RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Craniopharyngiomas and germ cell tumors (GCTs) are both rare intracranial tumors commonly present in childhood or middle age. They share similar clinical and radiological features. GCTs commonly give rise to tumor markers in the cerebrospinal fluid, hence guiding the treatment plan. OBSERVATIONS: This article reports the case of a 5-year-old boy with a large sellar and suprasellar mass with obstructive hydrocephalus. Laboratory studies showed increased beta-human chorionic gonadotrophin (ß-hCG) levels in the cystic fluid, suggestive of choriocarcinoma. He underwent 3 cycles of chemotherapy but showed a poor response. Further aspiration followed by tumor debulking was performed, and histopathological examination revealed craniopharyngioma. LESSONS: This case report indicates that ß-hCG, commonly regarded as a specific tumor marker for choriocarcinoma, is detectable in other forms of suprasellar tumors. The authors highlight clinical and radiological features of suprasellar tumors that can be misdiagnosed as intracranial GCTs. The relevance of tumor markers and indications for histopathological confirmation are discussed.
RESUMEN
The role of language in communication plays a crucial role in human development and function. In patients who have a surgical lesion at the functional language areas, surgery should be intricately planned to avoid incurring further morbidity. This normally requires extensive functional and anatomical mappings of the brain to identify regions that are involved in language processing and production. In our case report, regions of the brain that are important for language functions were studied before surgery by employing (a) extraoperative methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, transmagnetic stimulation, and magnetoencephalography; (b) during the surgery by utilizing intraoperative awake surgical methods such as an intraoperative electrical stimulation; and (c) a two-stage surgery, in which electrical stimulation and first mapping are made thoroughly in the ward before second remapping during surgery. The extraoperative methods before surgery can guide the neurosurgeon to localize the functional language regions and tracts preoperatively. This will be confirmed using single-stage intraoperative electrical brain stimulation during surgery or a two-stage electrical brain stimulation before and during surgery. Here, we describe two cases in whom one has a superficial lesion and another a deep-seated lesion at language-related regions, in which language mapping was done to preserve its function. Additional review on the neuroanatomy of language regions, language network, and its impairment was also described.
RESUMEN
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) was first introduced in 1987 to the developed world. As a developing country Malaysia begun its movement disorder program by doing ablation therapy using the Radionics system. Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia a rural based teaching hospital had to take into consideration both health economics and outcomes in the area that it was providing neurosurgical care for when it initiated its Deep Brain Stimulation program. Most of the patients were from the low to medium social economic groups and could not afford payment for a DBS implant. We concentrated our DBS services to Parkinson's disease, Tourette's Syndrome and dystonia patients who had exhausted medical therapy. The case series of these patients and their follow-up are presented in this brief communication.
