Adjuvant proton beam therapy in patients with grade 2 meningiomas.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) grade 2 meningiomas behave aggressively with a high proclivity toward recurrence despite maximal surgical resection. Our institution, a pioneer of proton therapy, uses exclusively proton beam radiation, and thus, we present a retrospective cohort analysis of patients with WHO grade 2 meningiomas treated with adjuvant proton beam therapy (PBT) at our institution between 2007 and 2019. The effects of adjuvant PBT were evaluated.

Artificial intelligence for the vascular surgeon.

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has permeated different aspects of vascular surgery to solve challenges in clinical practice. Although AI in vascular surgery is still in its early stages, there have been promising developments in its applications to vascular diagnosis, risk stratification, and outcome prediction. By establishing a baseline knowledge of AI, vascular surgeons are better equipped to use and interpret the data from these types of projects.

Midline-Sparing Interapophysealaminar Decompression Technique for Management of Lumbar Stenosis in Pediatric Achondroplasia.

Introduction: Achondroplasia is the most common form of short-limb dwarfism in humans, with an incidence of 1 in 25,000-40,000 live births. About one-third of achondroplasia patients will require operative intervention for lumbar spinal stenosis, generally presenting with progressive neurogenic claudication. The anatomy of the achondroplastic lumbar spine, with shortened pedicles, hypertrophic zygapophyseal joints, and thickened laminae frequently results in the development of multilevel interapophyseolaminar stenosis, while stenosis is usually absent at the mid-laminar levels secondary to pseudo-scalloping of the vertebral bodies.

Lipid Deposition Profiles Influence Foreign Body Responses.

Fibrosis remains a significant cause of failure in implanted biomedical devices and early absorption of proteins on implant surfaces has been shown to be a key instigating factor. However, lipids can also regulate immune activity and their presence may also contribute to biomaterial-induced foreign body responses (FBR) and fibrosis. Here it is demonstrated that the surface presentation of lipids on implant affects FBR by influencing reactions of immune cells to materials as well as their resultant inflammatory/suppressive polarization.