Impact of robot-assisted spine surgery on health care quality and neurosurgical economics: A systemic review.

Whenever any new technology is introduced into the healthcare system, it should satisfy all three pillars of the iron triangle of health care, which are quality, cost-effectiveness, and accessibility. There has been quite advancement in the field of spine surgery in the last two decades with introduction of new technological modalities such as CAN and surgical robotic devices. MAZOR SpineAssist/Renaissance was the first robotic system to be approved for the use in spine surgeries in the USA in 2004. In this review, the authors sought to determine if the current literature supports this technology to be cost-effective, accessible, and improve the quality of care for individuals and populations by increasing the likelihood of desired health outcomes. Robotic-assisted surgery seems to provide perfection in surgical ergonomics and surgical dexterity, consequently improving patient outcomes. A lot of data is present on the accuracy, effectiveness, and safety of the robotic-guided technology which reflects remarkable improvements in quality of care, making its utility convincingly undisputable. The technology has been claimed to be cost-effective but there seems to be lack of data in the literature on this topic to validate this claim. Apart from just the outcome parameters, there is an immense need of studies on real-time cost-efficacy, patient perspective, surgeon and resident learning curve, and their experience with this new technology. Furthermore, new studies looking into increased utilities of this technology, such as brain and spine tumor resection, deep brain stimulation procedures, and osteotomies in deformity surgery, might authenticate the cost of the equipment.

Acute-onset cerebellar symptoms in Lhermitte-Duclos disease: case report.

Adult-onset Lhermitte-Duclos disease (LD), or dysplastic cerebellar gangliocytoma, is a hamartoma considered pathognomonic for Cowden disease. Classically, LD has a progressive and insidious onset of symptoms. In this case report, we present a patient having rapid neurological deterioration from acute-onset LD. There are only three reported cases of acute LD presentation. A 22-year-old female presented to the emergency department with diplopia, dysarthria, dysphagia, and gait instability which developed within 6 h. A non-contrast CT scan revealed diffuse attenuation in the left cerebellum and mild ventricular dilatation. LP revealed no organisms. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed salient "tiger stripe" appearance of the left cerebellar cortex and effacement of the fourth ventricle. The patient subsequently underwent suboccipital craniotomy and gross total resection of the lesion. The tumor histology showed distortion of normal cerebellar architecture with dysplastic ganglion cells, loss of Purkinje cells, atrophy of the white matter, and expansion of cerebellar folia. Findings were consistent with adult-onset Lhermitte-Duclos disease.

Esthesioneuroblastoma: A Comprehensive Review of Diagnosis, Management, and Current Treatment Options.

INTRODUCTION: Many controversies exist in the diagnosis and management of this aggressively malignant condition, mainly because of limited literature and lack of randomized control trials, resulting in nonstandardized treatment methods. We performed a comprehensive review of the literature to identify management approach and treatment options for esthesioneuroblastoma. METHODS: An extensive review of the published literature was conducted in PubMed, OVID Medline, and EMBASE journals for studies of esthesioneuroblastoma. Terms for search included esthesioneuroblastoma (ENB) and olfactory neuroblastoma (ONB). No date restrictions were used. RESULTS: The search yielded 3876 related articles. Cross-checking of articles led to exclusion of duplicate articles. The remaining 1170 articles were screened for their full text and English language availability. Of 609 full-text articles available, animal studies, irrelevant articles, and studies with mixed/confusing data were excluded. We finalized 149 articles pertaining to the topic, including 119 original research articles, 3 book chapters, 11 reviews, 9 case reports, and 7 case series. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical resection followed by radiotherapy is the standard for treatment for higher-grade lesions. The endoscopic endonasal approach is gaining further recognition with more favorable outcomes and better survival than for open surgery. Postoperative radiotherapy is associated with the highest overall survival and shows benefit for patients with higher-stage disease and those who receive chemotherapy. Recurrence rates after treatment vary drastically in the literature and, therefore, prolonged follow-up with repeated imaging is recommended. Lifelong surveillance is recommended because of late recurrences associated with this tumor.

A brainstem mass of Müllerian type Epithelial Origin without any primary cancer source.

Brainstem tumors are rare, even rarer is a brainstem tumor containing tissues of an embryologic gynecologic origin. We report a very rare case of presence of a calcified heterogeneously contrast enhancing brainstem mass of Müllerian origin in a patient in a 38 year old female with no female genital tract cancer and past surgical history of ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt placement for congenital hydrocephalus. To our knowledge this is the very first and unusual case of a mass of gynecologic origin in the brainstem region especially in the setting of no history of gynecological tumor. The authors also reviewed the literature for all tumors reported for anterograde and retrograde dissemination of tumor cells through VP shunt. This case is a reaffirmation of the importance of brain tumor location and tissue diagnosis for the purpose of adjuvant treatment of neurosurgical lesions in the neurocritical care setting. It also highlights the role of catheters as potential routes of iatrogenic transmission not just in anterograde but also in a retrograde manner to the CNS, which is very unusual. This is the only second case to report retrograde flow of tumor cells from an extraneural source up the VP catheters. The authors suggest that intraperitoneal chemotherapy should be considered in the cases of known extraneural abdominal malignancies of high malignant potential with or without the presence of peritoneal infiltration in order to avoid dissemination through VP shunts.

Retrospective Analysis of Ventriculitis in External Ventricular Drains.

BACKGROUND: Nosocomial EVD-related ventriculitis is a major complication and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in critically ill neurological patients. Questions remain about best management of EVDs. The purpose of this study is to compare our incidence of ventriculitis to studies using different catheters and/or antibiotic coverage schemes and determine whether c-EVD with prolonged antibiotics given for the duration of drain placement is inferior to ac-EVD with pp-abx or ac-EVD with prolonged antibiotics for prevention of ventriculitis. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of all patients who had EVDs placed from January 2010 through December 2015 at home institution was performed. Statistical analysis was performed using Fisher's exact test to compare incidence of ventriculitis identified in other studies with that of home institution. RESULTS: The study included 107 patients, 66 (61.7%) males and 41 (38.3%) females. Average age was 56 years ranging from 18 to 95 years. Average length of drain placement was 7.8 days ranging from 2 to 23 days. Average length of drain placement in infected drains was 13.3 days ranging from 11 to 15 days. There were 3 cases with positive CSF cultures (Staphylococcus haemolyticus and Staphylococcus epidermidis x 2). There were 2 cases with a CSF having a positive gram stain but failed to yield any bacterial growth on culture and did not meet predefined criteria. CONCLUSIONS: The c-EVD with prolonged antibiotics given for the duration of drain placement is not inferior to ac-EVD with pp-abx or ac-EVD with prolonged antibiotics for prevention of ventriculitis. The c-EVD with prolonged antibiotics is superior to c-EVD with pp-abx and conventional EVD without antibiotics for prevention of ventriculitis. Selection should include considerations for antibiotic stewardship and cost effectiveness. Future studies should also utilize clinical and CSF profile criteria in addition to positive CSF cultures for identifying ventriculitis to prevent line colonization from classification as ventriculitis in analysis.

Retrospective Review on Accuracy: A Pilot Study of Robotically Guided Thoracolumbar/Sacral Pedicle Screws Versus Fluoroscopy-Guided and Computerized Tomography Stealth-Guided Screws.

Introduction Pedicle screw insertion is the mainstay of thora-cic and lumbosacral posterior spinal instrumentation. However, it may be associated with complications such as screw mal-positioning. The purpose of this study was to develop a pilot study to compare the accuracy of robot-guided screw insertion versus hand-guided screw placement for spinal instrumentation. The hand-guided screws were placed with assistance from computerized tomography (CT) stealth guidance or fluoroscopy. Materials and methods A retrospective analysis of medical records was done for all patients that had pedicle screw insertion for instrumentation between the dates of December 2013 and January 2016 with post-screw placement CT imaging. The analysis was conducted on screw accuracy between the two categories based on the Gertzbein-Robbins classification. Results A total of 49 screws were analyzed for accuracy in six patients. There was no statistically significant difference between the accuracy of hand-placed pedicle screws versus the robotically placed screws (p = 0.311). There was no statistically significant difference in blood loss (p = 0.616), length of procedure (p = 0.192), or post-operative length of stay (p = 0.587). Conclusion The findings of our pilot study agree with most prior studies that there was no statistically significant difference in the accuracy of pedicle screw placement between the two methods of screw placement. Therefore, the techniques are equivocal in accuracy. The new technology (robotic-guidance) is as safe as conventional techniques for screw placement. Just like in any surgery, the technique preference should remain surgeon dependent. The results are only from a small sample size in the development of a pilot study so a strong reliance on the data would not be suggested. The study was a preliminary study that will be used as a template and learning process to create a future prospective study to investigate CT stealth and robotically guided screw placement versus "free hand" guided screws.

Lymphazurin 1% versus 99mTc sulfur colloid for lymphatic mapping in colorectal tumors: a comparative analysis.

BACKGROUND: The combination of isosulfan blue (Lymphazurin) 1% and 99(m)Tc sulfur colloid (TSC) may improve the feasibility and accuracy of lymphatic mapping for colorectal cancer. METHODS: At laparotomy, 1 to 2 mL of isosulfan blue and 1 mCi of TSC were injected subserosally. Sentinel lymph node (SLN) designation was based on blue staining for isosulfan blue and increased radioactivity for TSC. Focused pathologic analysis of the SLNs and standard pathologic examination of the remaining specimen were performed. RESULTS: A total of 57 consecutive patients were studied (median age, 71 years; 27 men and 30 women). Mapping was successful in 100% of patients with isosulfan blue and in 89% with TSC (P =.47). Lymphatic mapping was accurate in 93% of patients with isosulfan blue versus 92% with TSC (P =.53). The combined accuracy was 95%. A total of 709 lymph nodes were found (12.4 per patient): 553 non-SLNs (5.6% nodal positivity) versus 156 SLNs (16.7% nodal positivity; P <.0001). Isosulfan blue detected 152 SLNs, TSC detected 100, and both modalities detected 96. Of the SLNs detected by isosulfan blue only, 10.7% had nodal metastases, whereas 19.8% of SLNs detected with both modalities had nodal metastases (P =.028). Nodal disease was detected in 41% of patients with invasive carcinoma. Metastases were detected only in the SLNs in 26% and only by micrometastases in 11% of these patients. CONCLUSIONS: These data confirm the efficacy of isosulfan blue and TSC for SLN mapping in colorectal tumors. No significant difference with respect to feasibility or accuracy exists between isosulfan blue and TSC. The metastatic yield is significantly higher in SLNs identified by both modalities compared with isosulfan blue only.