Pediatric Neurosurgery

Development of spinal canal and its contents occurs in a much regulated fashion. Aberration at any stage of development namely gastrulation, primary neurulation, secondary neurulation, and retrogressive differentiation can result in a specific abnormality. Spinal cord anomalies or spinal dysraphism is a heterogeneous group containing some entities that are obvious at birth and many that are discovered only after imaging for neurological symptoms or signs. Congenital spinal tumors are closely related and present either as an external mass or imaging abnormalities...

BACKGROUND: Prenatal repair of myelomeningocele, the most common form of spina bifida, may result in better neurologic function than repair deferred until after delivery. We compared outcomes of in utero repair with standard postnatal repair. METHODS: We randomly assigned eligible women to undergo either prenatal surgery before 26 weeks of gestation or standard postnatal repair. One primary outcome was a composite of fetal or neonatal death or the need for placement of a cerebrospinal fluid shunt by the age of 12 months...

Central nervous system tumors are the most common pediatric solid tumors and a leading cause of cancer-related mortality and morbidity in this age group. Survival rates have improved significantly over the last decades for most of the tumor types, as a consequence of improvements in neuroimaging, neurosurgery and neuroanesthesia, radiation oncology, and medical oncology. The complexity of the management of these patients requires a multidisciplinary approach and has led to the emergence of a new subspecialty of pediatric neuro-oncologists who are dedicated to the management and follow-up of this population...

Brainstem gliomas occur in 10-20% of brain tumors in pediatrics. Over the past 3 decades, the treatment of brainstem gliomas has significantly progressed as a result of the gradual advancements in microsurgical techniques, sophisticated imaging technology and, most importantly, the availability of MRI. In this article, we review the current literature on brainstem gliomas and cover diagnosis, imaging, classification, and management. Surgical approaches and intraoperative modalities to tackle operable cases of brainstem gliomas will be discussed in a follow up article...

OBJECTIVES: To describe the main pathophysiological differences in neurosurgical procedures between children and adults; the main complications and adverse events resulting from pediatric neurosurgery reported in studies; the singularities in anesthetic and intraoperative management in several neurosurgical diseases; the more specific and common complications and their management in the most frequent pediatric neurosurgical procedures, as well as causes and treatment for the main complications found in children undergoing neurosurgery...

INTRODUCTION: Neuroendoscopy has greatly impacted pediatric neurosurgery over the past few decades. Improved optics and microsurgical tools have allowed neuroendoscopes to be used for a multitude of neurosurgical procedures. DISCUSSION: In this review article, we present the breadth of intraventricular neuroendoscopic procedures for the treatment of conditions ranging from hydrocephalus and brain tumors to congenital cysts and other pathologies. We critically discuss treatment indications and reported success rates for neuroendoscopic procedures...

Advances in technology have facilitated the development of minimally invasive neurosurgical options for the treatment of pediatric neurological disease. This review seeks to familiarize pediatric neurologists with some of the techniques of minimally invasive pediatric neurosurgery, focusing on treatments for hydrocephalus, arachnoid cysts, intracranial mass lesions, and craniosynostosis.

Hydrocephalus is a common disorder of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) physiology resulting in abnormal expansion of the cerebral ventricles. Infants commonly present with progressive macrocephaly whereas children older than 2 years generally present with signs and symptoms of intracranial hypertension. The classic understanding of hydrocephalus as the result of obstruction to bulk flow of CSF is evolving to models that incorporate dysfunctional cerebral pulsations, brain compliance, and newly characterised water-transport mechanisms...

OBJECT: The objective of this systematic review was to answer the following question: What is the optimal treatment strategy for CSF shunt infection in pediatric patients with hydrocephalus? METHODS: The US National Library of Medicine and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were queried using MeSH headings and key words relevant to the objective of this systematic review. Abstracts were reviewed, after which studies meeting the inclusion criteria were selected and graded according to their quality of evidence (Classes I-III)...

OBJECT: The objective of this systematic review was to examine the existing literature to compare differing shunt components used to treat hydrocephalus in children, find whether there is a superior shunt design for the treatment of pediatric hydrocephalus, and make evidence-based recommendations for the selection of shunt implants when placing shunts. METHODS: Both the US National Library of Medicine PubMed/MEDLINE database and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were queried using MeSH headings and key words chosen to identify publications comparing the use of shunt implant components...