Leakage of cerebrospinal fluid and secondary intracranial infection induced by Cloward technique of cervical discectomy and fusion: presentation and treatment / 中华创伤杂志(英文版)

Cloward technique of cervical discectomy and fusion is a long and complex surgical procedure and instrumentation, by which complicated infection is rare in an era of routine prophylactic antimicrobial agent, especially in procedures by anterior approach. A study in the journal of Spine suggested that the incidence of unintentional laceration of the dura mater during spinal surgery might be as high as 14%.1 A majority of them are repaired intraoperatively and/or present as a spontaneous process of healing. Therefore, leakage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and secondary intracranial infection induced by incidental durotomy are rare. Levi et al.2 reviewed spinal instrumentation procedures in 452 cases at a single institution, finding that 17 patients got infections in the operative areas. Infection occurred after posterior spinal instrumentation procedures (7.2%) and no infection was found after anterior instrumentation procedures regardless of the vertebral levels. Likewise, Aydinli et al.3 reported that 8 patients were complicated by acute infection out of 174 patients undergoing instrumented spinal surgery, including no anterior procedures. To our knowledge, we are the first to report a complete clinical course concerning CSF leakage and secondary intracranial infection induced by Cloward technique of cervical discectomy and fusion.

Neuron regeneration in aged rats after intracerebral hemorrhage / 浙江大学学报·医学版

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate neuron regeneration of aged rats after intracerebral hemorrhage(ICH).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>ICH model was induced by intracerebral infusion of 100microL autologous blood in adult and aged (3 and 18 m of age, respectively) male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Doublecortin(DCX), polysialylated neural cell adhesion protein(PSA-NCAM) and Bromodeoxyuridine (Brdu) in brain tissue were detected by Western blot analysis and immunohistochemical examination.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>In aged rats, DCX levels in the ipsilateral basal ganglia and subventricular zone started to increase at 7d after ICH, peaked at 14 d [(670+/-145)% of controls, P<0.01]. Most DCX positive cells in ipsilateral striatum were BrdU positive. Though DCX content in ipsilateral basal ganglia [(2560+/-758) pixels]of ICH aged rats was much higher than that of aged rat controls [(450+/-97)pixels, P<0.01], it was still lower than that in adult rats.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results demonstrate that neuron regeneration occurs in subventricular zone in the aged rats following intracerebral hemorrhage(ICH).</p>

Growth-suppression effect of hydroxyurea on meningioma cells in vitro / 浙江大学学报·医学版

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the tumor-suppression effect of hydroxyurea on meningioma cells and its possible mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The meningioma cells were cultured in medium containing varied doses of hydroxyurea (5x10(-3)mol/L, 5x10(-4)mol/L, 5x10(-5)mol/L), the cell growth was measured by MTT method, cell apoptosis was observed with flow cytometry (FCM).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>MTT measurement demonstrated that the administration of hydroxyurea led to a dose-dependent suppression in cell proliferation and FCM showed a dose-dependent increase in apoptosis rate.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Hydroxyurea can inhibit meningioma cell growth in vitro, which is most likely associated with apoptosis of the tumor cells.</p>