Comparison of the Surgical Approaches for Frontal Traumatic Intracerebral Hemorrhage

PURPOSE@#Recent developments in minimally invasive techniques have the potential to reduce surgical morbidity, promote patient recovery, accelerate surgical procedures, and thus improve cost-effectiveness in case management. In this study, we compared the treatment efficacy and results of supraorbital keyhole approach (SOKA) with those of conventional unilateral frontal craniotomy (CUFC) for traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage (TICH) in the frontal lobe.@*METHODS@#We analyzed the data of 38 patients who underwent CUFC (n=30) and SOKA (n=8) and retrospectively reviewed their medical records and radiological findings. Furthermore, we tried to identify the best surgical method for such lesions by including patients who underwent burr hole aspiration and drainage (BHAD) (n=9) under local anesthesia due to various circumstances.@*RESULTS@#The difference in the initial Glasgow coma scale score, operative time, and length of hospitalization between the CUFC and SOKA were statistically significant. All radiological features between the two groups including associated skull fracture, amount of pre- and postoperative hematoma, percentage of complete hematoma removal, pre- and postoperative midline shifting of the hematoma, and development of postoperative delayed hematoma were not statistically significant. Our experience of 46 patients with TICH in the frontal lobe with any of the three different surgical methods including BHAD enabled us to obtain valuable findings.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Although it is difficult to insist that one particular approach is more useful than the other, we are confident that SOKA will have more advantages over CUFC in carefully selected patients with frontal TICH depending on the surgical experience of a neurosurgeon.

A Case of Polymyositis Associated with Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy

Polymyositis (PM) is a chronic inflammatory disease that predominantly affects muscles. Systemic organ involvement, including the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, is frequently observed in PM, but renal involvement is rare. Herein, we report the case of a 56-year-old woman presenting with weight gain, edema, and generalized myalgia. Laboratory tests revealed elevated creatinine kinase level, hypoalbuminemia, and proteinuria. Histopathological examination of muscle biopsy revealed inflammatory myositis, and a renal biopsy confirmed immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy. Based on the clinico-pathological results, the patient was diagnosed with PM with IgA nephropathy. This is a report of a rare occurrence of IgA nephropathy in a patient with PM presenting with chronic glomerulonephritis.

Endovascular Treatment of Symptomatic Vasospasm after Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: A Three-year Experience

OBJECTIVE: The cause of severe clinical vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage remains unknown, despite extensive research over the past 30 years. However, the intra-arterial administration of vasodilating agents and balloon angioplasty have been successfully used in severe refractory cerebral vasospasm. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 233 patients admitted to our institute with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) over the past 3 years. RESULTS: Of these, 27 (10.6%) developed severe symptomatic vasospasm, requiring endovascular therapy. Vasospasm occurred at an average of 5.3 days after SAH. A total of 46 endovascular procedures were performed in 27 patients. Endovascular therapy was performed once in 18 (66.7%) patients, 2 times in 4 (14.8%) patients, 3 or more times in 5 (18.5%) patients. Intra-arterial vasodilating agents were used in 44 procedures (27 with nimodipine infusion, 17 with nicardipine infusion). Balloon angioplasty was performed in only 2 (7.4%) patients. The Average nimodipine infusion volume was 2.47 mg, and nicardipine was 3.78 mg. Most patients recovered after the initial emergency room visit. Two patients (7.4%) worsened, but there were no deaths. CONCLUSION: With advances in endovascular techniques, administration of vasodilating agents and balloon angioplasty reduces the morbidity and mortality of vasospasm after aneurysmal SAH.

Neuronal Hyperexcitability Mediates Below-Level Central Neuropathic Pain after Spinal Cord Injury in Rats / 한국실험동물학회지

Spinal cord injury often leads to central neuropathic pain syndromes, such as allodynic and hyperalgesic behaviors. Electrophysiologically, spinal dorsal horn neurons show enhanced activity to non-noxious and noxious stimuli as well as increased spontaneous activity following spinal cord injury, which often called hyperexcitability or central sensitization. Under hyperexcitable states, spinal neurons lose their ability of discrimination and encoding somatosensory information followed by abnormal somatosensory recognition to non-noxious and noxious stimuli. In the present review, we summarize a variety of pathophysiological mechanisms of neuronal hyperexcitability for treating or preventing central neuropathic pain syndrome following spinal cord injury.

Changes in orexin-A and neuropeptide Y expression in the hypothalamus of the fasted and high-fat diet fed rats

This study was aimed to investigate the changes of orexin-A (OXA) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) expression in the hypothalamus of the fasted and high-fat diet fed rats. For the experiments, the male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were used as the model of high-fat diet-induced obesity. The mean loss of body weight (MLBW) did not show the linear pattern during the fasting; from 24 h to 84 h of fastings, the MLBW was not significantly changed. The numbers of OXA-immunoreactive (IR) neurons were decreased at 84 h of fasting compared with those in other five fasting subgroups. The NPY immunoreactivities in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) and the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) observed at 84 h of fasting were higher than that observed at 24 h of fasting. The number of OXA-IR neurons of the LHA (lateral hypothalamic area) in the high-fat (HF) diet fed group was more increased than that of the same area in the normal-fat (NF) diet fed group. The NPY immunoreactivities of the ARC and the SCN were higher in HF group than those observed in the same areas of NF group. Based on these results, it is noteworthy that the decrease of the body weight during the fast was not proportionate to the time-course, implicating a possible adaptation of the body for survival against starvation. The HF diet might activate the OXA and the NPY in the LHA to enhance food intake.

Effect of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Young Pigs with Induced Escherichia coli Diarrhea

The effect of acupuncture in the treatment of young pigs with induced enteropathogenic Escherichia coli diarrhea was histopathologically evaluated by routine hematoxylin and eosin stain. Thirty two pigs weighed 4-5kg and aged 21days old were used in this study. The animals with diarrhea were treated with traditional acupuncture, or enrofloxacin. In the group treated with traditional acupuncture, acupoint GV1 (Jiaochao) was used and in the group treated with antibiotics, enrofloxacin was injected intramuscularly. Ten pigs were inoculated with E. coli, but were not treated and served as nontreated control group. At postinoculation day 6, all pigs of the acupuncture and antibiotic treated groups recovered from diarrhea. In the ascending and descending colons of the nontreated control group, severe infiltration of inflammatory cells in the lamina propria was observed and in the fundic stomach, destruction of the fundic gland architecture and necrotic lesions were observed, however, in the same sites of the acupuncture and antibiotics treated groups, the mucosae of the colon and stomach were relatively similar to those of the normal group. These results indicate that acupuncture treatment is effective in controlling induced E. coli diarrhea in pigs at its early stage.

Protective Effects of N-acetylcysteine and Selenium against Doxorubicin Toxicity in Rats

To investigate the neutralizing effect of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and selenium (Se) aganist doxorubicin (DOX) toxicity in rats, NAC (140 mg/kg, p.o.) and Se (0.5 mg/kg, p.o.) were administered for 2 days before DOX injection and then 3 times a week. Cell viability and the level of lipid peroxidation were examined in cultured-rat astrocytes. Severe morphologic changes in the kidney of DOX group; thickening of Bowmans capsule, presence of multifocal tubular casts were observed, but not in the other treated groups. Vacuoles in some hepatic cells and focal aggregation of stellate macrophages were also detected in DOX group, but not in the other treated groups. However, the severe inhibition of spermatogenesis was found in all treated groups. The cell viability of DOX (10 mg/ml) treated group and NAC (5 mM) or Se (0.001 mg/ml) combinedtreated group was 52.5+/-2.0 % , 85.3+/-4.5 % and 75.5+/-1.6 %, respectively. In MDA (malondialdehyde) assay, the level of lipid peroxidation on DOX (10 mg/ml), NAC (5 mM) and Se (0.001 mg/ml) was 0.77+/-0.06, 0.35+/-0.06 and 0.54+/-0.11 nmol/mg protein, respectively. Thus, it is known that NAC and Se have protective effects in kidney and liver but not in the testes. Morphological change was not detected in brain and heart in all groups for experiment period. From this in vitro study, it is known that NAC and Se protect well the astrocytes against DOX induced-cell damage.