Penetrating spinal injury: reports of two cases.

Penetrating spinal cord injuries caused by stab wounds are rare. Such injuries may result from a direct lesion of the neural elements of the spinal cord, cord infarcts or, more rarely, intradural or epidural hematoma. In the present study, two cases with spinal cord and L4 root injuries caused by a knife are presented. The first case, a 22-year-old male, referred to our emergency outpatient clinic with a stab wound injury at the mid-section of his back. Neurological examination of this patient showed paraplegia, and spinal MRI displayed a total spinal cord lesion at the T7-T8 level. The wound was primarily sutured; however, during follow-up, CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) leakage continued and the patient was operated. The ruptured dura mater was primarily sutured in a surgical intervention that involved T7-T8 total laminectomy. The second patient referred to our emergency outpatient clinic with a torso injury caused by a sharp knife. The knife was embedded 2-3 cm deep at the wound site at the L3 level and the handle was broken. The patient was immediately operated and the broken and embedded metallic part of the knife was extracted.

Protective effect of sildenafil (Viagra) in transient spinal cord ischemia.

Prospective study of the neuroprotective activity of sildenafil in a rat spinal ischemia model. The present study involved 21 male Sprague-Dawley rats. The animals were divided into 3 groups. Physiological serum was administered intraperitoneally to the 8 rats in the control group at the beginning of reperfusion for a period of 20 min after abdominal aortal occlusion. Sildenafil (Viagra) was administered as a single 10-mg/kg/day intraperitoneal dose to the 8 rats in the sildenafil group at the beginning of reperfusion after 20 min of abdominal aortal occlusion. No occlusion was performed and no agent was administered to the 5 rats in the sham group, but the abdominal aorta was reached by means of surgical intervention. Before the animals were sacrificed, several physiological and biochemical parameters were investigated, preoperative and postoperative motor functions were also assessed, and somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) monitoring and histopathological examinations were carried out. No differences were found between the physiological and biochemical parameters in each of the 3 groups. Neurological scoring performed after reperfusion demonstrated a significant improvement in the neurological results relative to those of the control group over 48 h in subjects that received sildenafil. These animals also showed better 24-hour SEP results, measured in terms of extended latency and decreased amplitude, than the control animals. A histopathological study showed reduced ischemic symptoms in rats that received sildenafil compared with those in the control group. However, no anomalies were observed in the sham group with respect to the histopathological and neurological findings. These results indicate that neurological damage due to spinal-cord ischemia-reperfusion injury can be reduced by sildenafil.

Controversies in chronic subdural hematoma: continuous drainage versus one-time drainage.

BACKGROUND: Various surgical methods are recommended for the therapy of chronic subdural hematoma (CSH). In this study, burr-hole continuous drainage (CD) and burr-hole one-time drainage (OTD) methods for the treatment of CSH are retrospectively compared. MATERIAL/METHODS: Fifty patients with CSH referred to this clinic between July 1995 and December 2003 were selected for treatment. Twenty-one patients were treated by the burr-hole OTD method and 29 patients received burr-hole CD therapy. The recurrence rates and the extension of the hematoma were evaluated with respect to the period of postoperative hospitalization to evaluate the most effective RESULTS: The postoperative hospitalization period was 7.9 days in the burr-hole continuous drainage group and 17 days in the burr-hole one-time drainage group. Recurrence developed in two cases (6.8%) in the CD group and in six cases (28.5%) in the OTD group. When the pre- and postoperative hematoma extension in the CD group were compared, a significant degree of decrease was observed on post-op day 1. Extension of the hematoma was found to be minimal in the days following the modification. The width of the hematoma in the OTD group was also reduced at post-op day 1; however, the degree of this decrease was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Continuous drainage therapy for CSH is superior to the one-time drainage method due to the shorter time of post-op hospitalization and to the reduced rate of recurrence.

Surgical treatment outcome of subdural empyema: A clinical study.

A retrospective study of 28 patients identified with subdural empyema (SE) at the Department of Neurosurgery between the years 1995 and 2005 was carried out. SE occurred in all patients following bacterial meningitis. The six most frequently encountered clinical features included: (1) fever in 22 (79%) patients; (2) disturbed consciousness in 16 (57%) patients; (3) papilledema in 11 (39%) patients; (4) hemiparesis in 4 (14%) patients; (5) meningismus or meningeal signs in 4 (14%) patients, and (6) seizures in 3 (11%) patients. In the majority of cases, the most frequent causative pathogen of SE was Staphylococcus aureus. Surgery was performed on all patients, which included craniotomy in a group of 20 patients and burr hole drainage in a group of 8 patients. In conclusion, we believe that infants and young children should be carefully monitored following meningitis, in case of SE development, and that surgical intervention in patients presenting with meningitis may facilitate the development of SE. Furthermore, from a surgical point of view, our experience has led us to believe that craniotomy in comparison with burr hole surgery is the best surgical modality for management of SE as the recurrence rate of SE associated with burr hole surgery is high.

Traumatic lumbar fracture-dislocation related to spina bifida occulta: case report.

Traumatic lumbar fracture-dislocation is a rare condition. Congenital spinal deformities may facilitate the occurrence of this case. We diagnosed spina bifida occulta accompanied at the same level by a L2 anterior dislocation which resulted from a vehicle in-site traffic accident in a 35-year-old female patient. Posterior intervention was carried out during therapy, and reduction and stabilization were performed by means of a T12-L1 and L2-L3 trans-pedicular screw. In patients with a congenital spinal anomaly the effect of spinal traumas may be greater than normal. Therefore, spinal traumas in patients with a congenital spinal anomaly should be assessed more carefully.

Surgical treatment of craniocervical decompression without Chiari malformation in syringomyelia.

We aimed to describe a patient without Chiari malformation who was treated via craniocervical decompression and by creating cisterna manga with an autologous fascia graft, and who displayed a clinical and radiological improvement in the post-operative period. Syringomyelia is a chronic and progressive disease with cavitation and gliosis in the spinal cord. It is more common in adulthood and often involves the cervical region. Due to the fact that craniocervical decompression therapy is successful in syringomyelia with Chiari malformation, this surgical treatment is currently controversial in syringomyelia without Chiari malformation. A 33-year-old male applied to our clinic with numbness and weakness in his left hand that had lasted for 2 years, but his condition had worsened in recent months, with neck pain before over previous the 8 months and a walking disturbance that had appeared 7 months before. Syringomyelia was found between the C2 and T8 vertebrae levels on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The patient was diagnosed with syringomyelia and underwent suboccipital decompression. Cisterna magna was created by duraplasty with a fascia lata graft. Consequently, craniocervical decompression might be accepted as a treatment method of choice in patients with syringomyelia without Chiari malformation.