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Teratomas of the cranial vault are divided into histopathological subtypes and grouped by prognoses: mature (good prognosis), mixed/malignant and immature teratomas (intermediate prognosis). This schema also includes non-teratomatous tumors. The authors of this study sought to elucidate histologically dependent predictors of survival and further clarify the classification system of intracranial teratomas. We performed a systematic analysis of the published literature to identify studies describing patients with intracranial teratomas diagnosed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and presenting definite information on histologies, therapies, and outcomes at a minimum follow-up of 2 years. Disease-free (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. A total of 18 articles comprised of 134 patients were included. On univariate analysis, male sex and gross-total resection (GTR) were associated with high mean DFS (p = 0.0362 and p

A solid-phase reagent strip was evaluated for the measurement of creatinine concentrations in the plasma and urine of patients with various degrees of renal dysfunction. Results of these determinations, performed on the Seralyzer solid-phase chemistry system, were compared with results obtained using an AutoAnalyzer. The study involved 131 measurements of plasma creatinine, 114 measurements of urine creatinine, and the calculation of the creatinine clearance rate in 96 patients. No significant difference between the concentrations measured by the two methods could be demonstrated. Creatinine concentrations measured with the Seralyzer correlated well with those measured using the AutoAnalyzer.