Journal of neurosurgery最新文献

Objective: The optimal management of neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2)-associated meningiomas must be personalized case by case. Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is one option for patients with one or multiple intracranial meningiomas associated with the NF2 mutation. In this study, the authors evaluated their single-institution experience of SRS treatment for NF2-associated meningiomas.

Methods: The medical records and radiographic images of 45 patients (20 males, 213 tumors) with a median age of 53.5 (range 20-79) years who underwent SRS between 1987 and 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. The median Karnofsky Performance Status score was 80 (range 50-100). Twenty-seven patients had undergone prior resection, and 8 had undergone prior fractionated radiation therapy. The median Ki-67 proliferation index (n = 8) was 11.5% (range 9%-27.5%). The median margin dose was 13 (range 9-16) Gy. The median number of meningiomas per patient was 3 (range 1-17), and the median cumulative tumor volume treated per patient was 6.29 (range 0.10-37.70) cm3.

Results: The 5-, 10-, and 15-year local tumor control (LTC) rates per tumor were 90.21%, 84.46%, and 84.46%, respectively. On multivariate analysis, a lower tumor volume was associated with better LTC (p = 0.02; HR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01-1.12). After the initial SRS, 20 (44%) patients developed a previously untreated meningioma. Patients with more meningiomas at the time of SRS had a higher rate of new meningioma development (p = 0.01; HR 1.19, 95% CI 1.04-1.37). Eighteen patients died during the follow-up interval, of which 5 deaths were related to the progression of one or more intracranial NF2-related tumors. Two (4.44%) patients developed transient adverse radiation effects. No patient developed a secondary malignancy. Eight patients required additional SRS for local tumor progression, 20 underwent SRS for new tumor development, and 4 patients underwent delayed resection of an SRS-treated meningioma.

Conclusions: In this case series, the LTC rates of both primary and salvage SRS exceeded 90%. However, nearly half of the patients required additional SRS for new untreated meningiomas. No significant differences in long-term LTC were found when comparing upfront versus salvage SRS for patients with NF2 meningiomas. These results establish SRS as a valuable and safe option for managing NF2-associated meningiomas.

Objective: The authors recently demonstrated the utility of a novel multinuclear thalamic stereotactic electroencephalography (sEEG) approach to identify personalized seizure propagation networks through the human thalamus. In this study, they detail their strategy to efficiently sample the thalamus.

Methods: The authors previously showed that a multilead orthogonal transsylvian approach allows lateral-medial sampling of bilateral anterior nuclei of the thalamus (ANTs), mediodorsal (MD) nuclei, and pulvinar (PLV) nuclei, with simultaneous capture of the opercular and insular regions. They also described a novel trans-massa intermedia trajectory to sample bilateral MD nuclei with a single electrode. For a second approach to multinuclear thalamic sampling, they designed a novel long-axis trajectory for posterior-to-anterior sampling of the lateral PLV nucleus, lateral MD nucleus, and ANT with a single electrode. Superficially, this trajectory samples from the posterior inferior temporal gyrus and then the posterior hippocampus, known as seizure network nodes. Concurrent with this long-axis trajectory, the centromedian nucleus can also be targeted with the orthogonal approach, minimizing the number of electrodes required to sample all 8 of the most relevant nuclei (4 on each side).

Results: The multinuclear thalamic sampling approaches resulted in no complications in a series of 34 patients.

Conclusions: This study provides a strategy and specific implementation details for these approaches to identify the thalamic seizure networks that are increasingly important in the surgical treatment of epilepsy.

Objective: There is continuing uncertainty about the safety of early chemoprophylaxis for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The objective of this paper was to 1) calculate the risk of progression of posttraumatic intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) after VTE chemoprophylaxis, and 2) compare the probability of ICH progression in early versus late VTE prophylaxis.

Methods: The authors searched for English-language literature from database inception to January 2023. Two independent reviewers selected studies on post-TBI VTE chemoprophylaxis in hospitalized patients. Study parameters included ICH progression (as determined by follow-up imaging after starting chemoprophylaxis) in relation to use versus nonuse, timing, and type of VTE chemoprophylaxis. Pertinent variables included author, year, study type, demographic variables, cranial and systemic Injury Severity Scores, and data documenting ICH progression or indirect evidence of TBI worsening after the initiation of VTE chemoprophylaxis.

Results: Thirty studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. There was a 7.0% (95% CI 4.0%-10.0%) risk of CT-documented ICH progression following VTE chemoprophylaxis in the prophylactically treated group. There was no difference between the early versus late VTE prophylaxis groups for ICH progression (12 studies; OR 0.79 [95% CI 0.56-1.12]). There was also no significant difference in CT-documented ICH progression between the prophylactically treated and nontreated groups (5 studies; OR 0.57 [95% CI 0.28-1.18]).

Conclusions: The review of the literature shows that VTE chemoprophylaxis 72 hours after TBI is considered safe by the majority of authors. This meta-analysis did not reveal any evidence of increased risk of ICH when starting VTE chemoprophylaxis earlier, i.e., within 72 hours of TBI; however, it is important to emphasize that only a small number of lower-quality studies addressed the 48-hour or 24-hour time point. A randomized noninferiority trial should be the next step in answering the question of early (within 72 hours) VTE chemoprophylaxis after TBI.

Objective: The prognosis of isolated headache intracranial vertebral artery dissection (iVAD) without subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) or stroke is unknown. The authors of this study aimed to evaluate isolated headache iVAD prognosis.

Methods: This is a single-center retrospective study of consecutive patients who presented with headache as their main complaint and underwent MRI between November 2016 and August 2022; those with acute isolated headache iVAD who were followed up for vascular morphological stability were eligible for study inclusion. The patients were divided into three groups based on the vascular morphology at initial diagnosis: aneurysm dilatation without stenosis (group 1), aneurysm dilatation with stenosis (group 2), and no aneurysm dilatation (group 3). Prognosis, time to radiological stability, and final vascular morphology were compared among the groups.

Results: One hundred five patients with isolated headache iVAD were included in the study. During a median follow-up of 478 (IQR 143-1094) days, none of the patients developed SAH or stroke, but 3/41 (7%) patients in group 1 underwent endovascular intervention for aneurysm enlargement. Patients in group 1 required significantly more long-term follow-up for morphological stability (p = 0.013), primarily due to aneurysm enlargement (p < 0.001), and were more likely to require surgical intervention (p = 0.043) than those in the other two groups. Residual aneurysm risk was significantly associated with initial vascular morphology in group 1 (OR 7.28, 95% CI 2.30-23.1, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Most patients with isolated headache iVAD had a favorable prognosis. However, patients with aneurysm dilatation without stenosis required the most careful follow-up, as this group had the highest aneurysm enlargement risk from early disease onset through the chronic phase. In such cases, patients may require surgical intervention to prevent critical conditions.

Objective: Nutritional status has been shown to impact patient outcomes across several neurosurgical procedures. However, few prior studies have assessed associations between preoperative nutritional status and outcomes in elderly patients undergoing subdural hematoma evacuations. The aim of this study was to identify associations between preoperative nutritional status and short-term outcomes in patients aged 65 years and older undergoing subdural hematoma evacuation.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. Geriatric patients (≥ 65 years of age) were categorized into three groups based on the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI): normal, malnourished, and severely malnourished. Patient demographic characteristics, comorbidities, and adverse events (AEs) were assessed. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify independent predictors of 30-day postoperative AEs, extended length of hospital stay (LOS), 30-day mortality, and nonroutine discharge.

Results: Of 2026 study patients, 908 (44.8%) had normal GNRI status, 564 (27.8%) had malnourished GNRI status, and 554 (27.3%) had severely malnourished GNRI status. The proportions of patients who experienced minor AEs (normal 12.7% vs malnourished 13.3% vs severely malnourished 19.0%, p = 0.003) and severe AEs (normal 25.3% vs malnourished 20.7% vs severely malnourished 35.7%, p ≤ 0.001) were greatest in the severely malnourished cohort. Mean LOS significantly increased along with increasing malnourishment (normal 9.1 ± 6.9 days vs malnourished 9.7 ± 7.0 days vs severely malnourished 11.3 ± 7.6 days, p ≤ 0.001), whereas the proportions of patients with 30-day mortality (normal 15.5% vs malnourished 15.6% vs severely malnourished 24.0%, p ≤ 0.001) and nonroutine discharge (normal 59.4% vs malnourished 66.1% vs severely malnourished 69.9%, p ≤ 0.001) similarly increased with increasing malnourishment. On multivariate analyses, severe malnourished status was significantly associated with increased odds of developing any AE (adjusted OR [aOR] 1.72, CI 1.33-2.23, p ≤ 0.001) and extended LOS (aOR 1.47, CI 1.11-1.95, p = 0.007), whereas malnourished status but not severely malnourished status was associated with increased odds of nonroutine discharge (aOR 1.46, CI 1.12-1.92, p = 0.006). Neither malnourished (p = 0.474) nor severely malnourished status (p = 0.367) was associated with increased odds of 30-day mortality.

Conclusions: The authors' findings suggest that preoperative nutritional status may have implications for short-term outcomes after subdural hematoma evacuation in patients aged 65 years and older. Further studies are necessary to better optimize nutritional status perioperatively in this patient population.

Objective: The authors' goal was to perform a retrospective audit of all emergency cranial neurosurgery performed at the Royal Darwin Hospital in the first 5 years of the unit and to compile their data in a similar fashion to an earlier study titled "Emergency Neurosurgery in Darwin: Still the Generalist Surgeons' Responsibility," which was published in 2015.

Methods: All emergency cranial neurosurgery performed by a neurosurgeon between 2017 and 2021 was identified. Data were extracted from the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre database. Statistical analyses were descriptive logistic regression performed using Stata version 15.1 software to examine factors associated with death.

Results: A total of 320 patients (42% Indigenous) underwent 427 emergency neurosurgeries. There were 35 emergency neurosurgeries in 2017 and 82 in 2021. The most common procedure performed was insertion of an external ventricular drain, followed by craniotomy and removal of intracranial hematoma. Mortality was 7.5% overall and 8.4% among patients with trauma. Only age proved to be a statistically significant independent risk factor for death (t = -2.95, p < 0.0041; OR 1.06, p = 0.02). Location, sex, injury severity, and presenting Glasgow Coma Scale score were not associated with death. Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients had similar outcomes.

Conclusions: The data illustrate the importance of developing small but sustainable neurosurgical units in rural and remote areas. A dedicated neurosurgical unit at the Royal Darwin Hospital has led to an increase in the amount and variety of emergency neurosurgery performed in Darwin. Interstate transfers have reduced. This has tangible lifesaving and economic advantages.

Objective: There is persistent debate in the literature surrounding the true predictors of biochemical remission after resection of somatotroph adenoma. A multimodal analysis of a large number of patients is needed to better understand which patients may be at higher or lower risk for remission failure after surgery.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed on patients undergoing somatotroph adenoma resection. Biochemical remission was defined as age- and sex-adjusted normalization of serum insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels at least 6 months after surgery. Patient case characteristics and clinicopathologic variables were tested for statistical associations with remission and were included in a random forest machine learning model to assess for their importance in determining remission status. Preoperative variables found to be significant remission predictors on statistical testing and important in the random forest model were subsequently assessed via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to determine numeric thresholds that optimally predicted preoperative likelihood of remission success or failure.

Results: Eighty patients were identified with somatotroph adenoma who underwent transsphenoidal resection, with 60 patients (75%) achieving biochemical remission. Statistical testing found that patients with failed remission were more likely to have larger tumors (1.9 vs 1.6 cm by the largest axis, p = 0.014; and 3.61 vs 2.66 cm3 by 3D volume, p = 0.013) that invaded the cavernous sinus more frequently (70% vs 22% of patients, p < 0.001) and have higher preoperative IGF-1 level (860 vs 660 ng/ml, p = 0.044). An optimized random forest machine learning model with 10,000 iterations found that tumor size, preoperative growth hormone and IGF-1 levels, and cavernous sinus invasion were important preoperative predictors of remission status. ROC analysis revealed that 96% of patients with preoperative 3D tumor volume less than 1.51 cm3 (area under the curve [AUC] 0.691, p = 0.003) and 100% with nonadjusted preoperative IGF-1 level less than 718.5 ng/ml (AUC 0.736, p = 0.002) achieved remission.

Conclusions: Important preoperative predictors of postoperative remission for somatotroph adenoma resection include serum IGF-1 level, cavernous sinus invasion, and tumor size. Ninety-five percent of patients who achieved postoperative remission had preoperative 3D tumor volume less than 1.51 cm3.

Objective: Hearing outcomes following Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) for vestibular schwannoma (VS) are multifactorial and poorly characterized in prior literature. In this study the authors evaluated hearing outcomes chronologically to identify prognostic factors of serviceable hearing preservation (HP) rates following GKRS for VS.

Methods: Six medical databases were queried according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Eligible studies reported VS treated with single-fraction GKRS and included the HP rate following GKRS. HP was defined as a postoperative Gardner-Robertson score ≤ 2 among patients with preoperative serviceable hearing. A meta-analysis with random-effects modeling was performed for variables of interest.

Results: Data from 42 articles with a total of 6582 patients were analyzed; the average age of patients was 54 years and the average follow-up time was 68 months. The pooled proportion of preoperative serviceable hearing was 76%, and the pooled HP rate was 60% at the last follow-up visit. At < 5 years after GKRS, age was significantly correlated with HP on both continuous and categorical analyses (p = 0.001 and p = 0.011, respectively). Between 5 and < 10 years of follow-up, HP was associated with a radiation dose of 12.5 Gy, but not with age or tumor volume. At ≥ 10 years after radiosurgery, a significant negative correlation was seen between marginal radiation dose and HP on both continuous and categorical analyses (p = 0.001 and p = 0.021, respectively).

Conclusions: This meta-analysis identifies age and radiation dose as independent prognostic factors for HP. Age-related hearing deterioration appears to be concentrated in the first 5 years after GKRS, whereas radiation dose was associated with HP at last follow-up, between 5 and < 10 years, and at ≥ 10 years after radiosurgery. This meta-analysis offers an objective overview of the literature and a framework for clinical decision-making, with applications for treatment planning and patient counseling.