Surgical Neurology

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BACKGROUND: As total disk arthroplasty (TDA) gains increasing acceptance as an alternative to fusion for degenerative disk disease of the lumbar spine, new complications are encountered by the physicians during and after the procedure. We hereby report a complication after TDA in the lumbar spine that is in variance from previously proposed theories and suggests the possibility of implant design as one of the etiologic factors. The purpose of the present submission is to report a case of delayed heterotopic ossification (HO) after TDA that suggests that the keel-based design of the implant might have contributed to the etiology...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: To investigate biomaterials seeking for their possible use for aneurysm treatment, in vivo screening tests using a number of potential materials are required. However, there is no established animal model that is suitable for such purpose. Some models require special preparation of tested materials for transcatheter delivery and others are inappropriate in view of their cost-effectiveness. The purpose of this study is to establish an animal model that overcomes these limitations and help us select potential materials before the preclinical evaluation...

BACKGROUND: We investigated the safety of treatment of symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenoses with the Gateway-Wingspan system and its initial effect on prevention of ischemic events. METHODS: Twenty-seven cases of symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenoses were treated with angioplasty with a Wingspan stent. Location of stenoses, extent of stenoses before and after angioplasty, success rate of treatment, occurrence of procedural complications, and changes in recurrence of symptoms of ischemic events 30 days after treatment were recorded...

BACKGROUND: Patients with SAH often experience cognitive decline. Previous studies used normal volunteers, published normal test values, and orthopedic patients as controls to identify factors for postoperative cognitive decline. The present study excluded the effects of surgery by comparing cognitive function after surgical repair in patients with aneurysmal SAH and patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysm. METHODS: This study recruited 117 patients with SAH due to ruptured aneurysm and 39 patients with incidentally found unruptured intracranial aneurysms...

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to report on the impact of neuromodulation to the superior hypogastric plexus in patients with bladder atonia secondary to pelvic surgery. METHODS: In 4 consecutive patients with bladder atonia secondary to pelvic surgery, we performed a laparoscopic implantation of a neurostimulator--LION procedure--to the entire superior hypogastric plexus. RESULTS: Of the 4 reported patients, 3 are able to partially void or empty their bladder...

BACKGROUND: Despite a lot of research into patient selection, a significant number of patients fail to benefit from surgery for symptomatic lumbar disk herniation. We have used Fuzzy Logic-based fuzzy inference system (FIS) for identifying patients unlikely to improve after disk surgery and explored FIS as a tool for surgical outcome prediction. METHODS: Data of 501 patients were retrospectively reviewed for 54 independent variables. Sixteen variables were short-listed based on heuristics and were further classified into memberships with degrees of membership within each...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: For cervical spine ABC, staged surgery and the combination of both anterior and posterior approaches are usually necessary for lesions involving all 3 (anterior, middle, and posterior) columns of the spine (holovertebral). CASE DESCRIPTION: A 20-year-old young man presented with quadriplegia and acute urine retention lasting for 3 days in November 2006. The diagnosis of an ABC involving the C2 vertebral body, pedicles, laminae, and spinous process was made by MRI...

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease, affecting at least 1% of population older than 65 years, is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder. Up to now, no evidence has demonstrated that biochemical changes in CSF occur preceding the onset of Parkinson's symptoms. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that biochemical changes in CSF precede behavioral deficits in Parkinsonian animals. METHODS: We infused different doses of 6-OHDA into the MFB of rats bilaterally and examined the animals' movement behaviors, biochemical alterations in CSF, and dopaminergic neuronal number in the SNpc 1 week later...

BACKGROUND: Brain tissue scarring (gliosis) was believed to be the major cause of epileptic focus after brain injury, and prevention of scarring could reduce the incidence of seizure. We tried the HA coating onto the cortical brain defect of Spraque-Dawley rats to reduce the marginal glial scarring. METHODS: A 4 x 2 x 2 mm(3) cortical defect was created in the brain of Spraque-Dawley rats. Three percent HA gel was coated onto the lesion for the experimental groups and normal saline solutions for the control groups...

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the safety and protective effect of relative undersized coil with loose coil core in the clinical dilemma condition--very small (43.0 mm) ruptured intracranial aneurysm. METHODS: We studied 12 patients (4 men, 8 women) who had suffered from acute ruptured small intracranial aneurysms (2-3 mm in size, with SAH presentation). All subjects underwent a single coil embolization procedure. An undersized coil (equivalent to the neck size or 0.5 mm smaller than the aneurysm diameter) was chosen as the embolizer...