CT angiography in the diagnosis of internal carotid artery blister-like aneuryms / 中华神经医学杂志

Objective To explore the utility ofCT angiography (CTA) in the identification and characterization of internal carotid artery (ICA) blood blister-like aneuryms (BBA). Methods All the 143 patients with spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) who had been managed in our department from January 2008 to December 2009 were analyzed retrospectively.All of them underwent CTA prior to digital subtraction angiography (DSA) for evaluation of spontaneous SAH.The reports from the CTA and DSA were reviewed to determine whether the ICA BBA had been correctly and prospectively diagnosed. A retrospective review of the CTA and DSA images was also performed.Results All patients were diagnosed with spontaneous SAH by plain scan CT.We identified 6 cases of ICA BBA on initial DSA imaging.Of the 6 blister-like aneurysms,4 (67％) were identified prospectively and 5 (86％) retrospectively on CTA.In one case that had been confirmed by DSA as ICA BBA,the retrospective CTA failed to find the abnormity.All the 6 patients underwent endovascular treatment with stent placement.All patients were followed up for an average of 8.3 months (range,6-18 months) simply by DSA after treatment. Conclusion If CTA identifies a spontaneous SAH but fails to identify the cause,a careful DSA should be performed to detect a possible presence of ICA BBA.

Predisposing factors for postoperative epilepsy in patients with gliomas / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the predisposing factors for postoperative epilepsy in patients with gliomas.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 258 glioma patients with complete clinical data receiving cranial surgeries were analyzed retrospectively. With gender, age, predominant symptoms, positive signs, history of preoperative epilepsy, time of epilepsy onset, tumor location, surgical approaches, cortical injury, arterial and venous injury, scope of tumor resection, postoperative edema, tumor pathology, tumor recurrence, number of operation, radiation therapy as the independent variables, the occurrence of postoperative epilepsy was analyzed as the dependent variable using logistic regression to identify the risk factors for postoperative epilepsy.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>History of preoperative epilepsy, surgical approaches, postoperative edema, tumor pathology and tumor recurrence were identified as the risk factors for postoperative epilepsy in glioma patients.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Postoperative epilepsy severely affected the quality of life of glioma patients, and rigorous treatment targeting the risk factors may decrease the occurrence of postoperative epilepsy.</p>

Establishment of rat hypophyseal compression model and changes in its postoperative biological characteristics / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish a rat model of hypophyseal compression and observe and analyze the changes in its biological characteristics after operation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The rats were subjected to compression of the pituitary gland by stuffing the autologous muscular tissue into the hypophyseal fossa. The postoperative mortality of the rats was recorded and the volume of the hypophyeseal fossa, body weight, daily food intake, water intake, urine volume and urine specific gravity were measured.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Rat models of the hypophyseal compression model were successfully established by this procedure, which resulted in an increase of the volume of hypophyseal fossa by 35%. Rapid body weight loss occurred within 5 weeks after the operation (by as much as 31% on day 10). The rats exhibited recovery of appetite after 2 weeks, but their food intake was still less than that in the control group. Manifestations of central diabetes insipidus occurred gradually, which were especially obvious at 2 weeks and persisted afterwards, and at this time point, significant increment of urine volume (55.4-/+15.9 vs 18.5-/+5.8 ml) and lowered urine gravity (1.011-/+0.004 vs 1.036-/+0.006) were observed.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Rat models of hypophyseal compression can be established successfully by the described procedure, and the compression results in alteration of the rats' metabolic behaviors, which may differ from the effects of hypophysectomy and damage of pituitary stalk.</p>