Spontaneous frontal intradiploic meningoencephalocele.

BACKGROUND: Since 1976, 10 cases of intradiploic encephaloceles have been reported in the literature. This case is the first report of a spontaneous intradiploic meningoencephalocele of the frontal bone hypothesized to be secondary to distant head trauma. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 60-year-old female with a history of multiple traumatic head injuries as a child presenting with new onset generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Work-up revealed a right frontal epileptic focus. Imaging showed a right frontal intradiploic lesion. The patient underwent surgical resection, which during exploration was found to be an intradiploic encephalocele. She had an uneventful postoperative course with a resolution of seizures. CONCLUSIONS: The authors hypothesize that the rare nature of posttraumatic frontal intradiploic encephaloceles is due to the increased thickness of the frontal bone compared to the parietal bone.

Unsustainable hospital charges are incurred in the treatment of Medicare beneficiaries admitted with subarachnoid hemorrhage.

INTRODUCTION: Rising medical care expenditures and the unchanging Medicare reimbursements have placed restraints on the health care delivery system. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study is to identify the magnitude and determinants of discrepancy between hospitalization charges and Medicare re-imbursement observed in the management of Medicare beneficiaries admitted with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage in the United States. METHODS: Patients entered in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample between 2002 and 2010, with a ruptured intracranial aneurysm who underwent either surgical or endovascular treatment were included in the study. Factors associated with higher discrepancy between hospitalization charges and Medicare re-imbursement were identified. RESULTS: Discrepancies in hospital charges and Medicare reimbursement associated with endovascular and surgical treatment have increased over the decade. The median discrepancy per patient for Medicare patients aged 65 years and older treated surgically or endovascularly for a ruptured aneurysm from 2009 to 2010 was $177,380. The predictors of higher than median discrepancy(charges versus reimbursement), included Hispanic ethnicity (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.1-3.9, p = 0.02), urinary tract infection (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.4-2.8, p = <0.001), pneumonia (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.8-4.8, p = <0.001), deep vein thrombosis (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.2-5.2, p = 0.02), and pulmonary embolism (OR 18, 95% CI 2.0-169, pp = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: There is a growing gap between hospital charges and Medicare reimbursement. If hospitals continue to be reimbursed at significantly lower rates than charges incurred, this current system may be unsustainable due to losses incurred by hospitals. ABBREVIATIONS: AHRQAgency for Healthcare Research and QualityCMSCenters for Medicare and Medicaid servicesNISNationwide Inpatient Sample.

Prevalence and characteristics of concurrent down syndrome in patients with moyamoya disease.

BACKGROUND: An association between moyamoya disease and Down syndrome appears to exist on the basis of reported anecdotal cases in the literature. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of Down syndrome associated with moyamoya disease in inpatients and to identify the demographic and clinical features of moyamoya disease that may be unique when associated with Down syndrome. METHODS: In this observational study, we analyzed data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample between 2002 and 2009 using International Classification of Diseases codes for moyamoya disease and Down syndrome for patient identification. Data including patient age, sex, race/ethnicity, secondary diagnosis, procedures, hospital costs, and patient outcomes were obtained. RESULTS: From 2002 to 2009, an estimated 518 patients (mean ± SD age, 16.2 ± 1.68 years) with coexisting moyamoya disease and Down syndrome were admitted. The estimated prevalence was 3.8% (3760 per 100,000) among patients admitted with moyamoya disease and 9.5% (9540 per 100,000) among moyamoya patients < 15 years of age. Patients admitted with moyamoya disease and Down syndrome were most frequently white and Hispanic (P = .02). They were more likely to present with ischemic stroke and less commonly with hemorrhagic stroke (15.3% and 2.7%, respectively; P < .05). CONCLUSION: This is the first study to estimate the prevalence of Down syndrome in patients with moyamoya disease. The 26-fold-greater prevalence of Down syndrome in patients with coexisting moyamoya disease compared with the prevalence of Down syndrome among live births (145 per 100,000) highlights the need for a better understanding of the common pathophysiology of the 2 conditions.