Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus.

The diagnosis of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is still challenging. Alzheimer's disease (AD), along with vascular dementia, the most important differential diagnosis for iNPH, has several potential cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers which might help in the selection of patients for shunt treatment. The aim of this study was to compare a battery of CSF biomarkers including well-known AD-related proteins with CSF from patients with suspected iNPH collected from the external lumbar drainage test (ELD). A total of 35 patients with suspected iNPH patients were evaluated with ELD. CSF was collected in the beginning of the test, and the concentrations of total tau, ptau(181), Aß(42), NFL, TNF-α, TGFß1, and VEGF were analysed by ELISA. Twenty-six patients had a positive ELD result-that is, their gait symptoms improved; 9 patients had negative ELD. The levels of all analyzed CSF biomarkers were similar between the groups and none of them predicted the ELD result in these patients. Contrary to expectations lumbar CSF TNF-α concentration was low in iNPH patients.

Scale to predict survival after surgery for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.

PURPOSE: Despite initial treatment with surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) virtually always recurs. Surgery is sometimes recommended to treat recurrence. In this study, we sought to devise a preoperative scale that predicts survival after surgery for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The preoperative clinical and radiographic data of 34 patients who underwent re-operation of recurrent GBM tumors were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression modeling. The factors associated with decreased postoperative survival (P < .05) were used to devise a prognostic scale which was validated with a separate cohort of 109 patients. RESULTS: The factors associated with poor postoperative survival were: tumor involvement of prespecified eloquent/critical brain regions (P = .021), Karnofsky performance status (KPS) < or = 80 (P = .030), and tumor volume > or = 50 cm(3) (P = .048). An additive scale (range, 0 to 3 points) comprised of these three variables distinguishes patients with good (0 points), intermediate (1 to 2 points), and poor (3 points) postoperative survival (median survival, 10.8, 4.5, and 1.0 months, respectively; P < .001). The scale identified three statistically distinct groups within the validation cohort as well (median survival, 9.2, 6.3, and 1.9 months, respectively; P < .001). CONCLUSION: We devised and validated a preoperative scale that identifies patients likely to have poor, intermediate, and good relative outcomes after surgical resection of a recurrent GBM tumor. Application of this simple scale may be useful in counseling patients regarding their treatment options and in designing clinical trials.

Survival rates in patients with low-grade glioma after intraoperative magnetic resonance image guidance.

BACKGROUND: No age-adjusted or histologic-adjusted assessments of the association between extent of resection and risk of either recurrence or death exist for neurosurgical patients who undergo resection of low-grade glioma using intraoperative magnetic resonance image (MRI) guidance. METHODS: The current data included 156 patients who underwent surgical resection of a unifocal, supratentorial, low-grade glioma in the MRI suite at Brigham and Women's Hospital between January 1, 1997, and January 31, 2003. Estimates of disease-free and overall survival probabilities were calculated using Kaplan-Meier methodology. The association between extent of resection and these probabilities was measured using a Cox proportional hazards model. Observed death rates were compared with the expected death rate using age-specific and histologic-specific survival rates obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Registry. RESULTS: Patients who underwent subtotal resection were at 1.4 times the risk of disease recurrence (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.7-3.1) and at 4.9 times the risk of death (95% CI, 0.61-40.0) relative to patients who underwent gross total resection. The 1-year, 2-year, and 5-year age-adjusted and histologic-adjusted death rates for patients who underwent surgical resection using intraoperative MRI guidance were 1.9% (95% CI, 0.3-4.2%), 3.6% (95% CI, 0.4-6.7%), and 17.6% (95% CI, 5.9-29.3%), respectively: significantly lower than the rates reported using national data bases. CONCLUSIONS: The data from the current study suggested a possible association between surgical resection and survival for neurosurgical patients who underwent surgery for low-grade glioma under intraoperative MRI guidance. Further study within the context of a large, prospective, population-based project will be needed to confirm these findings.