Local compression of the sciatic nerve by a vascular malformation as a rare cause of sciatica: A case report and review of literature.

Background: Sciatica is typically caused by disc herniations or spinal stenosis. Extraspinal compression of the sciatic nerve is less frequent. Case Description: We report a rare case of sciatica with compression of the sciatic nerve by a low-flow vascular malformation in a 24-year-old female patient. The special feature of this case was sciatica along the S1 dermatome, which only occurred in the sitting position and inclination because of compression of the sciatic nerve between the vascular malformation and the lesser trochanter. Spinal imaging showed no abnormal findings. Surgery was performed interdisciplinary and included neurosurgery, vascular surgery, and trauma surgery. After surgery, the patient became symptom-free. Conclusion: Rare and extraspinal causes of local compression of the sciatic nerve should be considered, especially in cases of lacking spinal imaging correlation and untypical clinical presentation. Interdisciplinary surgical cooperation is of special value in cases of rare entities and uncommon locations.

Effect of continuous drainage of cranial arachnoid cysts into the ventricular system by stereotactic placed catheters.

Background: Surgical treatment of intracranial arachnoid cysts (iACs) is challenging. Microsurgical resection, endoscopic fenestration and cysto-peritoneal shunting are the most frequently used methods, each implying their own drawbacks. Stereotactic-guided cysto-ventricular drainage has been described as an alternative method. Here we describe our experience with this technique and how we conducted volumetric measurements to evaluate the effect of permanent drainage.Methods: Standardized stereotactic planning was performed. The planned trajectory included both the iAC and the ventricle system. The catheter was shortened to the defined length and was further fenestrated along its planned course through the iAC to allow drainage into the ventricular system. Clinical and radiological control was performed on outpatient basis after a mean follow-up of 2 (1-3) months. The overall mean follow-up was 32 months (6-59). The measurement of the cyst volume was conducted by the ABC/2-method.Results: Six patients with symptomatic arachnoid cysts (4 f, 2 m) were treated between 2010 and 2016. The overall postoperative reduction in cyst volume at the first follow-up was 36.04% (at the long-term follow-up: 38.57%). Decrease of the midline-shift was achieved in all cases and averaged 57.83% (long term: 81.88%). Clinical improvement of related symptoms could be achieved in all patients (4 patients were symptom free, two patients had alleviated symptoms). There was no case of over-drainage. The catheter had to be removed after 6 months in one case due to infection.Conclusions: We demonstrate successful symptom control and volume reduction in a small series of iACs by continuous drainage into the CSF-system through stereotactic placed catheters. This method may facilitate a self-regulated egress of entrapped cyst fluid in symptomatic patients without risk of over-drainage. A literature survey of the success rate and the complications of this approach is provided. It is concluded that this minimally- invasive method may be an alternative to established fenestration techniques especially for patients with arachnoid cysts that aren't directly adjacent to a cisternal or ventricular CSF space.

Distribution of Underlying Causative Organisms, Patient Age, and Survival in Spontaneous spondylodiscitis with Special Focus on Elderly Patients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: spondylodiscitis is becoming a more frequently encountered diagnosis in our clinical practice. Multimorbid and especially older patients build up a relevant portion of cases. The goal of our study was to evaluate our clinical data and to reveal specifics concerning elderly patients with spontaneous spondylodiscitis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data for the years from 2012 to 2014. The search was conducted on the basis of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) diagnoses for spondylodiscitis. Postoperative infections were not included in this study. All cases were evaluated in terms of infectious agents (in blood culture and/or computerized tomography [CT]-guided or surgical biopsy), age, and overall survival. RESULTS: Fifty-one patients with spontaneous spondylodiscitis were identified. The most frequent pathogen was methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA; n = 21; 41.17%). Escherichia coli and S. epidermidis were each found in four patients each (7.84%). Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and S. hominis were found in three cases (5.88%). Other bacteria were found in one case (each 1.96 %). In 12 cases, there was no bacteria growth (23.53%). One of these patients revealed to have a tuberculosis infection, diagnosed after the study period (in 2015). Two-thirds of the patients were ≥65 years old (n = 34). All three patients with MRSA were >65 years old. Three of seven patients <50 years had IV drug abuse (42.86%). In these patients, rather rare infectious agents for spondylodiscitis were found (P. aeruginosa, S. hominis, Citrobacter). Mortality was 7.84% (n = 4). All of these patients were ≥67 years old, three of four (75%) were ≥75 years old. CONCLUSION: Our study of spontaneous spondylodiscitis showed a stronger representation of older patients (>65 years). Lethal outcome exclusively concerned the older age group. S. aureus was the most frequent pathogen as shown previously. MRSA infections might be more common in the older age group. Rare causative organisms mainly occurred in patients with iv drug abuse. Further evaluation through randomized multicenter studies focusing on the different subgroups and comorbidities in larger populations and correlation with appropriate treatment options is necessary.

PAI-1 levels predict response to fractionated irradiation in 10 human squamous cell carcinoma lines of the head and neck.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To investigate the relationships between hypoxia, VEGF and components of the plasminogen activation system (PAS) and to determine their influence on local tumour control after fractionated radiotherapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Ten cell lines derived from human squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (SCCHN) were investigated in vitro and used to generate xenograft tumours. The pimonidazole hypoxic fraction in the total tumour area (pHF(tot)) was used to measure hypoxia in pre-treatment tumours and the local tumour control (TCD(50)) was used as the functional endpoint in vivo. For in vitro experiments, cells were cultured for 24h under either normoxic or mild hypoxic ( approximately 0.66% O(2)) conditions. VEGF, PAI-1 and uPA antigen levels were determined by ELISA and uPA activity by an activity assay kit. RESULTS: Of all the factors investigated, only PAI-1 expression correlated with TCD(50) (r=0.80, p=0.010) and was significantly higher (p=0.001) in more hypoxic than in less hypoxic tumours. Accordingly, PAI-1 secretion was significantly induced (2.4x) by in vitro hypoxia. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that pre-treatment PAI-1 levels are higher in more hypoxic tumours and can predict the response to fractionated irradiation in SCCHN.