Risk of stroke in patients with diabetic retinopathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication of diabetes that occurs at high frequencies (more than 20%) during the course of the disease. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of the incidence of stroke in DR to determine whether DR is associated with stroke. METHODS: The PubMed, Embase and Cochrane databases were systematically searched from their inception to December 1, 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that reported DR and stroke events were included. The pooled risk ratio and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. For the incidences of DR and stroke, risk difference and standard error were measured. Sensitivity analysis was performed to assess whether any single study could affect the overall outcome. RESULTS: Nine RCTs involving 46,599 patients with diabetes were included in this meta-analysis. The incidence of DR in all patients was 0.29 (95% CI 0.20-0.38). The incidence of any stroke in all patients was 0.03 (95% CI 0.03-0.04). The incidence of any stroke in patients with DR was 0.05 (95% CI 0.04-0.07), significant higher than that in all diabetes patients. The pooled risk ratio of stroke in patients with DR was 2.04 (95% CI 1.25-3.32). The estimated risk ratio of stroke in patients with DR without additional conditions was 1.70 (95% CI 1.43-2.03), which was lower than that in patients with DR with additional conditions (2.29, 95% CI 0.93-5.65). CONCLUSION: The presence of DR is associated with an increased risk of stroke. Our findings indicate that DR is an important biomarker for the prediction of stroke, and periodic eye examinations should be conducted for stroke prevention.

Subdural osteoma in an adolescent patient with epilepsy: an unusual case report and literature review.

OBJECTIVE: Subdural osteoma (SO) is a rarely reported benign tumor, and there is no report of SO manifested with epileptic seizures. We aim to further the understanding of SO-related epilepsy. METHODS: Here, we report a meaningful case of epilepsy secondary to SO. A systematic review of the literature about SO using the electronic database PubMed and Web of science up to December 2022 was conducted. RESULTS: A 15-year-old girl presented with epileptic seizures for 8 years. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an irregular lesion with heterogeneous signal in the right frontal convexity. Right frontal craniotomy was performed to remove the lesion. The pathological diagnosis was SO. Histological analysis revealed that the mechanosensitive ion channels Piezo 1/2 were upregulated in the brain tissue compressed by the osteoma, compared with the levels in the osteoma-free region. Seizure freedom was obtained during the 6-month follow-up after the surgery. We identified 24 cases of SO in 23 articles. With our case, a total of 25 cases with 32 SOs was included. Of 25 cases, 24 are adults, and 1 is a child. Seizure has been reported only in our case. Frontal osteoma was found in 76% of the patients. Symptoms were cured in 56% of the patients after surgery. CONCLUSION: Surgery is a safe and effective approach to the treatment of symptomatic osteoma. Mechanical compression on cerebral cortex may be a predisposing factor of the epileptogenesis caused by the SO.

Efficacy of percutaneous vertebroplasty treatment of spinal tumors: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the function of percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) treatment to pain relief and life quality for patients with spinal tumors. METHODS: Articles about the researches on the treatment of spinal tumors by PVP in PubMed, Embase, and the Chinese Biomedical Literature database from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2013. The keywords "spinal tumors," "efficacy," and "vertebroplasty" were firstly scanned to exclude all irrelevant articles. Then, the final inclusion of studies was determined by reading the full text of the remaining articles. The citation lists of all retrieved articles were scanned to identify other potentially relevant reports. RevMan5.2 was used to analyze pain intensity visual analog scale (VAS) and Karnofsky performance scores (KPS) within each research. Combined HRs (hazard ratio) were calculated using fixed- or random- effects models according to the heterogeneity. RESULTS: Twenty-six studies involving 1351 patients met our selection criteria. Meta-analysis results among 10 case-control studies showed that the combined HR was -2.83 [95% confidence interval (CI) -2.92, -2.73; P < .0001], indicating a 2.83-fold decrease of pain in PVP group. For 12 single-arm studies, a significantly decrease of pain after PVP treatment (HR = -4.79, 95% CI -5.00, -4.57, P < .0001) was also found in PVP group. In addition, for KPS analysis, the combined HR was 16.31 (95% CI 14.31, 18.31; P < .0001), which indicated that PVP treatment was associated with a 16.31-fold increase of KPS. The combined HR was 0.58 (95% CI 0.35, 0.96; P = .04) for complication analysis. CONCLUSIONS: PVP treatment of spinal tumor is significantly associated with better pain relief and life quality, which could improve the outcome in metastatic spinal tumor patients.