Decompressive Craniectomy in Children with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Multicenter Retrospective Study and Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the most common cause of disability in children. Refractory increased intracranial pressure can be a therapeutic challenge. Decompressive craniectomy can be proposed when medical management is insufficient, but its place is not clearly defined in guidelines. The aim of this study was to identify prognostic factors in children with TBI. METHODS: We performed a retrospective, multicenter study to analyze long-term outcomes of 150 children with severe TBI treated by decompressive craniectomy and to identify prognostic factors. RESULTS: A satisfactory neurologic evolution (represented by a King's Outcome Scale for Childhood Head Injury score >3) was observed in 62% of children with a mean follow-up of 3.5 years. Mortality rate was 17%. Prognostic factors associated with outcome were age, initial Glasgow Coma Scale score, presence of mydriasis, neuromonitoring values (maximal intracranial pressure >30 mm Hg), and radiologic findings (Rotterdam score ≥4). CONCLUSIONS: This study in a large population confirms that children with severe TBI treated by decompressive craniectomy can achieve a good neurologic outcome. Further studies are needed to clarify the use of this surgery in the management of children with severe TBI.

Immunohistochemical markers to distinguish between hemangioblastoma and metastatic clear-cell renal cell carcinoma in the brain: utility of aquaporin1 combined with cytokeratin AE1/AE3 immunostaining.

Distinguishing hemangioblastomas from metastatic clear-cell renal cell carcinomas (CCRCCs) in the brain is a diagnostic challenge owing to similar clinical and morphologic presentations. Inhibin-alpha and aquaporin1 were shown as positive markers of hemangioblastoma, but are not totally reliable distinguishing hemangioblastoma from metastatic CCRCC. This study shows that the diagnosis can be achieved using a combination of markers. To identify the panel of markers useful for this differential, 67 hemangioblastomas and 34 metastatic CCRCCs were analyzed using a panel of antibodies including aquaporin1, inhibin-alpha, D2-40, cytokeratin AE1/AE3, epithelial membrane antigen, and CD10. The study confirms the usefulness of aquaporin1 (97% sensitivity, 83% specificity) and inhibin-alpha (88% sensitivity, 79% specificity) as positive markers of hemangioblastoma and shows that aquaporin1 is a superior positive marker versus inhibin-alpha for the differential. Positivity of tumor cells with cytokeratin AE1/AE3 is the signature of a metastatic CCRCC (100% specificity, 88% sensitivity) and CD10 expression as well (100% specificity, 79% sensitivity). The combined use of aquaporin1 and AE1/AE3 yields a high degree of sensitivity and specificity to differentiate between hemangioblastoma and metastatic CCRCC. All tumors but one aquaporin1 positive and cytokeratin AE1/AE3 negative (65/66) correspond to hemangioblastomas (97% sensitivity, 97% specificity, 98.5% diagnostic positive predictive value). Tumors with the opposite profile, aquaporin1 negative, and cytokeratin AE1/AE3 positive, (25/25), correspond to metastatic CCRCC (74% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% diagnostic positive predictive value). In summary, aquaporin1 is the most sensitive positive marker of hemangioblastoma. Despite its moderate specificity, when used in combination with epithelial marker AE1/AE3, it allowed to reliably distinguish hemangioblastoma from metastatic CCRCC.