An atypical case of giant intradiploic epidermoid tumor.

Intradiploic epidermoid tumors are uncommon and giant epidermoid with dural involvement is scarcer. We report a unique case of a giant frontal epidermoid tumor presenting without typical features of swelling or bulge in scalp. A 61-year-old male presented with the complaints of forgetfulness and headache. Contrast magnetic resonance imaging brain revealed a large left frontal epidermoid tumor. A tumor measuring 13 × 11 × 4 cm, involving the dura but sparing the brain parenchyma, was excised through left frontal craniotomy. Such a presentation of giant epidermoid tumor with dural involvement is highly unusual. Complete surgical excision is the final aim and vigilant follow-up for recurrence is a must.

Curious Case of Acoustic Schwannoma of Middle Cranial Fossa: A Case Report.

Acoustic neuromas are the most common lesion in the cerebellopontine angle. The authors report a unique case of acoustic schwannoma, presenting in middle cranial fossa masquerading as meningioma in a 24-year-old man, presenting with headache and focal seizures. Contrast-enhanced MRI of the brain revealed a mass lesion of the right middle cranial fossa consistent with features of meningioma. Intraoperatively a well-defined tumor with attachment to anterior petrous bone was excised. In the immediate postoperative period, the patient developed right-sided hearing loss, which was proven to be retrochoclear hearing loss on brainstem evoked response audiometry. Histopathology findings were consistent with benign schwannoma. Acoustic schwannoma originating in an unusual location middle cranial fossa is a plausible explanation of such unusual occurrence. Such a case has never been reported in the literature.

Isolated Intramedullary Lumbar Spine Neurocysticercosis: A Rare Occurrence and Review of Literature.

Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is the most common parasitic infection of the central nervous system. Spinal cysticercosis is a rather rare clinical occurrence. Intramedullary (IM) spinal NCC is rarer still. Furthermore, cases of IM-NCC at lumbar levels are few and far between. We present a case of a 35-year-old male patient who was diagnosed to have IM-NCC at L2-3 level and was managed surgically with no recurrence at 2 years of follow-up. A systematic literature review (1992-2020) highlights it to be only the third case reported with exclusive lumbar involvement.

Rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis in times of COVID-19: A neurosurgical experience.

BACKGROUND: The gravity of "second wave" of COVID-19 has effaced many new challenges in India; mucormycosis being a recent one. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a known significant risk factor for mucormycosis. Here, we present our experience with rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis (ROCM) during the "second wave of COVID-19" at a tertiary health care centre in North India. METHODS: This case series includes four cases of ROCM that were managed by our neurosurgical team in view ofcerebral involvement. RESULTS: All the cases with an exception of one (Case 1), had a history of treatment for COVID-19 pneumonia. Case 2, 3 had undergone functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) and orbital decompression before the onset of cerebral involvement; Case 4 underwent FESS and cranial surgery in the same sitting. All the patients had a history of DM and all the cases treated for COVID-19 pneumonia had a history of treatment with corticosteroids. Two patients underwent surgery with the exception of one patient, who did not provide consent for the same. One patient expired before surgical excision could be attempted. CONCLUSION: Regular and intensive follow-up is the key in swift detection and management of ROCM in post-COVID patients. While surgical excision is advisable in the fungal lesion, it must be borne in mind that radical excision of cerebral lesions is associated with morbidity, delayed recovery, and prolonged ICU stay. Culture and sensitivity-based antibiotics should be used judiciously as fever is a common postoperative complication. Blood sugar monitoring and control of DM are paramount in this condition. Steroids should be avoided in the management of cerebral edema with judicious use of hypertonic saline or mannitol.

Vertex epidural hematoma with bilateral abducent nerve palsy: case report and literature review.

Epidural hematomas which are located at the vertex are rarely seen and form a small percentage of total epidural hematomas. Tearing in the superior sagittal sinus is the usual cause of an epidural hematoma located in the vertex. The clinical features of this entity are non-specific; hence, localization of the lesion is difficult. We report an adult who was hit by a motorcycle and was initially discharged from the hospital as a case of concussional head injury. He returned back with raised intracranial pressure symptoms, so a CT scan was done but was misinterpreted, and he reported one week later with bilateral abducent nerve palsy. Magnetic resonance imaging confirmed vertex EDH for which he was operated.These hematomas are seen rarely and can be interpreted as an artifact. Its recognition is important because it has an excellent prognosis. We concluded that all head injury patients should get high axial cuts on the CT scan, and any degree of suspicion should prompt a neurosurgeon to investigate further with coronal CT scan or MRI.

Stray bullet: An accidental killer during riot control.

BACKGROUND: The use of force to control public uprisings, riots, unruly mobs is an important tool in any administrative setup. Law enforcement agencies often resort to aerial firing, which can be responsible for unintended injuries due to stray bullets.This study was designed to study the pattern of stray bullet injuries and to generate awareness about the hazards related to the use of live ammunition during riot control. METHODS: This study was conducted in our unit of the neurosurgery department over a period of 18 months, from June 2008 to December 2010. We enrolled all patients who had head or spine injuries caused by stray bullets from firing during riot control far away from the site of injury. RESULTS: We had two patients with head injury and two with spinal injury sustained because of stray bullets. One of the patients with head injury was operated and the other one was managed conservatively; the latter died on the third day of injury, while the former is surviving with some residual neurological deficit. Amongst the patients with spinal injury, neurological deficits persist till date. None of the patients were aware that they had sustained a bullet injury, and it was only after inquiry that we came to know that the police had resorted to aerial firing for controlling public agitation in nearby areas. CONCLUSION: Aerial firing of live cartridges is generally considered an 'innocuous' method; however, in view of the potential for injury to innocent bystanders, we recommend that the use of live cartridges during aerial firing be banned.

Hypodensity of extradural hematomas in children: an ominous sign.

OBJECT: The aim of this study was to analyze the correlation of hypodensity in extradural hematomas on CT with the clinical profile in pediatric patients. This is the only study available in this age group. METHODS: This was a prospective study conducted over a period of 3 years in which all children 18 years old or younger with a diagnosis of cranial extradural hematoma were included. The patients were allocated to 2 groups: those with mixed-density clots (17 cases) and those with classically hyperdense clots (52 cases). A comparative analysis between the 2 groups was conducted. RESULTS: Patients with mixed-density clots presented earlier to the hospital, had poor Glasgow Coma Scale scores at admission, exhibited large clot volumes, had a high incidence of active bleeding at surgery, and had increased morbidity and mortality as compared with the patients with hyperdense extradural hematomas. CONCLUSIONS: Early recognition and rapid evacuation of the mixed-density clot with restoration of hemostasis may result in a decline in morbidity and death in children with this entity.

Elevated skull fractures in pediatric age group: report of two cases.

Elevated fractures of the skull, which are rarely reported in the literature, are always compound, have maximal neurological deficits at presentation and have been reported only in adults. We report two cases of elevated skull fractures in the pediatric age group, one of which was a simple elevated fracture and presented with delayed neurological deterioration. The etiologies were a fall in first case and an animal attack (bear maul) in the second case as reported for the first time. One of the cases presented with delayed onset of left focal hemispheric signs. The first case underwent debridement, duraplasty and reduction of fracture whereas in the second case the bone flap was not replaced immediately because of gross contamination. Both patients had an excellent outcome. Elevated skull fractures are not uncommon in the pediatric age group. Compound elevated skull fractures should be managed early as open depressed fractures. Reduction of a simple elevated fracture presenting with neurological deficits not explained by any other lesion can result in a good outcome.

Childhood tumors of the brain: demographic pattern over a ten-year period in the Kashmir Valley.

Brain tumors in children represent the second most frequent tumors in this age group after hematologic malignancies. We highlight the demographic pattern after retrospective analysis of brain tumors in children from geographically and ethnically distinct Kashmir Valley managed in our center between 2000 and 2009. We had a total of 248 pediatric patients with brain tumors. The parameters analyzed were age, gender, location of tumors and histopathological subtypes as well as WHO grade of tumor. We also did a comparison between the frequencies of common varieties of tumor in the first and second 5-year periods. We found that 111 tumors (44.75%) were supratentorial, and 137 (55.25%) were infratentorial. The male-to-female ratio was 1.4:1. The proportions of low-grade and high-grade tumors were 60 and 40%, respectively. The most common tumor in our series was astrocytoma. The most common tumors in the supratentorial and infratentorial compartments were craniopharyngioma and medulloblastoma, respectively. Our experience reflects a different demographic profile of pediatric brain tumors as compared with other regions of the world.

Primary CNS lymphoma in immunocompetent: a review of literature and our experience from Kashmir.

AIM: To study the clinicopathological aspects of primary CNS lymphoma in immunocompetent patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixteen patients with primary CNS lymphoma were analyzed for their clinico-pathological characteristics and followed-up for the treatment and subsequent management in Neurosurgery, and Medical and Radiation Oncology. RESULTS: The fronto-parietal region was the commonest location of CNS lymphoma; four cases of cerebellar lymphoma were seen. Our patients were relatively young with a mean age of 48 years and an age range of 35-60 years. Females outnumbered males with a ratio of 2.7:1. The commonest presentation was focal neurological-deficits and features of raised intracranial pressure. All the patients histologically had diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Radiologically, most presented as disc-enhancing lesions. Two patients had multiple lesions. Most of the patients (10) died within a mean of 4.4 months (range 2 weeks-16 months). CONCLUSION: Primary CNS lymphoma is seen in immunocompetent patients as well. Relapse is common after treatment and the overall prognosis is unfavorable.

Practice patterns of respirologists in Canada.

The demographics and practice patterns of respirologists in Canada have not been studied. To evaluate the demographic characteristics of respirologists in practice, appraise current respirology manpower and ascertain the utilization of invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures (interventional pulmonology), a mail survey of all Canadian respirologists was conducted. The questionnaires were completed by 62% (n=355) of 573 possible participants. Of the respirologists who responded, 69.2% were younger than 50 years of age, 70.3% had been in practice for fewer than 20 years, 64.4% were in full- or part-time academic practice, and 72.9% were based in urban centres with a catchment population of more than 250,000. The current ratio of respirologists to population in Canada, assuming a total population of 31,000,000, is 1:54,101. In the present survey, only 68.3% respirologists practised clinical respirology for 50% or more of their time, and half (49.5%) of respirologists devoted more than 50% of their time on nonrespirology or nonclinical activities. Thus, the more precise respirologist to population ratio appears to be 1:81,000. The current ratio meets the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada recommendations, and the current training programs meet present manpower requirements. With respect to the procedures performed, most specialists carried out bedside procedures and flexible bronchoscopy; a much smaller number did invasive procedures such as rigid bronchoscopy (20.8%), transbronchial needle biopsy of lung (43%), transbronchial biopsy of mediastinal lymph nodes (38%), therapeutic bronchoscopy using laser, cryotherapy and stents (8.7%), transthoracic needle biopsy (22.2%) and thoracoscopy (11.3%). Because 97% of pulmonary specialists would like to perform invasive procedures, fellowship programs, mini-residencies and practical courses should provide the necessary training.