Direct surgical resection remains to be the standard treatment for tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) with subependymal giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA). Medical therapy with everolimus (mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor or mTOR) serves as a second-line treatment for patients with SEGA who are determined to be ineligible for surgical resection. Some recent studies have reported that neoadjuvant therapy for SEGA may be a useful, novel treatment. In this study, we herein present a case of SEGA and demonstrate the efficacy of preoperative everolimus therapy. We have also examined the utility and safety of neoadjuvant therapy for SEGA and investigated four previously reported cases of preoperative administration of mTOR inhibitors. In these cases, everolimus was administered preoperatively to shrink the tumor although the duration of treatment varied. Afterward, gross total tumor removal was conducted in all the cases. No postoperative complications were reported during the follow-up period. These findings indicate that neoadjuvant therapy with an mTOR inhibitor can be a potential treatment for SEGA. The findings of this present study also suggested that a short administration period of about 2 months may be sufficient to achieve preoperative tumor reduction.
We performed surgical treatment for cerebellar metastasis of relatively rare small-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (SCNC) of the urinary bladder. On preoperative imaging, the lesion was solitary, and the edema around the tumor was unremarkable; thus, other differential diagnoses besides a metastatic brain tumor were also considered preoperatively. Intraoperatively, the tumor was soft, and the circumference brain and boundary were indistinct and easily hemorrhagic. The tumor was grossly totally removed, and postoperative radiotherapy was added. The clinical symptoms of the patient were relieved, and he was discharged on foot. Thus far, relatively few reports have described surgical treatment of brain metastases of SCNC of the urinary bladder. We herein report a case of metastatic brain tumor due to SCNC of the urinary bladder that required surgical treatment, along with a review of the previous literature regarding its clinical features and the characteristics of intracranial lesions related to surgery, such as imaging and intraoperative findings.
A 54-year-old man with no medical history presented to our hospital with vomiting, left hemiplegia, and seizures. On arrival, he was experiencing generalized tonic-clonic seizures, which required him to be intubated and deeply sedated. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography revealed extensive venous sinus obstruction from the superior sagittal sinus to the bilateral sigmoid sinus and cerebral edema with intracranial hemorrhage. An intracranial pressure (ICP) monitor was immediately placed intracranially, and mechanical thrombectomy (MT) was performed under ICP monitoring. MT was immediately terminated when the venous sinus was partially recanalized enough to decrease the ICP; then, anticoagulation therapy was initiated. Postoperative follow-up angiography revealed that venous sinus obstruction and intracranial venous perfusion improved over time. Although he had intracranial hemorrhage-induced left hemiplegia and sensory deficits, his condition improved with rehabilitation, and the patient was eventually discharged home. The indication criteria and techniques for MT for cerebral venous sinus thrombosis are yet to be established. As in this case, in patients with impaired consciousness due to intracranial hemorrhage or epilepsy, preoperative ICP monitor placement is deemed useful to evaluate venous perfusion during MT and decide the treatment goal.
In this study, we report on a previously healthy 44-year-old man who underwent an open biopsy under general anesthesia for a tumorous lesion found in his left frontal lobe via a small supratentorial craniotomy. While both postoperative course and brain computed tomography (CT) scans had been considered unremarkable, the patient became stuporous on postoperative day (POD) 4. A brain CT obtained on that day showed a subdural hematoma with marked brain shift which we thought might have been due to postoperative bleeding; he was immediately brought to an operating theater for hematoma removal. However, no bleeding source was found, and the brain remained depressed after hematoma evacuation. Furthermore, the brain shift remained unchanged on postoperative CT. While spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) was considered, imaging studies to search for possible cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage in the spinal column were not performed as the patient's condition has improved. However, he became stuporous again on POD 8, which urged us to perform CT myelogram. The CT myelogram showed a massive CSF leakage at the L1-L2 level. Subsequent autologous blood patch has successfully terminated the CSF leakage, and he became fully oriented shortly after the blood patch therapy. Thus, it should be noted that SIH may occur during postoperative period of intracranial surgery, and it may manifest radiographically as a subdural hematoma indistinguishable from postoperative bleeding. SIH should also be included in a differential diagnosis of postoperative headache, regardless of its characteristics, because headache associated with SIH may not always be orthostatic.
W report the first case of hemifacial spasm (HFS) caused by vascular compression of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA)-posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) common trunk anomaly at the cisternal portion of cranial nerve VII (CN VII). A 71-year-old female with a typical right HFS was admitted to our hospital. As per her magnetic resonance (MR) imaging results, no offending arteries were noted around the CN VII root exit zone (REZ). Computed tomography angiography revealed an AICA-PICA common trunk anomaly with a dominant PICA, with the rostral branch of the AICA-PICA common trunk anomaly compressing the CN VII at the cisternal portion. The patient underwent microvascular decompression (MVD), and the HFS disappeared after surgery. The amplitude of the abnormal muscle responses (AMR) disappeared immediately after complete transposition of the offending artery. However, the patient experienced mild transient facial palsy 3 days after MVD which was eventually resolved with the administration of vitamin B12. No HFS recurrence was observed during the 1-year follow-up period. The AICA-PICA common trunk anomaly has been found to cause HFS as it compressed the CN VII at the cisternal portion, and not at the REZ. AMR monitoring might be helpful for cases where the unusual vessel particularly compresses the CN VII.
Ruptured cerebral aneurysms that occur in the anterior wall of the internal carotid artery (ICA) are known as blood blister-like aneurysms (BBAs); they have been reported to account for 0.3% to 1% of all ruptured ICA aneurysms. In this report, we describe the treatment of an unusual traumatic BBA (tBBA) with high-flow bypass using a radial artery graft, which resulted in a favorable outcome. A 59-year-old female suffered from an acute epidural hematoma, traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage, and traumatic carotid-cavernous sinus fistula (tCCF) after being involved in a motor vehicle accident. Her angiography results showed tCCF and a tBBA on the anterior wall of the right ICA. On the fourth day after injury, we found rebleeding from the tBBA and performed an emergency high-flow bypass using a radial artery graft with lesion trapping as a curative procedure for the tCCF and tBBA. Postoperatively, right abducens nerve palsy appeared, but no other neurological symptoms were noted; the patient was thereafter transferred to a rehabilitation hospital 49 days after injury. Traumatic ICA aneurysms commonly occur close to the anterior clinoid process, form within 1 to 2 weeks of injury, and often rupture around 2 weeks after trauma. This case was considered rare as the ICA was likely injured and bleeding at the time of injury, resulting in a form of tBBA; this allowed early detection and appropriate treatment that resulted in a good outcome.