Ruptured Vertebral Artery Dissection Treated with Endovascular Intervention.

OBJECTIVE: A retrospective study of cases of endovascular treatment of dissection of the vertebral artery with subarachnoid hemorrhage was conducted. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data were 11 cases of vertebral artery dissecting aneurysm (VADA) among 291 consecutive subarachnoid hemorrhage patients who underwent clipping or endovascular treatment at Ota Memorial Hospital. Classified into 4 patterns based on the location of the dissection and posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA): pre-PICA, post-PICA, involved PICA, and non-PICA. And one of the cases had bilateral vertebral artery dissection, and computational fluid dynamics analysis was included in the study. RESULTS: Ruptured VADA occurred in 11 of the 291 patients (3.8%). Endovascular treatment was performed in 8 of these 11 patients. Postoperative diffusion-weighted imaging detected no high-intensity lesions and no postoperative ischemic complications or rebleeding occurred in any patient. In a case of bilateral VADA, computational fluid dynamics analysis of very low or high wall shear stress at the dissection, low aneurysm formation indicator, and high oscillatory shear index may be considered rupture factors. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment strategies for each branching pattern of PICA can prevent rupture and avoid ischemic complications. And prediction of the rupture side is important in patients with bilateral dissection to consider the appropriate treatment and timing.

[A case of recurrent cerebral infarction during treatment with oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors for chronic myelogenous leukemia].

A 76-year-old man, diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia in 2010, had been on nilotinib for 7 years. He presented with right hemiparesis in September 2017. He had no history of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, heart disease, or smoking. Brain MRI revealed a border-zone infarction of the left cerebral hemisphere and a rapidly progressing severe left internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis. He was initiated on clopidogrel and bosutinib instead of nilotinib. He presented with right hemiparesis once again in December 2017. Brain MRI revealed the border-zone infarction of the left cerebral hemisphere and a more progressed, severe bilateral ICA stenosis. A carotid ultrasound demonstrated iso-intense and concentrically narrowed ICA on both sides. Carotid artery stenting of the left ICA was performed in February 2018, and clopidogrel was replaced by cilostazol to provide a drug-induced rush. Carotid artery stenting of the right ICA was performed in June 2018 and cervical angiogram demonstrated that there were no residual artery stenoses in the bilateral stent. In recent years, several case reports suggest that tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are associated with progressive artery stenosis and cause cerebral infarction. Brain imaging tests should be conducted to evaluate arterial stenosis progression for patients with a history of taking TKI when an arterial vascular event occurs.

Ultrastructural and immunohistochemical study of an adult case of chordoid meningioma.

A 64-year-old male patient presented with generalized convulsions. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large meningeal tumor with some cysts in the right frontal region. Surgical resections were performed three times, and local radiation therapy was administered twice over a period of 8 years for the treatment of tumor recurrences. The tumor tended to recur in spite of the surgical and radiation therapies. The tumor was diagnosed as a chordoid meningioma, and the second surgical specimen showed increasing nuclear atypia and mitoses in tumor cells. An immunohistochemical study revealed the tumor cells were positive for vimentin, S-100 protein, and cytokeratin AE1/AE3. An electron microscopic study revealed intracytoplasmic vacuolar spaces, loosely connected interdigitating cell processes with intermediate junctions, and extracellular spaces which contained fluffy granular intercellular substances. The tumor cell surfaces displayed pseudopodia which extended into the intercellular spaces and the tumor cells had moderate quantities of cytoplasm containing abundant mitochondria and glycogen granules. According to the ultrastructural features in the past reports of chordoid meningiomas, these meningiomas are suspected to have a mixture of the characteristic ultrastructural features of meningothelial meningiomas and chordoid sarcomas.

[Evaluation of echocardiographic left ventricular wall motion analysis supported by internet picture viewing system].

BACKGROUND: Assessment of deterioration of regional wall motion by echocardiography is not only subjective but also features difficulties with interobserver agreement. Progress in digital communication technology has made it possible to send video images from a distant location via the Internet. OBJECTIVES: The possibility of evaluating left ventricular wall motion using video images sent via the Internet to distant institutions was evaluated. METHODS: Twenty-two subjects were randomly selected. Four sets of video images (parasternal long-axis view, parasternal short-axis view, apical four-chamber view, and apical two-chamber view) were taken for one cardiac cycle. The images were sent via the Internet to two institutions (observer C in facility A and observers D and E in facility B) for evaluation. Great care was taken to prevent disclosure of patient information to these observers. Parasternal long-axis images were divided into four segments, and the parasternal short-axis view, apical four-chamber view, and apical two-chamber view were divided into six segments. One of the following assessments, normokinesis, hypokinesis, akinesis, or dyskinesis, was assigned to each segment. The interobserver rates of agreement in judgments between observers C and D, observers C and E, and intraobserver agreement rate (for observer D) were calculated. RESULTS: The rate of interobserver agreement was 85.7% (394/460 segments; Kappa = 0.65) between observers C and D, 76.7% (353/460 segments; Kappa = 0.39) between observers D and E, and 76.3% (351/460 segments; Kappa = 0.36)between observers C and E, and intraobserver agreement was 94.3% (434/460; Kappa = 0.86). Segments of difference judgments between observers C and D were normokinesis-hypokinesis; 62.1%, hypokinesis-akinesis; 33.3%, akinesis-dyskinesis; 3.0%, and normokinesis-akinesis; 1.5%. CONCLUSIONS: Wall motion can be evaluated at remote institutions via the Internet.