ABSTRACT
Metastasis to a meningioma is an uncommon phenomenon however reported in the literature. Meningiomas are common primary intracranial tumours which most frequently occur to be a recepient of metastases. A 66-year-old female presented with rapid development of visual acuity and visual field loss in the right eye with ipsilateral oculomotor nerve palsy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed well-defined tumour intensely enhanced with contrast like a typical skull base meningioma. The neuropathological examination revealed two different morphological fragments of the tumour. In the cell-rich part of the tumour, immunopositivity for CK, chromogranin, and SY were detected. The less cellular portion of the tumour, immunopositivity to epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and vimentin were detected. To our knowledge, we present the first rare metastasis of neuroendocrine carcinoma to the medial sphenoid meningioma that preceded the clinical symptoms of systemic neuroendocrine carcinoma.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine , Meningeal Neoplasms , Meningioma , Orbital Neoplasms , Aged , Female , Humans , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Meningeal Neoplasms/diagnosis , Meningioma/diagnosis , Orbital Neoplasms/diagnosis , Skull BaseABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Twiddler's syndrome (TS) is described as a spontaneous rotation or intentional external manipulation of implanted internal pulse generator (IPG) for neurological or cardiac disorders. There have been identified some predisposing factors of the development of TS such as: loose subcutaneous tissue, older age of individuals undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) procedures, creation of too large pockets for IPG. Apart from these factors, the construction of IPG itself may predispose to the development of TS. OBJECTIVE: To report the clinical course of three patients with TS. Moreover, the purpose of this study is to present the change in fixation technique of IPG that can prevent the occurrence of TS in patients after DBS procedure. METHODS: A prospectively collected database of all hardware related complications for patients operated on for various movement disorders was analyzed. In a total number of 347 DBS systems implanted since 1999 we have identified three patients diagnosed with TS. All three patients with TS in our series were implanted with the IPG harboring a single anchoring hole. This complication has never occurred in patients with the IPG harboring two anchoring holes in our center. RESULTS: All three patients underwent revision surgery. During reoperations all connection cables were replaced and IPG sutured with one additional silk stich through the plastic housing to immobilize it properly in subcutaneous pocket. There were no recurrences of TS in our patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our case series suggests that a predisposing factor of TS may also be the construction of IPG itself (a single anchoring hole intended for fixation), which naturally represents less fixation of the IPG to the fascia or muscle in the subcutaneous pocket. In this preliminary report we present suggestions to lower the risk of TS, including using dual anchor capable IPGs, reducing pocket volume and using nonabsorbable suture.
Subject(s)
Deep Brain Stimulation/adverse effects , Deep Brain Stimulation/instrumentation , Electrodes, Implanted/adverse effects , Equipment Failure , Postoperative Complications/diagnosis , Postoperative Complications/etiology , Aged , Deep Brain Stimulation/methods , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Parkinson Disease/diagnosis , Parkinson Disease/therapy , Prospective StudiesABSTRACT
Treatment options for patients in dystonic state include sedation, artificial ventilation, intrathecal baclofen infusions and stereotactic procedures. The main aim of this overview is the presentation and assessment of stereotactic procedures applied for treating patients in severe dystonic state. We performed literature overview starting from 1998 to 2012 with case reports regarding all patients treated by stereotactic procedures for dystonic state. We were able to find 15 articles describing 22 patients. Ablative procedures were described in 5 articles (3 thalamotomies, 3 pallidotomies) and were done in 6 patients. In the remaining 10 articles, globus pallidus internus stimulation was utilized in another 16 patients. We can conclude that bilateral pallidal deep brain stimulation seems to be the best stereotactic target for patients in dystonic state.
