurgical procedures (i.e., spine procedures and craniotomies).

Posturography in differential diagnosis of patients with enlargement of brain ventricles.

Background And Purpose: This study aimed to quantitatively evaluate balance disturbances by means of static posturography in patients with enlargement of the ventricular system (Evans ratio > 0.3).

Material And Methods: Fifty-four patients were diagnosed and treated in our Department of Neurosurgery.

Granulomatous inflammation of dura mater--a rare side effect after application of hemostatic and insulation materials in case of two-stage operation of huge meningioma.

Haemostatic and isolating materials may cause local reactions as a foreign body. The case presented here of intracranial granulomatous lesion pertains to a patient operated in two stages due to a huge meningioma. During the first operation the tumour was partially removed.

[Occipito-cervical fixation in plasmocytoma. Method modification. Technical report].

Intraoperative modification of use and stabilization of the Axon system (Synthes) for occipito-cervical fusion in a patient treated oncologically due to plasmocytoma is presented. Pathological fracture, range of the process and damage of anterior cervical fusion necessitated the use of occipito-cervical stabilization. Different anatomical conditions within the occipital bone in the form of its thinning was observed.

[Schwannoma of the common peroneal nerve. A differential diagnosis versus rare popliteal cyst].

The presented case concerns a patient with neuralgia of the common peroneal nerve and progressive neurological deficit caused by interfascicular growth of schwannoma. The ultrasound diagnostics identified the lesion as a popliteal cyst. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed features of atypical cyst location.

Posturography in differential diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus and brain atrophy.

Differentiation between normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) and brain atrophy is difficult in clinical practice. The purpose of this paper was to apply two advanced statistical, pattern recognition methods: discriminant analysis (DA) and k-nearest neighbour (K-NN) for the classification of NPH and atrophy patients to approach computer aided differential diagnosis. The classification is based on a few measures of the center of foot pressure (COP) movements (radius, area, and length).

Empyema in spinal canal in thoracic region, abscesses in paravertebral space, spondylitis: in clinical course of zoonosis Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae.

Objectives: Erysipelas is an animal disease caused by Gram-positive bacteria Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae. Among the domestic animals, domestic pig (Sus scrofa f. domestica) suffers most frequently from the disease in human environment.

Cerebrovascular reactivity evaluated by transcranial doppler sonography in patients after aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage treated with microsurgical clipping or endovascular coiling technique.

Objective: To examine cerebrovascular reactivity in patients after subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) during long-term follow-up, using Acetazolamide test and transcranial Doppler (TCD) monitoring of blood flow velocities (BFVs), to compare of CO(2) reactivity between patients after SAH treated with three different methods: surgical (clipping), endovasculary (coiling) and conservative.

Methods: The study was performed in a group of 24 patients treated for SAH. Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) has been evaluated after intravenous administration of 1000 mg of Acetazolamide.

Ten years observation and treatment of multifocal pilocytic astrocytoma.

Pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) usually occurs in younger patients. It is a benign, generally well-delineated, WHO grade I tumour with favorable prognosis, which makes it different from diffuse astrocytomas, classified as higher grades of malignancy. A case study of PA was presented in a young female patient, observed and treated at the Neurosurgical Department for the period of 10 years, during which time she had frequent surgical procedures due to recurrence and dissemination of the tumour.

A non-invasive assessment of intracranial volume reserve by measuring cerebrospinal fluid volume with the aid of CT imaging.

Introduction: Monitoring changes in the intracranial volume (ICV) reserve and intracranial pressure (ICP) is one of the key issues in the treatment of intracranial pathologies. The aim of this study is to develop a method of monitoring the ICV reserve by analyzing CSF volume measured using CT in specific regions.

Materials And Methods: A total of 20 patients with cerebral injury were evaluated.

A new CT-based classification of spontaneous supratentorial intracerebral haematomas.

Background And Purpose: In patients with intracerebral haematoma (ICH) secondary to ruptured aneurysm or arteriovenous malformation (AVM), conservative therapy and follow-up without angiographic evaluation is associated with a risk of recurrent bleeding. It is necessary for a clinician to identify a subgroup of patients with spontaneous supratentorial ICH who are likely to harbour high-flow vascular malformations that require specific treatment - neurosurgical or neuroradiological. A new CT-based classification for supratentorial ICH aimed at a close correlation between ICH localization and occurrence of high-flow vascular malformations diagnosed on angiography is presented.

Occipital neuralgia: possible failure of surgical treatment - case report.

Surgical intervention in severe cases of occipital neuralgia should be considered if pharmacological and local nerve blocking treatment fail. The literature suggests two types of interventions: surgical decompression of the greater occipital nerve (GON) from the entrapment site, as a less invasive approach, and neurotomy of the nerve trunk, which results in ipsilateral sensation deficits in the GON innervated area of the skull. Due to anatomical variations in the division of the GON trunk, typical neurotomy above the line of the trapezius muscle aponeurosis (TMA) may not result in full recovery.

Asymptomatic and symptomatic glial cysts of the pineal gland.

Glial cysts of the pineal gland are benign and mostly asymptomatic incidental lesions found in the brain MRI or at autopsy examinations. In rare cases pineal cysts become symptomatic and require surgical intervention. Symptomatic glial cysts may be clinically and radiologically indistinguishable from cystic neoplasms of the pineal region; therefore, histopathological diagnosis is critical for further prognosis and therapy in operated patients.

[Posturography and computerized gait analysis in the Computer Dyno Graphy system as non-invasive methods for evaluation of normal pressure hydrocephalus progression].

Disturbances of gait and balance are important clinical problems in patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus. A considerable degree of locomotor disability and increased risk of falls are present in many cases. Accordingly, attempts to develop effective evaluation methods of gait and balance disturbances are made.