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The article discusses spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH), a clinical condition characterized by postural headaches caused by the spontaneous leakage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) into the extradural space. The most common cause of CSF leakage is a longitudinal dural tear, meningeal diverticulum, or direct cerebrospinal venous fistula (LVF). SIH is an underdiagnosed condition with an incidence of 5 per 100,000 people per year, typically affecting individuals between the ages of 40-50, with a higher prevalence in women. The article presents a case study of a 61-year-old woman with SIH who underwent surgical treatment, resulting in the resolution of her symptoms. The article also discusses the diagnosis and treatment of LVF, a potential cause of SIH. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Česká a Slovenská Neurologie a Neurochirurgie is the property of Czech Medical Association of JE Purkyne and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Brain metastases are serious complication of cancer. Progress in brain imaging, intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring and neurosurgical equipment have increased the extent of the resection and safety of neurosurgical operations while reducing mortality and morbidity. Surgical resection is still the first considered therapeutic option. It is especially recommended for patients with solitary cerebral metastasis in accessible localization, in good clinical conditions and with favourable prognosis. It is relatively contraindicated in the case of uncontrolled cancer disease, poor clinical conditions, in the case of radiosensitive tumours, poor disease prognosis and presence of more than three cerebral metastases. Surgical therapy for two or three metastases is also possible, but its role may be questionable in some aspects. General recommendations are not clearly defined in the case of recurrent metastases as well, and individual assessment is preferred based on the evaluation of the number of prognostic factors. The Editorial Board declares that the manuscript met the ICMJE "uniform requirements" for biomedical papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Česká a Slovenská Neurologie a Neurochirurgie is the property of Czech Medical Association of JE Purkyne and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: To evaluate and compare the diagnostic power of [ 18 F]FLT-PET with ceMRI in patients with brain tumours or other focal lesions., Methods: 121 patients with suspected brain tumour or those after brain tumour surgery were enroled in this retrospective study (61 females, 60 males, mean age 37.3 years, range 1-80 years). All patients underwent [ 18 F]FLT-PET/MRI with gadolinium contrast agent application. In 118 of these patients, a final diagnosis was made, verified by histopathology or by follow-up. Agreement between ceMRI and [ 18 F]FLT-PET of the whole study group was established. Further, sensitivity and specificity of ceMRI and [ 18 F]FLT-PET were calculated for differentiation of high-grade vs. low-grade tumours, high-grade vs. low-grade tumours together with non-tumour lesions and for differentiation of high-grade tumours from all other verified lesions., Results: [ 18 F]FLT-PET and ceMRI findings were concordant in 119 cases (98%). On closer analysis of a subset of 64 patients with verified gliomas, the sensitivity and specificity of both PET and ceMRI were identical (90% and 84%, respectively) for differentiating low-grade from high-grade tumours, if the contrast enhancement and [ 18 F]FLT uptake were considered as hallmarks of high-grade tumour. For differentiation of high-grade tumours from low-grade tumours and lesions of nontumorous aetiology (e.g., inflammatory lesions or post-therapeutic changes) in a subgroup of 93 patients by visual evaluation, the sensitivity of both PET and ceMRI was 90%, whereas the specificity of PET was slightly higher (61%) compared to ceMRI (57%). By receiver operating characteristic analysis, the sensitivity and specificity were 82% and 74%, respectively, when the threshold of SUVmax in the tumour was set to 0.9 g/ml., Conclusion: We demonstrated a generally very high correlation of [ 18 F]FLT accumulation with contrast enhancement visible on ceMRI and a comparable diagnostic yield in both modalities for differentiating high-grade tumours from low-grade tumours and lesions of other aetiology., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The number of patients with an implanted shunt reaching reproductive age and planning pregnancy is increasing thanks to advances in the treatment of hydrocephalus. Changes in the mother's organism, which are mainly related to the accumulation of water in the organism and the elevation of intra-abdominal pressure, contribute to the increased incidence of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Therefore, it is necessary to make a preconception exam and specify pregnancy management, a suitable method of childbirth dealing with potential complications. Possible malfunction of the shunt is solved individually according to the current neurological findings and taking into account the patient's overall condition and gestational age. Vaginal delivery is considered safe and preferred by most authors. Primary caesarean section is indicated only in patients with a history of rapidly progressing deterioration of the neurological condition due to shunt malfunction or serious complications related to its impaired shunt function. In an uncomplicated pregnancy with normal values of intracranial pressure, both general and epidural or spinal anesthesia can be used when choosing anesthesia.

Ventriculoatrial shunts are the alternative treatments when it is impossible to use ventriculoperitoneal shunts. Limited indication for ventriculoatrial shunt is due to the possibility of very serious complications inherent with this procedure. We present a case report of a young patient who suffered from disconnection of an atrial catheter from the valve after an accidental blow to his neck. The atrial catheter was dislocated to the heart and pulmonary artery and it was extracted through the femoral vein in the groin area using an endovascular technique. The procedure went without complications. A new atrial catheter was introduced under ultrasonic guidance during surgical revision.

In contrast to conventional diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), multi-b-value diffusion MRI methods are able to separate the signal from free water, pseudo-diffusion, and non-Gaussian components of water molecule diffusion. These approaches can then be utilised in so-called intravoxel incoherent motion imaging and diffusion kurtosis imaging. Various parameters provided by these methods can describe additional characteristics of the tissue microstructure and potentially help in the diagnosis and classification of various pathological processes. In this review, we present the basic principles and methods of analysing multi-b-value diffusion imaging data and specifically focus on the known possibilities for its use in the diagnosis of brain lesions. We also suggest possible directions for further research., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Milos Kerkovsky reports financial support was provided by Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic., (Copyright © 2023 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Although machine learning (ML) has shown promise across disciplines, out-of-sample generalizability is concerning. This is currently addressed by sharing multi-site data, but such centralization is challenging/infeasible to scale due to various limitations. Federated ML (FL) provides an alternative paradigm for accurate and generalizable ML, by only sharing numerical model updates. Here we present the largest FL study to-date, involving data from 71 sites across 6 continents, to generate an automatic tumor boundary detector for the rare disease of glioblastoma, reporting the largest such dataset in the literature (n = 6, 314). We demonstrate a 33% delineation improvement for the surgically targetable tumor, and 23% for the complete tumor extent, over a publicly trained model. We anticipate our study to: 1) enable more healthcare studies informed by large diverse data, ensuring meaningful results for rare diseases and underrepresented populations, 2) facilitate further analyses for glioblastoma by releasing our consensus model, and 3) demonstrate the FL effectiveness at such scale and task-complexity as a paradigm shift for multi-site collaborations, alleviating the need for data-sharing., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background:  Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a severe condition associated with high mortality. Early brain injury (EBI) plays an important role in the pathophysiology of SAH, and inflammation is a major contributor to EBI. Inflammation is a widely studied topic in both experimental and clinical conditions; however, just a few clinical studies have focused primarily on the early inflammatory response after SAH, and detailed information about the association between the dynamics of early inflammatory response with main clinical characteristics is lacking. This study analyzes the early dynamics of inflammatory response after SAH and evaluates the possible associations between the markers of early inflammatory response and main clinical characteristics., Patients and Methods:  A total of 47 patients with a diagnosis of aneurysmal SAH within the last 24 hours were enrolled in the study. All treatments, including treatment of aneurysm (surgery/coiling) and implantation of a drainage system (external ventricular drainage/lumbar catheter), were conducted in the same way as in other patients with this diagnosis. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were collected three times a day for 4 days. The dynamics of proinflammatory cytokines were assessed, and associations between levels of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, or tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α and main clinical characteristics were evaluated using linear mixed-effect models., Results:  The CSF levels of IL-6 were massively increased initially after SAH (up to 72 hours) with an additional increase in later phases (after 72 hours), but there was high variability in IL-6 levels. A significant association was noted between the Glasgow Outcome Scale score and both overall levels of IL-6 ( p  = 0.0095) and their dynamics ( p  = 0.0208); the effect of the Hunt and Hess scale was borderline ( p  = 0.0887). No association was found between IL-6 levels and Fisher grade, modality of treatment (surgery, coiling, no treatment), and later development of cerebral vasospasm. Plasmatic levels of IL-6 increased slightly, but no significant association was found. The levels of IL-1β and TNFα were within the physiologic range in both CSF and plasma., Conclusions:  Early dynamics of IL-6 in CSF are associated with a patient́s outcome. But it is difficult to use IL-6 alone for outcome prediction due to its high variability. The question is whether the dynamics of IL-6 could be used in combination with other early markers associated with brain injury. More detailed research is required to answer this question., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Unlabelled: Hydrocephalus is a disorder of abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the intracranial space, usually in the cerebral ventricles. The number of patients reaching reproductive age and intending to become pregnant has increased in recent years because of treatment advances. An implanted shunt is usually introduced into the abdominal cavity (ventriculoperitoneal shunt). Numerous changes occur during pregnancy, mainly increased accumulation of water, increased intracranial cerebrospinal fluid volume and increased intra-abdominal pressure as a result of the growing uterus. These changes contribute to increased incidence of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Therefore, it is necessary to make a preconception exam and specify pregnancy management, a suitable method of childbirth and dealing with potential complications. Multidisciplinary care is mandatory with the dominant cooperation of obstetricians and neurosurgeons who should be also available during the delivery when needed. Possible shunt malfunction is necessary to diagnose properly and in time and solve it individually, taking into account the overall and neurological status of the patient and gestational age. The presence of a shunt does not affect pregnancy and vaginal delivery is considered by most authors as the first option. Primary cesarean section is preffered in patients with obstructive hydrocephalus or rapid deterioration in the case of shunt malfunction. Epidural anesthesia or general, eventually spinal anesthesia are recommended., Keywords: hydrocephalus, shunt, ventriculoperitoneal shunt, ventriculoatrial shunt, endoscopy, endoscopic third ventriculostomy, pregnancy.

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension is a disorder that results from an increase of intracranial pressure with unknown cause. A single measurement of intracranial pressure only provides data at one given point in time. Therefore, telemetric monitoring of intracranial pressure was performed in a patient with fluctuating headache and significantly impaired vision, which together accounted for 226.2 hours of recording during normal daily activities. Elevated intracranial pressure was not found during monitoring, so we did not indicate the patient for shunt surgery.

Introduction: Implantation of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt is a standard procedure in the treatment of hydrocephalus. Shunt malfunction can be due to various causes, such as failure of the peritoneal (distal) part of the shunt with a frequency of 5% to 47%., Objective: The aim of this study was to compare laparoscopic and laparotomic techniques for implantation of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt., Material and Methods: We considered a cohort of 304 patients with hydrocephalus, acquired during a 10-year period, who underwent surgical intervention at the Neurosurgical and Surgical Clinics of the University Hospital Brno., Results: The 304 patients underwent a total of 392 operations, of which 67 (17.1%) were performed using a laparoscopic approach and 325 (82.9%) using a laparotomic approach. In the laparotomy group, 59 (18.2%) interventions were repeated due to complications of the peritoneal part of the shunt, while in the laparoscopy group revisions accounted for only 3 cases (4.5%)., Conclusions: The laparoscopic technique significantly reduces the risk of complications of the peritoneal part of the shunt, and thus the overall complications associated with the implantation of the ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Laparoscopy is indicated in the case of migration of the peritoneal catheters into the abdominal cavity and is also very helpful in revisions in the case of malfunction of the peritoneal part of the shunt or in the case of previous abdominal surgery. It can explain the anatomical conditions in the abdominal cavity and it is able to treat any incidental pathology.

The lesions arising in the popliteal fossa are varied. We report two different lesions related to the peroneal nerve that presented with neurologic symptoms. Both were initially treated at surgical department with insufficient diagnostics and finally required a neurosurgical operation. We emphasize performing complete diagnostics that may avoid unnecessary burden for the patient and healthcare personnel. Patients with proven intimate relation of the lesion to nerve structures in the popliteal fossa should be referred to neurosurgical department.

The article deals with the orbitozygomatic approach used in the treatment of pathological processes located in the anterior, medial and superior third of the posterior cranial fossa with special attention paid to suprasellar lesions. It presents a step-by-step guide to the surgical procedure, including potential complications. Furthermore, various modifications of the orbitozygomatic approach are discussed and several references from other authors are quoted with respect to the comparison of different approaches based on quantification criteria. The orbitozygomatic approach is the method of choice in the treatment of suprasellar lesions, in particular in the case of voluminous expansion. It allows for more radical resection, because the operational field is more extensive and operation in deep intracranial structures is easier.