Aberrant Dorsal Nerve Root as a Concomitant Cause of Spinal Cord Tethering Associated with a Dorsal Type Lipomyelomeningocele in a Child With Caudal Agenesis.

ABSTRACT: Tethered cord syndrome is a neurological disorder closely associated with congenital spinal dysraphism. Aberrant dorsal nerve roots may be one of the possible and relatively rare tethering pathologies, especially in the complex form of occult spinal dysraphism such as caudal regression syndrome or split cord malformation. We report an illustrative case of caudal regression syndrome with spinal cord tethering due to a combination of a contiguous bundle of an aberrant dorsal nerve root, and a dorsal-type lipomyelomeningocele, with a thickened filum terminale treated with microneurosurgical untethering.

Factors affecting the outcome of decompressive craniectomy for large hemispheric infarctions: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Although surgical decompression of large hemispheric infarction is often a life-saving procedure, many patients remain functionally dependent. The aims of this study were to identify specific factors that can be used to predict functional outcome, thus establish predictive criteria to reduce poor surgical results. METHOD: In this non-randomized prospective study, we performed decompressive craniectomy in 32 patients (age range, 27 to 77 years) with large hemispheric infarctions. Based on their modified Rankin Score (RS), which was calculated 6 months postoperatively, patients were divided into two functional groups: good (RS 0-3, n = 7) and poor (RS 4-6, n = 25). The characteristics of the two groups were compared using statistical analysis. FINDINGS: One-month mortality was 31%. However, most of the surviving patients were severely disabled (RS 4 or 5), and 6-month total mortality reached 50%. Increased age (> or = 60 years) (P = 0.010), preoperative midline shift greater than 10 mm (P = 0.008), low preoperative Glasgow Coma Score (GCS < or = 7) (P = 0.002), presence of preoperative anisocoria (P = 0.032), early (within the first three days of the stroke) clinical deterioration (P = 0.032), and an internal carotid artery infarct (P = 0.069) were the positive predictors of a poor outcome. INTERPRETATION: We view decompressive craniectomy for space-occupying large hemispheric infarction as a life-sparing procedure that sometimes yields good functional outcomes. A dominant hemispheric infarction should not be an exclusion criterion when deciding to perform this operation. Early operation and careful patient selection based on the above-mentioned factors may improve the functional outcome of surgical management for large hemispheric infarction.

Giant pericallosal artery aneurysm: case report and review of the literature.

Pericallosal artery aneurysms comprise 5% of all intracranial saccular aneurysms and are usually small. Giant cerebral aneurysms mostly occur in major arteries. To date, 12 cases of giant pericallosal artery aneurysm have been reported in the literature. An unusual giant thrombosed pericallosal artery aneurysm is reported here. A 65-year-old female presented with headache and personality changes. Computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and cerebral angiography revealed a right-sided giant thrombosed pericallosal artery aneurysm. The patient was operated via an anterior interhemispheric approach and the neck of the aneurysm was successfully clipped. The postoperative period was uneventful. This rare lesion is one of few cases presented in the literature in which neuroradiologic and neuropathologic evaluation was completely performed and the neck of the aneurysm was clipped.

Solid-calcified colloid cyst of the third ventricle.

We report a 65-year-old female with a solid-calcified colloid cyst in the third ventricle that was demonstrated on computed tomography scan and magnetic resonance images. The lesion was surgically excised using the anterior transcallosal-transforaminal approach. Complete preservation of the surrounding neural and vascular structures was achieved.

Tethered cord in the adult mimicking the lumbar disc syndrome: report of two cases.

Two adult patients with tethered cords whose symptoms mimicked those of lumbosacral intervertebral disc herniation are reported. Neither one of the patients had cutaneous stigmata, and one had normal plain x-ray examination of the spine. Magnetic resonance imaging in both patients demonstrated tethering of the cord. Untethering of the cord resulted in disappearance of the symptoms in both patients. These unusual cases suggest that tethering of the cord must be included in the differential diagnosis of the herniated lumbar intervertebral disc syndrome.

A comparative study of brain-stem auditory evoked potentials and blink reflexes in posterior fossa tumor patients.

Brain-stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP's) and blink reflexes (BR's) were recorded from 40 patients with clinical and radiological evidence of posterior fossa tumors. They were examined in three groups according to the anatomical location of the lesion: Group A included 15 patients with midline tumors; Group B included 14 patients with cerebellar hemispheric tumors; and Group C included 11 patients with cerebellopontine angle (CPA) tumors. More of the 40 patients had BAEP abnormalities (32) than BR abnormalities (24). All of the 11 patients with CPA tumors had some kind of BAEP and BR abnormalities. The 14 patients with cerebellar tumors showed the next most frequent abnormalities: 12 related to the BAEP's and seven to the BR's. The 15 patients with midline tumors showed the least number of abnormalities: nine related to BAEP's and six to the BR's. In the analysis of BAEP wave latencies and interpeak latencies, a wave III latency delay occurred in all groups; latencies of waves IV and V were more significantly delayed in patients with CPA and cerebellar hemispheric tumors, and the interpeak latencies of waves III-V and I-V were markedly prolonged only in patients with CPA tumors (p less than 0.01). In all tumor groups, early response (R1) of BR's was significantly delayed in comparison to a healthy volunteer control group (p less than 0.01), but R1 was more pronounced in cases of CPA tumors when compared with the other tumor groups. Although significant delays in direct and consensual late reflex components (R2) of BR's were noted in comparison to the control group, this delay could not differentiate one tumor group from another. In can be concluded that, while these tests reflect the functions of different cranial nerves and brain-stem tracts, BAEP monitoring is more sensitive than BR testing for the detection of brain-stem involvement in posterior fossa tumors. Cerebellopontine angle tumors almost always cause severe abnormalities in both tests. Cerebellar hemispheric tumors and midline tumors cause fewer changes in both BAEP's and BR's.