[Percutaneous foraminal endoscopy for the treatment of lumbar lateral recess stenosis in elderly].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of percutaneous foraminal endoscopy in the treatment of lumbar lateral recess stenosis in elderly. METHODS: The clinical data of 31 elderly patients with lumbar lateral recess stenosis treated by percutaneous foraminal endoscopic decompression from March 2018 to August 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Including 16 males and 15 females, aged from 65 to 81 years with an average of (71.13±5.20) years, the course of disease ranged from 3 months to 7 years with an average of (14.36±6.52) months. Visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry disability index (ODI) were used to assess clinical symptom and functional status before operation and 1, 6, 12 months after operation. At the final follow-up, the modified Macnab standard was used to evaluate clinical efficacy. RESULTS: All patients were completed the operation successfully. The operation time was from 75 to 120 min with an average of (97.84±11.22 ) min. All 31 patients were followed up from 12 to 28 months with an average of (17.29±5.56) months. Postoperative lumbago-leg pain VAS and ODI were significantly improved at 1, 6, and 12 months(P<0.01). At the final follow-up, according to the modified Macnab standard to evaluate the effect, 23 got excellent results, 5 good, 3 fair. One patient had severe adhesions between peripheral tissues and nerve root, and postoperative sensory abnormalities in the lower extremities were treated conservatively with traditional Chinese medicine and neurotrophic drugs, which recovered at 2 weeks after surgery. No complications such as nerve root injury and infection occurred. CONCLUSION: The intervertebral foraminal endoscopy technique, which is performed under local anesthesia for a short period of operation, ensures adequate decompression while minimizing complications, and is a safe and effective surgical procedure for elderly patients with lumbar lateral recess stenosis.

Sleep and Cognitive Abnormalities in Acute Minor Thalamic Infarction.

In order to characterize sleep and the cognitive patterns in patients with acute minor thalamic infarction (AMTI), we enrolled 27 patients with AMTI and 12 matched healthy individuals. Questionnaires about sleep and cognition as well as polysomnography (PSG) were performed on days 14 and 90 post-stroke. Compared to healthy controls, in patients with AMTI, hyposomnia was more prevalent; sleep architecture was disrupted as indicated by decreased sleep efficiency, increased sleep latency, and decreased non-rapid eye movement sleep stages 2 and 3; more sleep-related breathing disorders occurred; and cognitive functions were worse, especially memory. While sleep apnea and long-delay memory recovered to a large extent in the patients, other sleep and cognitive function deficit often persisted. Patients with AMTI are at an increased risk for hyposomnia, sleep structure disturbance, sleep apnea, and memory deficits. Although these abnormalities improved over time, the slow and incomplete improvement suggest that early management should be considered in these patients.

Selective Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Receptor 1 Modulation Attenuates Experimental Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Preclinical studies and a proof-of-concept clinical study have shown that sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor (S1PR) modulator, fingolimod, improves the clinical outcome of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). However, the specific subtype of the S1PRs through which immune modulation provides protection in ICH remains unclear. In addition, fingolimod-induced adverse effects could limit its use in patients with stroke because of interactions with other S1PR subtypes, particularly with S1PR3. RP101075 is a selective S1PR1 agonist with superior cardiovascular safety profile. In this study, we investigated the impact of RP101075 treatment in a mouse model of ICH. METHODS: ICH was induced by injection of autologous blood in 294 male C57BL/6J and Rag2(-/-) mice. ICH mice randomly received vehicle, RP101075, or RP101075 plus S1PR1 antagonist W146 by daily oral gavage for three consecutive days, starting from 30 minutes after surgery. Neurodeficits, brain edema, brain infiltration of immune cells, blood-brain barrier integrity, and cell death were assessed after ICH. RESULTS: RP101075 significantly attenuated neurological deficits and reduced brain edema in ICH mice. W146 blocked the effects of RP101075 on neurodeficits and brain edema. RP101075 reduced the counts of brain-infiltrating lymphocytes, neutrophils, and microglia, as well as cytokine expression after ICH. Enhanced blood-brain barrier integrity and alleviated neuronal death were also seen in ICH mice after RP101075 treatment. CONCLUSIONS: S1PR1 modulation via RP101075 provides protection in experimental ICH. Together with the advantageous pharmacological features of RP101075, these results warrant further investigations of its mechanisms of action and translational values in ICH patients.

Multimodal Quantitative MR Imaging of the Thalamus in Multiple Sclerosis and Neuromyelitis Optica.

PURPOSE: To systematically investigate structural and functional alterations of the thalamus and its subregions through a multimodal magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technique and examine its clinical relevance in multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica (NMO). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The institutional review board approved this study, and written informed consent was obtained from each participant. Thirty-seven patients with MS, 39 patients with NMO, and 40 healthy control subjects were recruited. Six MR imaging measurements were obtained for each participant and compared between groups in the thalamus and its seven subregions, including gray matter (GM) volume, fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation, cross-correlation coefficient of spontaneous low frequency, and weighted functional connectivity strength. Partial correlation was used to estimate the MR imaging-clinical relationships. RESULTS: Both MS and NMO exhibited widespread GM atrophy (GM volume in MS, 0.244; NMO, 0.297; and control subjects, 0.329; P < .001) and diffusion abnormalities (fractional anisotropy in MS, 0.293; NMO, 0.323; and control subjects, 0.355; P < .001) in the whole thalamus and several subregions, while MS showed more severe changes than NMO. Decreased cross-correlation coefficient of spontaneous low-frequency and weighted functional connectivity strength was observed in several thalamus subregions in MS (P < .05), but no significant functional abnormalities were identified in NMO. GM volume, fractional anisotropy, and mean diffusivity, not functional changes of the thalamus and thalamic subregions, correlated with the patients' clinical variables and exhibited high discriminative power in distinguishing the three groups. CONCLUSION: Similar patterns of thalamic structural alteration were identified in MS and NMO, but MS showed more severe pathologic changes. The thalamus is a key node for functional disconnection in MS but not in NMO.

Altered thalamic functional connectivity in multiple sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE: To compare thalamic functional connectivity (FC) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and healthy controls (HC), and correlate these connectivity measures with other MRI and clinical variables. METHODS: We employed resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) to examine changes in thalamic connectivity by comparing thirty-five patients with MS and 35 age- and sex-matched HC. Thalamic FC was investigated by correlating low frequency fMRI signal fluctuations in thalamic voxels with voxels in all other brain regions. Additionally thalamic volume fraction (TF), T2 lesion volume (T2LV), EDSS and disease duration were recorded and correlated with the FC changes. RESULTS: MS patients were found to have a significantly lower TF than HC in bilateral thalami. Compared to HC, the MS group showed significantly decreased FC between thalamus and several brain regions including right middle frontal and parahippocampal gyri, and the left inferior parietal lobule. Increased intra- and inter-thalamic FC was observed in the MS group compared to HC. These FC alterations were not correlated with T2LV, thalamic volume or lesions. In the MS group, however, there was a negative correlation between disease duration and inter-thalamic connectivity (r=-0.59, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: We demonstrated decreased FC between thalamus and several cortical regions, while increased intra- and inter-thalamic connectivity in MS patients. These complex functional changes reflect impairments and/or adaptations that are independent of T2LV, thalamic volume or presence of thalamic lesions. The negative correlation between disease duration and inter-thalamic connectivity could indicate an adaptive role of thalamus that is gradually lost with increasing disease duration.