Neurological oncology

Accumulating evidence suggests that the brain exhibits a remarkable capacity for functional compensation in response to neurological damage, a resilience potential that is deeply rooted in the malleable features of its underlying anatomo-functional architecture. This propensity is particularly exemplified by diffuse low-grade gliomas (DLGGs), a subtype of primary brain tumour. However, functional plasticity is not boundless, and surgical resections directed at structures with limited neuroplasticity may lead to incapacitating impairments...

INTRODUCTION: Inpatient falls account for 6% to 24% of pediatric safety incidents and can lead to increased length of hospital stay, increased cost of care, and decreased satisfaction with care. A review of a pediatric hematology, oncology, neurology, and rehabilitation unit in a hospital in the southern United States revealed an average of one to two falls monthly. OBJECTIVE: This project aimed to promote evidence-based practices (EBPs) regarding fall prevention in the pediatric unit...

INTRODUCTION: Current treatment of spinal metastases (SM) aims on preserving spinal stability, neurological status, and functional status as well as achieving local control. It consists of spinal surgery followed by radiotherapy and/or systemic treatment. Adjuvant therapy usually starts with a delay of a few weeks to prevent wound healing issues. Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) has previously been successfully applied during brain tumor, breast and colorectal carcinoma surgery but not in SM, including unstable one, to date...

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) aminoacylate tRNA molecules with their cognate amino acid, enabling information transmission and providing substrates for protein biosynthesis. They also take part in nontranslational functions, mediated by the presence of other proteins domains. Mutations in ARS genes have been described as responsive to numerous factors, including neurological, autoimmune, and oncological. Variants of the ARS genes, both in heterozygosity and homozygosity, have been reported to be responsible for different pathological pictures in humankind...

Intra-operative navigation has revolutionized spinal instrumentation. The O-arm (a mobile X-ray system; Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN) is uniquely capable of enabling visualization of the spine in axial planes. The application of this technology is wide yet underutilized in terms of its capacity to image spinal vascular anatomy. We completed a retrospective chart review of the following case studies. A 24-year-old neurologically intact female presented with a Jefferson fracture without vertebral artery dissection after a motor vehicle accident...

Schwannomas localized in the sacrum are relatively infrequent, accounting for 1-5% of all spinal axis schwannomas; they present with vague symptoms or are symptomless, so often grow to a considerable size before detection. Sacral schwannomas occasionally present with enormous dimensions, and these tumors are termed giant sacral schwannomas. However, their surgical removal is challenging owing to an abundant vascularity. The present study retrospectively analyzed the clinical and follow-up data of a patient with a giant sacral schwannoma...

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma (GBM) is a fatal, fast-growing, and aggressive brain tumor arising from glial cells or their progenitors. It is a primary malignancy with a poor prognosis. The current study aims at evaluating the neuroradiological parameters of de novo GBM by analyzing the brain multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) scans acquired from a publicly available database analysis of the scans. METHODS: The dataset used was the mpMRI scans for de novo glioblastoma (GBM) patients from the University of Pennsylvania Health System, called the UPENN-GBM dataset...

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer in males is a very rare entity, and survival is mainly influenced by the stage at diagnosis. The lack of early detection tools in men results in a diagnostic delay of about 5-10 years and a higher percentage of metastatic disease at diagnosis. However, the characteristics of head metastases are not well defined. CASE REPORTS: We present two cases of male breast cancer with metastases affecting cranial nervous structures and we provide imaging and histologic data...

OBJECTIVES: To report an autoimmune paraneoplastic encephalitis characterized by immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody targeting synaptic protein calmodulin kinase-like vesicle-associated (CAMKV). METHODS: Serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples harboring unclassified antibodies on murine brain-based indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) were screened by human protein microarray. In 5 patients with identical cerebral IFA staining, CAMKV was identified as top-ranking candidate antigen...

To external validate the risk assessment model (RAM) of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in multicenter internal medicine inpatients. We prospectively collected 595 internal medical patients (310 with VTE patients, 285 non-VTE patients) were from Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, and the respiratory department of Beijing Tsinghua Changgeng Hospital from January 2022 to December 2022 for multicenter external validation. The prediction ability of Caprini RAM, Padua RAM, The International Medical Prevention Registry on Venous Thromboembolism (IMPROVE) RAM, and Shijitan (SJT) RAM were compared...

INTRODUCTION: Meningiomas are the most common primary brain and central nervous system tumors, accounting for approximately 40% of these tumors. The most important exams for the radiological study of meningiomas are computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We aimed to analyze the radiological features of patients with meningioma related to the simultaneous presence of bilateral macronodular adrenocortical disease (BMAD), with or without pathogenic variants of ARMC5...

The right hemisphere has been underestimated by being considered as the non-dominant hemisphere. However, it is involved in many functions, including movement, language, cognition, and emotion. Therefore, because lesions on this side are usually not resected under awake mapping, there is a risk of unfavorable neurological outcomes. The goal of this study is to compare the functional and oncological outcomes of awake surgery (AwS) versus surgery under general anesthesia (GA) in supratentorial right-sided gliomas...

Antiplatelet therapy is mandatory for prevention of thrombotic events in patients with a recent history of acute coronary syndromes and/or percutaneous coronary interventions. However, if an urgent surgery is required during antiplatelet therapy, a compromise between the ischemic/thrombotic and hemorrhagic risk has to be reached. Different bridging schemes are reported in the literature, but there is no clear consensus on the optimal treatment strategy in terms of efficacy and safety. Although some indications about the perioperative management of antiplatelet therapy regarding specific surgical specializations are available, balancing the thrombotic and hemorrhagic risk on an individual basis, no evidence referring to neurosurgical or neuro-oncologic procedures is reported...

INTRODUCTION: Surgery for gliomas involving eloquent areas is a very challenging microsurgical procedure. Maximizing both the extent of resection (EOR) and preservation of neurological function have always been the focus of attention. Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) is widely used in this kind of surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of IONM in eloquent area glioma surgery. METHODS: Sixty-eight glioma patients who underwent surgical treatment from 2014 to 2019 were included in this retrospective cohort study, which focused on eloquent areas...

OBJECTIVE: To classifying the degree of swallowing impairment in the elderly, comparing clinical and instrumental assessment. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study with quantitative and qualitative analysis of clinical and instrumental assessment of 37 elderly, aged 60-82 years, of both genders without neurological, oncological or systemic diseases, participated in this study. All participants were submitted to clinical evaluation and their results compared through fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing considering liquid, pudding and solid food consistencies...

BACKGROUND: Strong interactions between art and health are well-known. While advances in brain surgery resulted in an improved preservation of sensorimotor, visuospatial, language and cognitive functions, creative abilities received less attention. However, creativity may represent a critical issue to resume an optimal quality of life, especially in artists. Here, a unique case of sudden change in creative style in a painter who underwent glioma resection is described. This prompts to explore further creative thinking and its clinical implications in routine practice...

In 2015, a groundswell of brain tumour patient, carer and charity activism compelled the UK Minister for Life Sciences to form a brain tumour research task and finish group. This resulted, in 2018, with the UK government pledging £20m of funding, to be paralleled with £25m from Cancer Research UK, specifically for neuro-oncology research over the subsequent 5 years. Herein, we review if and how the adult brain tumour research landscape in the United Kingdom has changed over that time and what challenges and bottlenecks remain...

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Comparative experimental pathology is a research field at the interface of human and veterinary medicine. It is focused on the comparative study of similarities and differences between spontaneous and experimentally induced diseases in animals (animal models) compared to human diseases. The use of animal models for studying human diseases is an essential component of biomedical research. Interdisciplinary teams with species-specific expertise should collaborate wherever possible and maintain close communication...

In this case report, we describe a 76-year-old woman, presenting with dizziness for the past 2 months, without other focal neurological signs. A magnetic resonance imaging of the brain was ordered by her GP. The MRI demonstrated multiple ring-enhancing lesions, both supratentorial and infratentorial. Lumbar puncture showed normal findings, in particular a normal cell count and culture. Because of the radiologic appearance, initially thought to be suggestive of cerebral abscesses, antibiotics were started. However, further workup revealed a new diagnosis of a stage IV (metastatic) small cell lung carcinoma, making diffuse brain metastases more likely...