[Clinical features and efficacy of microsurgery for treatment of cerebral cysticercosis of the fourth ventricle: a report of 24 patients].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristics of 24 patients with cysticercosis of the fourth ventricle, and to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of microsurgery. METHODS: The clinical data of 24 patients with cysticercosis of the fourth ventricle referred the Department of Neurosurgery of the Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University from January 2000 to December 2018 were collected, and the clinical features, imaging characteristics, surgical methods, therapeutic efficacy and postoperative complications were analyzed. RESULTS: The 24 patients included 15 men and 9 women, and had a mean age of 43.5 years (range, 16 to 68 years). Preoperative imaging examinations showed obvious dilatation of bilateral lateral ventricles, the third ventricle and middle cerebral aqueduct, and spherical or cystic dilatation of the fourth ventricle. There were 18 cases positive for antibodies against cysticercus, and 3 of the 21 cases were egg positives. All 24 cases received microsurgery, including 8 cases via the median aperture approach, 7 cases via the median aperture-cerebellar vermis approach, and 9 cases via the transcerebellomedullary fissure approach. There were 17 cases with complete delivery of vesicles, 5 cases with vesicle rupture and 2 cases with extraction of cystic fluid followed by separation and removal of cystic wall. All cases had obvious retraction of the ventricular system and disappearance of intracranial hypertension following surgery. There were 19 cases (79.17%) with well recovery, and 5 cases (20.83%) with aggravation or development of cerebellar ataxia, which recovered following treatment for 1 to 2 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: The transcerebellomedullary fissure approach is a safe and lowly invasive approach for the treatment of cysticercosis of the fourth ventricle.

Correlation analysis of ultrasonic characteristics, pathological type, and molecular markers of thyroid nodules.

The present study was conducted to analyze the correlation between ultrasonic characteristics, pathological type, and molecular markers of thyroid-tumor-related genes as well as to evaluate the diagnosis and prognosis of thyroid nodules. The acoustic characteristics of 130 thyroid specimens were detected. Pathological sectioning and immunohistochemical detection were performed to determine the correlation between tumor gene expression and ultrasonic characteristics. Ultrasonic testing revealed that malignant nodules were normally accompanied by lymph nodes. Expression of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase, Ki67, vascular endothelial growth factor, Ret, and P53 genes exhibited statistically significant differences in malignant, benign, and normal tissues. The performance of thyroid malignant nodules showed different degrees of correlation with the expression of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase, Ki67, VEGF, Ret, and P53 genes. Color Doppler ultrasound is highly sensitive for thyroid nodules and is therefore effective for identifying thyroid nodules and early diagnosis of thyroid cancer. Color Doppler ultrasound can identify benign or malignant thyroid nodules based on 5 characteristic indicators. Tumor pathology and gene expression are associated with the sonographic features of thyroid cancer. Therefore, determining the pathological basis of ultrasonography would facilitate prognostic assessments of thyroid cancer.