Photoleukocoria with smartphone photographs.

A 3-year-old boy was referred with suspected leukocoria in the right eye, detected in all smartphone photographs taken by his parents. His medical and family history was unremarkable. The visual acuity was 20/20 in both eyes. Eye examination revealed full motility and normal pupils. The ocular fundi and ultrasonography appeared normal. The child was looking to the left side in his photographs, away from the camera, and illuminating the nasal retina. In this circumstance, the optic nerve head acts as a diffuse reflector, reflecting the light out of the eye through the pupil. In the case of normal clinical findings in a child presenting leukocoria in smartphone photographs (photoleukocoria), the ophthalmologist should suspect the possibility of the described phenomenon avoiding other studies.

[Intraventricular arachnoid cyst]. / Quiste aracnoideo intraventricular.

INTRODUCTION. Intracranial arachnoids cysts are considered benign developmental anomalies that occur within the arachnoid membrane and generally contain clear and colourless fluid resembling cerebrospinal fluid. The prevalence of these cysts is higher in the first two decades of life, and the incidence is widely quoted as approximately 1% of all space-occupying intracranial lesions. Arachnoids cysts in the elderly person are a rare occurrence. We report the unusual presentation of a woman with an intraventricular arachnoid cyst treated with endoscopic technique. CASE REPORT. A 75-year-old woman presented with progressive hemiparesis of two years duration. Cranial MR imaging showed a right parieto-occipital intraventricular cyst with local mass effect and moderate dilatation of lateral ventricles. A right-sided burr hole was made and the arachnoids cyst was reached and cysto-ventricle shunting was realized. This was followed by a septum pellucidum fenestration. There were no complications during the surgery and the patient presented no symptoms at time of discharge. CONCLUSIONS. The neuroendoscopic approach to intraventricular arachnoid cysts was effective with few complications.

TITLE: Quiste aracnoideo intraventricular.Introduccion. Los quistes aracnoideos intracraneales son lesiones congenitas de caracter benigno formadas por una membrana aracnoidea que contiene en su interior un liquido de caracteristicas similares al liquido cefalorraquideo. La prevalencia de estos quistes es alta en las primeras dos decadas de la vida, y es poco frecuente en ancianos; representan alrededor del 1% de todas las lesiones intracraneales ocupantes de espacio. Presentamos el caso de una paciente con un quiste aracnoideo intraventricular tratado endoscopicamente. Caso clinico. Mujer de 75 años que presenta una hemiparesia progresiva de dos años de evolucion. La resonancia magnetica craneal mostro una lesion quistica intraventricular en la region parietooccipital derecha, con efecto masa local y moderada dilatacion de los ventriculos laterales. A traves de un agujero de trepano frontal derecho, se realizo una fenestracion cistoventricular y apertura del septo pelucido. No se presentaron complicaciones relacionadas con la cirugia y la paciente fue dada de alta asintomatica. Conclusiones. La fenestracion neuroendoscopica es un tratamiento efectivo para los quistes aracnoideos intraventriculares, con un escaso indice de complicaciones.

[Cervical lymphatic metastasis of an intracranial meningioma]. / Metastasis linfatica cervical de un meningioma intracraneal.

INTRODUCTION: Meningioma is the most common primary intracranial tumor, accounting for around a third of all primary brain tumor. In most cases, they are benign neoplasms that start in the cells of the arachnoid mater. Meningiomas are typically slow growing; however they can metastasize in 0.1% of all patients. CASE REPORT: A 45-years-old woman was admitted with a four weeks history of a painless enlarging mass in the right side of his neck and present in a MRI recurrence of the frontal meningioma surgically removed four times over the last 18 years. The patient underwent a complete removal of lesions and the microscopic observation showed an anaplastic meningioma in both (grade III of the World Health Organization). CONCLUSIONS: Metastatic meningioma is a rare cause of neck mass, but should be considered in any patient with a history of meningioma, especially if the tumor has histological features of malignant behavior. The present case demonstrates the aggressive biologic potential of an intracranial meningioma, with potential for distant spread and lymphatic invasion.

[Spontaneous intracranial hypotension syndrome: two case reports]. / Sindrome de hipotension intracraneal espontanea: presentacion de dos casos.

INTRODUCTION. Spontaneous intracranial hypotension is caused by spontaneous spinal cerebrospinal fluid leaks and is known for causing orthostatic headaches, and a wide variety of associated symptoms have been reported. CASE REPORTS. We described two cases with spontaneous intracranial hypotension, treated in a short period of time, who presented with orthostatic headache and the neuroimaging studies showed subdural collections. Both patients were diagnosed of spinal cerebrospinal fluid leaks and treated with blood patches. CONCLUSIONS. Although intracranial hypotension is not an uncommon pathology, it usually presents diagnostic problems due to the diversity of symptoms that can occur. MRI is essential for the diagnosis by showing enhancement of the pachymeninges following administration of gadolinium and to prove the cerebrospinal fluid leak are useful spinal MRI, the computerized tomography myelography and the radionuclide cisternography. If conservative treatment falls, the epidural blood patch is the initial treatment of choice, reserving surgery for patients with persistent symptoms.

[Chronic subdural hematoma in young patients]. / Hematoma subdural crónico en pacientes jóvenes.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to analyse demographic, clinical and radiological findings and surgical results in a series of chronic subdural haematomas (CSDH) in young adult patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 42 patients under 40 years of age who were diagnosed and surgically treated for a CSDH during a 30-year period (1982-2011). RESULTS: Of the 42 cases analysed, 32 were males and 10 were females, and the mean age at diagnosis was 29.3±8.9 years (range: 4 to 39 years). The mean interval from trauma to appearance of clinical symptoms was 33.4±9.7 days (range: 19 to 95 days). The main symptoms were headache (59.5%) and seizures (21.4%), and the most frequent predisposing factors were ventriculoperitoneal shunting in 5 (11.9%) patients and haematological disorders in another 5 (11.9%) cases. CSDH was right-sided in 21 cases (50%), left-sided in 19 cases (45.3%) and bilateral in the remaining 2 patients (4.7%). Postoperative complications occurred in 2 patients (1 recurrence and 1 acute subdural haematoma). CONCLUSIONS: CSDH is a rare pathology during the first decades of life. It mainly affects males and headache is usually the first symptom. Prognosis is good in young patients, since postoperative complications and recurrences are less frequent at this age than in older populations.