Clinical Experience and Results of Microsurgical Resection of Arterioveonous Malformation in the Presence of Space-Occupying Intracerebral Hematoma.

Background: Management of ruptured arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) with a mass-producing intracerebral hematoma (ICH) represents a surgical dilemma.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical outcome and obliteration rates of microsurgical resection of AVM when performed concomitantly with evacuation of an associated space-occupying ICH.

Methods: Data of patients with AVM were collected prospectively.

Bulbar dysfunction and aspiration pneumonia due to a brainstem haemangioblastoma: an unusual complication of von Hippel-Lindau disease.

A 44-year-old woman with a history of von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease, a rare inherited neoplasia syndrome, presented acutely to hospital with a productive cough, symptoms of respiratory tract infection and odynophagia (painful swallowing). A chest X-ray confirmed right-sided pneumonia. Investigation of the persistent odynophagia using barium swallow revealed aspiration of the contrast into the lungs and suggested a neurological cause for her chest infection.

Successful treatment of residual pituitary adenoma in persistent acromegaly following localisation by 11C-methionine PET co-registered with MRI.

Objective: To determine if functional imaging using C-methionine positron emission tomography co-registered with 3D gradient echo MRI (Met-PET/MRI), can identify sites of residual active tumour in treated acromegaly, and discriminate these from post-treatment change, to allow further targeted treatment.

Design/methods: Twenty-six patients with persistent acromegaly after previous treatment, in whom MRI appearances were considered indeterminate, were referred to our centre for further evaluation over a 4.5-year period.

A role for 11C-methionine PET imaging in ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome.

Objective: We report our experience of functional imaging with (11)C-methionine positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) co-registered with 3D gradient echo (spoiled gradient recalled (SPGR)) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the investigation of ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome.

Design: Twenty patients with i) de novo Cushing's disease (CD, n=10), ii) residual or recurrent hypercortisolism following first pituitary surgery (±radiotherapy; n=8) or iii) ectopic Cushing's syndrome (n=2) were referred to our centre for functional imaging studies between 2010 and 2015. Six of the patients with de novo CD and five of those with persistent/relapsed disease had a suspected abnormality on conventional MRI.

The genome of the sparganosis tapeworm Spirometra erinaceieuropaei isolated from the biopsy of a migrating brain lesion.

Background: Sparganosis is an infection with a larval Diphyllobothriidea tapeworm. From a rare cerebral case presented at a clinic in the UK, DNA was recovered from a biopsy sample and used to determine the causative species as Spirometra erinaceieuropaei through sequencing of the cox1 gene. From the same DNA, we have produced a draft genome, the first of its kind for this species, and used it to perform a comparative genomics analysis and to investigate known and potential tapeworm drug targets in this tapeworm.

Recovery of oculomotor nerve palsy secondary to posterior communicating artery aneurysms.

Background: Recent studies suggest more favourable recovery of oculomotor nerve palsy (ONP) caused by posterior communicating artery (PComA) aneurysms with microsurgical clipping compared to endovascular coiling. We describe a consecutive series of patients with ONP from PComA aneurysms treated by microsurgical clipping or endovascular coiling.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of all patients from 2005 to 2009 with complete or partial ONP from PComA aneurysms.

A comprehensive study of clinical, biochemical, radiological, vascular, cardiac, and sleep parameters in an unselected cohort of patients with acromegaly undergoing presurgical somatostatin receptor ligand therapy.

Context: Attainment of safe GH and IGF-1 levels is a central goal of acromegaly management.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which reductions in GH and IGF-1 concentrations correlate with amelioration of radiological, metabolic, vascular, cardiac, and respiratory sequelae in a single unselected patient cohort.

Study Design: This was a prospective, within-subject comparison in 30 patients with newly diagnosed acromegaly (15 women and 15 men: mean age, 54.

Acute ischaemic brain lesions in intracerebral haemorrhage: multicentre cross-sectional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Subclinical acute ischaemic lesions on brain magnetic resonance imaging have recently been described in spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage, and may be important to understand pathophysiology and guide treatment. The underlying mechanisms are uncertain. We tested the hypothesis that ischaemic lesions are related to magnetic resonance imaging markers of the severity and type of small-vessel disease (hypertensive arteriopathy or cerebral amyloid angiopathy) in a multicentre, cross-sectional study.

Infarction of 'non-core-non-penumbral' tissue after stroke: multivariate modelling of clinical impact.

There is considerable intersubject variability in early neurological course after anterior circulation stroke, yet the pathophysiology underlying this variability is not fully understood. Here, we hypothesize that, although not predicted by current pathophysiological models, infarction of 'non-core-non-penumbral' (i.e.

Fluid intelligence loss linked to restricted regions of damage within frontal and parietal cortex.

Tests of fluid intelligence predict success in a wide range of cognitive activities. Much uncertainty has surrounded brain lesions producing deficits in these tests, with standard group comparisons delivering no clear result. Based on findings from functional imaging, we propose that the uncertainty of lesion data may arise from the specificity and complexity of the relevant neural circuit.

Executive function and fluid intelligence after frontal lobe lesions.

Many tests of specific 'executive functions' show deficits after frontal lobe lesions. These deficits appear on a background of reduced fluid intelligence, best measured with tests of novel problem solving. For a range of specific executive tests, we ask how far frontal deficits can be explained by a general fluid intelligence loss.

Spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhoea as the presenting feature of an invasive macroprolactinoma.

A 29-year-old male university student, with no prior history of trauma, presented with a 1 year history of clear fluid leaking intermittently from his left nostril. His past medical history included bilateral gynaecomastia since age 12, and recent low libido. β2-transferrin analysis of the nasal fluid confirmed a diagnosis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) rhinorrhoea.

A rare presentation of ventriculitis and brain abscess caused by Fusobacterium nucleatum.

Anaerobic ventriculitis is rare, and usually seen in patients with predisposing factors such as otitis media, mastoiditis, sinusitis or recent neurosurgery. We report what we believe to be the first case of ventriculitis and brain abscess due to Fusobacterium nucleatum infection in a man with no significant predisposing factors. He was successfully treated with antibiotic therapy.

Eyelid apraxia associated with bilateral paramedian thalamic infarct.

We report a case of bilateral thalamic infarct associated with bilateral eyelid apraxia. This extremely rare condition provides us with an opportunity to map clinical and neuroimaging findings to help better understand brain function.

Magnetic resonance imaging changes in the pituitary gland following acute traumatic brain injury.

Objective: The objective was to study the anatomical changes in the pituitary gland following acute moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Design: Retrospective, observational, case-control study.

Setting: Neurosciences Critical Care Unit of a university hospital.

High grade glioma: imaging combined with pathological grade defines management and predicts prognosis.

Introduction: There is ambiguity in pathological grading of high grade gliomas within the WHO 2000 classification, especially those with predominant oligodendroglial differentiation.

Patients And Methods: All adult high grade gliomas treated radically, 1996-2005, were assessed. Cases in which pathology was grade III but radiology suggested glioblastoma (GBM) were classified as 'grade III/IV'; their pathology was reviewed.

Internal carotid artery stenosis: accuracy of subjective visual impression for evaluation with digital subtraction angiography and contrast-enhanced MR angiography.

Purpose: To prospectively determine, for both digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and contrast material-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) angiography, the accuracy of subjective visual impression (SVI) in the evaluation of internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis, with objective caliper measurements serving as the reference standard.

Materials And Methods: Local ethics committee approval and written informed patient consent were obtained. A total of 142 symptomatic patients (41 women, 101 men; mean age, 70 years; age range, 44-89 years) suspected of having ICA stenosis on the basis of Doppler ultrasonographic findings underwent both DSA and contrast-enhanced MR angiography.

Stroke attributable to a calcific embolus from the brachiocephalic trunk.

Background And Purpose: Calcific brain embolization is a rare event that is usually secondary to cardiac valve calcification. We present a case of stroke caused by embolization of calcific material from the brachiocephalic trunk, probably induced by radiotherapy.

Summary Of Case: A 56-year-old right-handed female developed left-sided hemiparesis, hemihypesthesia, and sensory inattention.

Cost-effectiveness of diagnostic strategies prior to carotid endarterectomy.

The main objective of this study was to assess the long-term cost-effectiveness of five alternative diagnostic strategies for identification of severe carotid stenosis in recently symptomatic patients. A decision-analytical model with Markov transition states was constructed. Data sources included a prospective study involving 167 patients who had screening Doppler ultrasound (DUS), confirmatory contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CEMRA) and confirmatory digital subtraction angiography (DSA), individual patient data from the European Carotid Surgery Trial and other published clinical and cost data.

A comparison of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE), conventional neuropsychological assessment, and simple MRI-based medial temporal lobe evaluation in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: To examine the contribution of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE), neuropsychological assessment, and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based temporal lobe rating scale to the prediction of which patients with questionable dementia will progress to Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: Fifty subjects (19 early AD, 31 questionable dementia [QD]) underwent the ACE, a neuropsychological evaluation, and a volumetric MRI. The degree of atrophy of hippocampal, parahippocampal, and other temporal lobe structures was assessed using a validated visual rating scale.