[A Case of Trochlear Nerve Neurinoma Presenting with Pathological Laughter].

Trochlear nerve neurinomas are rare and solitary tumors without neurofibromatosis are extremely rare. We report a case of trochlear nerve neurinoma presenting with pathological laughter and diplopia. A 40-year-old male patient presented with diplopia and pathological laughter 2 months before admission. MRI showed a multicystic enhanced mass in the left tentorial incisura compressing the midbrain and the upper pons. The tumor was excised using the left trans-Sylvian approach with partial uncal resection. After excision of the tumor, the left trochlear nerve was identified on the surface of the lateral midbrain. The nerve was connected to the tumor. Pathological laughter completely resolved after the operation. This is the second reported case of trochlear nerve neurinoma presenting with pathological laughter. The lesion responsible for pathological laughter could be the midbrain, upper pons, diencephalon, or all of these.

STA-MCA Bypass Under Local Anesthesia.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The superficial temporal artery to middle cerebral artery (STA-MCA) bypass procedure has continually evolved and new strategies have been advocated to reduce anesthetic or surgical mortality and morbidity. Further simplifying and decreasing the invasiveness of STA-MCA bypass by performing this operation without endotracheal general anesthesia was deemed feasible in certain subsets of patients. METHODS: We performed STA-MCA bypass using local anesthesia using a sedative in 45 patients with hemodynamically compromised cerebrovascular occlusive disease as well as multiple comorbidities in the period between February 2010 and April 2016. The technique is based on preoperative identification of the point at which the donor and recipient vessels are in closest proximity. The preoperative use of computed tomography angiography allowed us to identify the target point precisely and use a minimally invasive procedure. All patients received dexmedetomidine as the sole sedative agent, together with scalp block local anesthesia with an unsecured airway. RESULTS: Successful STA-MCA bypass surgeries were achieved via a preselected minimally invasive approach in all cases. There was good hemodynamic stability throughout surgery. No airway/ventilation complications occurred and no patient was converted to general anesthesia. The patients subjectively tolerated this technique well with a high rate of satisfaction. Postoperative magnetic resonance angiography confirmed patent bypass in 44 of 45 patients (patency rate of 97.8%). There were two postoperative hyper-perfusion syndromes and one cerebral ischemia with transient neurological symptoms (postoperative complication rate of 6.3%). No recurrence of ipsilateral cerebral ischemia was observed during the follow-up periods. There was one contralateral cardiogenic cerebral embolism during the follow-up period. The overall stroke rate was calculated as 1%/patient/year. CONCLUSIONS: Our initial experience confirms the feasibility of performing STA-MCA bypass under local anesthesia without endotracheal general anesthesia.

Superficial temporal artery-middle cerebral artery bypass using local anesthesia and a sedative without endotracheal general anesthesia.

OBJECT: Superficial temporal artery (STA)-middle cerebral artery (MCA) bypasses have continually evolved, and new strategies have been advocated for reducing anesthetic or surgical morbidity and mortality. Further simplifying, and decreasing the invasiveness of, STA-MCA bypass by performing this operation without endotracheal general anesthesia was believed to be feasible in certain subsets of patients. METHODS: The authors performed STA-MCA bypass using local anesthesia with a sedative in 10 patients with hemodynamically compromised occlusive cerebrovascular disease, as well as multiple comorbidities, between February 2010 and September 2011. The technique is based on the preoperative identification of the point at which the donor and recipient vessels are in closest proximity. Preoperative use of CT angiography allowed the authors to identify the target point precisely and use a minimally invasive procedure. All patients received dexmedetomidine as the sole sedative agent, together with scalp-blocking local anesthesia, with an unsecured airway. RESULTS: Successful STA-MCA bypass surgeries were achieved via a preselected minimally invasive approach in all cases. There was good hemodynamic stability throughout surgery. No airway or ventilation complications occurred, and no patients were converted to general anesthesia. Subjectively, patients tolerated the technique well with a high rate of satisfaction. There were no perioperative morbidities or deaths. Postoperative MR angiography confirmed a patent bypass in all patients. All patients remained symptom free and returned to normal daily life following the operation. CONCLUSIONS: This initial experience confirms the feasibility of performing STA-MCA bypass without endotracheal general anesthesia. This novel technique produced a high degree of patient satisfaction.