ABSTRACT
Background: Surgical treatment of patients with glioblastoma affecting motor eloquent brain regions remains critically discussed given the risk-benefit dilemma of prolonging survival at the cost of motor-functional damage. Tractography informed by navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS-informed tractography, TIT) provides a rather robust estimate of the individual location of the corticospinal tract (CST), a highly vulnerable structure with poor functional reorganisation potential. We hypothesised that by a more comprehensive, individualised surgical decision-making using TIT, tumours in close relationship to the CST can be resected with at least equal probability of gross total resection (GTR) than less eloquently located tumours without causing significantly more gross motor function harm. Moreover, we explored whether the completeness of TIT-aided resection translates to longer survival. Methods: A total of 61 patients (median age 63 years, m = 34) with primary glioblastoma neighbouring or involving the CST were operated on between 2010 and 2015. TIT was performed to inform surgical planning in 35 of the patients (group T; vs. 26 control patients). To achieve largely unconfounded group comparisons for each co-primary outcome (i.e., gross-motor functional worsening, GTR, survival), (i) uni- and multivariate regression analyses were performed to identify features of optimal outcome prediction; (ii), optimal propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to balance those features pairwise across groups, followed by (iii) pairwise group comparison. Results: Patients in group T featured a significantly higher lesion-CST overlap compared to controls (8.7 ± 10.7% vs. 3.8 ± 5.7%; p = 0.022). The frequency of gross motor worsening was higher in group T, albeit non-significant (n = 5/35 vs. n = 0/26; p = 0.108). PSM-based paired-sample comparison, controlling for the confounders of preoperative tumour volume and vicinity to the delicate vasculature of the insula, showed higher GTR rates in group T (77% vs. 69%; p = 0.025), particularly in patients with a priori intended GTR (87% vs. 78%; p = 0.003). This translates into a prolonged PFS in the same PSM subgroup (8.9 vs. 5.8 months; p = 0.03), with GTR representing the strongest predictor of PFS (p = 0.001) and OS (p = 0.0003) overall. Conclusion: The benefit of TIT-aided GTR appears to overcome the drawbacks of potentially elevated motor functional risk in motor eloquent tumour localisation, leading to prolonged survival of patients with primary glioblastoma close to the CST.
ABSTRACT
The ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 adenoviral vector vaccine to prevent contracting Covid-19 caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) primarily leading to venous thromboses. Here, we report two cases of major arterial occlusions after ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vaccination, comprising a 42-year-old woman with thrombotic occlusion of the left carotid artery, and a 62-year-old man with occlusion of distal aorta and iliac arteries. Both were successfully treated with intravenous immunoglobulins and non-heparin anticoagulant agents leading to a beneficial short-term outcome of 6 weeks in case 1 and four months in case 2.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The Woven EndoBridge (WEB) device has been proven to be a safe and efficient endovascular treatment option for wide-necked bifurcation aneurysms. The study aimed to evaluate the incidence and risk factors of procedural complications related to WEB embolization of ruptured and unruptured intracranial aneurysms. METHODS: This was a multicenter, observational study of consecutive patients with ruptured and unruptured aneurysms who were treated with the WEB at three German tertiary care centers between May 2011 and February 2018. Patient characteristics, anatomical details and procedural aspects were retrospectively collected and the impact on procedure-related complications was evaluated. RESULTS: Among 120 patients (mean age 58.5⯱ 11.9 years) with 120 aneurysms (mean size: 8.5⯱ 4.5â¯mm), WEB implantation was successful in 112 patients (93.3%). The rates for overall and symptomatic complications were 11.7% and 5.0%, respectively. At 6month follow-up device-related morbidity was 1.2% among unruptured aneurysms and 2.6% among ruptured aneurysms. In the univariate analysis, a lower aspect ratio (pâ¯= 0.04) and an increased width-to-height ratio (pâ¯= 0.03) were significant risk factors for procedural complications. CONCLUSION: The results of this study confirmed the WEB to be a safe treatment option, which is associated with low complication rates and minimal morbidity. Complications tended to occur more often in aneurysms with an unfavorable ratio between aneurysm height and aneurysm/neck width.
