Spinal angiolipoma mimicking a schwannoma: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Angiolipomas rarely involve the spinal canal/foramina, and may prove difficult to differentiate from schwannomas. CASE DESCRIPTION: Here we report a patient who presented with a spinal angiolipoma contributing to spinal cord and neural foraminal compression that was difficult to differentiate from a schwannoma. CONCLUSION: Spinal angiolipomas rarely involve the spinal canal/foramina. Utilizing neurodiagnostic studies with pathological confirmation, these lesions may be differentiated from schwannomas.

Cranioplasty: Indications, procedures, and outcome - An institutional experience.

BACKGROUND: Cranioplasty, the repair of a skull vault defect by insertion of an object (bone or nonbiological materials such as metal or plastic plates), is a well-known procedure in modern neurosurgery. Brain protection and cosmetic aspects are the major indications of cranioplasty. A retroprospective study was conducted for evaluating the indications, materials used, complications, and outcome of cranioplasty. METHODS: This study was prospective from August 2013 to September 2015 and retrospective from August 2010 to July 2013. In the retrospective study, patients files were retrieved from the mentioned date (August 2010 to July 2013) from the medical records and the findings were recorded. Abstracted data included age at the time of cranioplasty (years), sex (male or female), medical comorbidities (hypertension, diabetes), indications for craniectomy [Road traffic accident (RTA), fall from height (FFH), hit by stone or cricket ball, physical assault, stroke, infection, shell injury, bullet injury, and intraoperative swelling], laterality of cranioplasty (bilateral, unilateral, or bifrontal), time between craniectomy and cranioplasty (weeks), type of graft (autologous or artificial), type of prosthesis if used (methylmethacrylate, titanium), storage of bone flap if used (subcutaneous or deep freezer), operative time (minutes), and complications fallowing cranioplasty. RESULTS: Of the 236 patients included in the study, maximum were in the age group of 21-30 years i.e., 30.93% (n = 73). Mean age of the patients was 33.44 years. A total of 196 (83.05%) were autologous and 40 (16.95%) were artificial. Out of the 40 patients who underwent artificial cranioplasty, 36 (15.25%) had methylmethacrylate graft and 4 (1.7%) had titanium mesh implant. Bone was not preserved in 16.95% (n = 40), preserved in subcutaneous tissue in abdominal wall in 2.54% (n = 6), and preserved in deep freezer in 80.51% (n = 190) of the patients. CONCLUSION: Cranioplasty as a procedure is not without complications; however, if performed properly and at proper time with an aseptic technique, good results are achieved.

A rare case of recurrent primary spinal echinococcosis.

Spinal hydatid disease, though rare, is one of the differential diagnosis of spinal cord compression syndrome especially in endemic areas. Surgery is the treatment of choice but surgery alone is not curative. Adjuvant drug therapy as well as intraoperative prophylaxis are indicated. Despite all measures, the disease has high recurrence rates and overall outcome is still poor. We report a case of 65 year old male with lumbosacral hydatidosis recurring after 13 years.