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Background In face of a refractory raised intracranial pressure (ICP), surgeons most commonly resort to decompressive craniectomy (DC). Procedure leaves an unprotected brain underlying the craniectomy defect and Monro-Kellie doctrine: disrupted. Different variants of hinge craniotomies (HC) have been used with clinical outcomes comparable to DC as single stage alternatives. However, both DC and every variant of HC have a limit to the achievable volume augmentation and all invariably cause a compression of the cerebral cortex and its vasculature at the craniotomy site. We believe both these limitations adversely affect the outcome. Methods A team of neuroscientists in Indian Armed Forces Medical Services has been working for the last 9 years toward developing a novel surgical technique that can mitigate both these drawbacks. Desired procedure should take the centripetal pressure exerted by the combination of the tensile strength of the scalp (with or, without an underlying bone flap) and atmospheric pressure off the brain surface while achieving an assured augmentation of intracranial volume that can be optimized on a case-to-case basis. We call it a "step ladder expansive cranioplasty." Results The distance of the parietal eminence was found to have increased by 10.2 mm on the operated side after expansive cranioplasty. Conclusion From drawing board to bedside, we have made some progress toward our goal, but it is still far away from completion. More studies are required to fill in the gaps in our knowledge necessary to optimize the various parameters of the surgery. Procedure has promise to be of special role in in war and disaster scenarios.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Loss of heterozygosity (LOH)1p/19q, and epigenetic silencing of O(6)-methylguanine-DNAmethyltransferase (MGMT) gene, displayed promising role as predictive and prognostic markers in brain tumours. The present study correlated both with conventional histomorphologic prognostic markers and proliferative index in diffusely infiltrating gliomas (DIG). METHODS: Tissues from 45 patients were evaluated for LOH1p/19q using polymerase chain reaction based microsatellite analysis; and for MGMT using immunohistochemistry. Results were correlated with age, histologic type, WHO grade, and proliferation index. RESULTS: Mean MIB-1 LI showed significant correlation with tumour grade. MGMT-staining in grade II and IV tumours were 31.1% and 16.8%, respectively, while in DA and GBM it was 88.2% and 19.0%, respectively, which were statistically significant. Sixteen cases showed LOH 1p and/or 19q of which 10 (5 oligodendroglial, 3 GBM, AA, DA) had combined LOH; while three each showed 1p (all GBM) and 19q (2 DA and GBM) loss. In the MIB-1LI ≤ 5% and >5% groups LOH 1p and/or 19q was encountered in 6 and 10 cases, respectively. A significant inverse association was noted between LOH with MGMT. CONCLUSIONS: LOH1p/19q and MGMT shows good correlation with conventional histomorphologic and proliferation markers, and should constitute part of the optimal diagnostic workup of DIG.
