The effect of free glycerol intake on cerebral glycerol concentration.

OBJECTIVE: Cerebral microdialysis (CMD) is a method used to measure the concentration of metabolites and glycerol in the interstitium of the brain. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of parenterally applied medication and nutrition containing external free glycerol (EFG) on cerebral values of glycerol in patients monitored and treated for non-traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). METHODS: In 13 patients, the values of CG concentrations were measured using CMD. The amounts of parenterally applied EFG (in hourly intervals) were calculated from patient records. All data were gathered retrospectively. To analyze the association between the parameters of interest and their relationship, Spearman´s correlation and p-values were calculated. RESULTS: There was no evident relationship between the CG and EFG concentrations when the dataset was analyzed as a whole (r = -0.146). However, when the analysis was applied to single patients, a varying degree of correlations was discovered in 7 patients (r = 0.431-0.867). CONCLUSION: The possible effect of externally administered glycerol contained in pharmaceuticals and nutrition on its brain concentrations must be considered when interpreting data of CMD (Tab. 2, Fig. 4,Ref. 16) Keywords: glycerol, microdialysis, brain, subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Correction to: Multidisciplinary approach in the treatment of spinal dural arteriovenous fistula-results of endovascular and surgical treatment.

The author J. Adamkov was incorrectly captured in the original article and is now corrected in this article.

Multidisciplinary approach in the treatment of spinal dural arteriovenous fistula-results of endovascular and surgical treatment.

BACKGROUND: The results of treatment for spinal dural arteriovenous fistula (SDAVF) have been controversial. The goal of this study was to compare results of endovascular and surgical treatments to contribute to determining an optimal treatment strategy. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the set of 24 SDAVF patients (11 in the endovascular and 13 in the surgical group) was performed. The clinical effect (using the modified Rankin scale [mRS]), the radicality, and the number of clinical recurrences as well as the impact of age, the level of impairment, and the duration of symptoms before the treatment were evaluated. RESULTS: The average age was 60.1 ± 8.4 years. The median duration of symptoms before establishing a diagnosis was 12 (1-70) months. Clinical improvement was reported in 11 out of 24 (45.8%) patients (36.4% following embolization and 53.8% following surgery, p = 0.444). Radical performance was achieved in 47.4% of endovascular versus 92.9% of surgical procedures (p = 0.009). Clinical recurrence was reported in 35.3% of patients in the endovascular group, whereas no clinical recurrence was reported in the surgical group (p = 0.0133). The graphical residuum after 1 surgery out of 14 (7.1%) was cured early during the control angiography. Clinical improvement was reported 42.1% of patients with mRS ≤ 3 versus 60% of patients with mRS ≥ 4 and, in 57.1% of patients aged ≥ 60 versus in 30% of patients < 60 years (p > 0.05 in both cases). The impact of the duration of symptoms on the clinical results was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The surgical treatment of SDAVF appeared to be a more efficient method in terms of the clinical effect, radicality, and lower recurrence rate in comparison with the endovascular treatment. No statistically significant dependence of the clinical result on age, deficit burden, or symptom duration was found.

The relationship between intracranial pressure and lactate/pyruvate ratio in patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage.

AIM: The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between intracranial pressure (intracranial pressure monitoring) and lactate pyruvate ratio (cerebral microdialysis) in patients with ruptured intracranial aneurysms. METHODS: In a group of fifteen patients, intracranial pressure and lactate/pyruvate ratios were measured and logged in hourly intervals. The relationship between these two variables was subsequently analysed in two ways. 1) Intracranial hypertension (ICP > 20 mmHg) in the presence of energy deprivation (L/P ratio > 30) was noted. 2) The dynamics of L/P ratio changes in relation to immediate ICP and CPP values was analysed. RESULTS: Out of a total of 1873 monitored hours we were able to record lactate/pyruvate ratios higher than 30 in 832 hours (44 %). Of those 832 hours during which lactate/pyruvate ratios were higher than 30, ICP was higher than 20 in 193 hours (23 %). Out of 219 hours of monitoring, in which ICP was higher than 20, a simultaneously increased L/P ratio higher than 30 was recorded in 193 hours (88 %). L/P ratio values above 30 were associated with decreased CPP values (p = 0.04), but not with increased ICP values (p = 0.79). CONCLUSION: Intracranial hypertension coincides with energetic imbalance in approximately one quarter of cases. This points to the shortcomings of the most common form of neuromonitoring in SAH patients - ICP monitoring. This method may not be reliable enough in detecting hypoxic damage, which is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in SAH patients (Fig. 5, Ref. 11).

Diagnosis and surgical therapy of plasma cell neoplasia of the spine.

Presented is a retrospective analysis of 27 patients with plasma cell neoplasms of the spine treated by surgery. Multiple myeloma was confirmed in 22 (81%) and solitary plasmacytoma in 5 patients (19%), assessed at the time of surgery. Nineteen patients (70%) with the preliminary diagnosis of malignancy of unknown etiology were admitted for surgery. In 23 patients (85%) the essential symptom was back pain, which preceded surgery by an average of 4 months. Thirteen patients (48%) were bedridden due to tumor spinal cord compression, on average for 7 days before undergoing surgery. Only 5 out of 13 bedridden patients (38%) regained the ability to walk after surgery and 8 patients (62%) remained bedridden despite successful surgical decompression of the spinal cord. The difference of survival of the patients between bedridden and able to walk prior to surgery was statistically significant (Cox's F-Test = 0.005). Key words: plasma cell neoplasia, spinal cord compression, late diagnosis, outcome.

The use of optical coherence tomography in chiasmal compression.

The objective of this prospective study is to explore the benefits of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in cases of optic chiasm (OC) compression by measuring the thickness of the Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer (RNFL) and the Ganglion Cell Layer (GCL). MATERIAL AND METHODS: 16 patients (32 eyes) with chiasmal compression were included in the study. They presented no other pathology of the visual pathway or of the eye globe. The second inclusion criterion was a subsequent indication of decompressive surgery, either by transcranial or transnasal approach. Measurements of visual acuity, visual field, RNFL and GCL were performed once preoperatively and three times postoperatively (one week, 3 and 6 months postoperatively). The observed peripapillary and perifoveal regions were divided into quadrants. The degree (grade 0-5) of chiasmal compression was determined on preoperative brain MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). In need of some data analysis, participants were split into a group with no or minimal (grade 0-1) and with substantial pressure (grade 2-4) on OC. RESULTS: The median global peripapillary RNFL was 87 μm, the perifoveal nasal GCL 41,2 µm and the temporal 44,2 µm. There was a pronounced preoperative RNFL thinning in nasal (63,5 μm) and temporal (65 μm) quadrant, in comparison to the age-matched normative database for RNFL thickness in the OCT protocol. There is a statistically important connection between bitemporal hemianopia and RNFL, resp. GCL. Larger perimetric outages is related to important OC compression, seen on MRI. CONCLUSION: There exists a correlation between the thickness of the peripapillary RNFL, resp. perifoveal GCL, and visual field defects in chiasmal compression. Thinner preoperative RNFL does not present a statistically important limiting factor for better functional outcomes after surgical decompression. Horizontal asymmetry of perifoveal GCL is an indicator of compressive ophthalmopathy. The grade of preoperative OC compression presents another important prognostic factor.

[Percutaneous vertebroplasty]. / Perkutánní vertebroplastiky.

Percutaneous vertebroplasty is a therapeutic, interventional radiologic procedure originally developed in France by Galibert, Deramond et al. (1987). The technique consists of the percutaneous puncture of the affected vertebral body, followed by injection of bone cement into a vertebral body for the relief of pain, and the strengthening of the bone. The procedure was used initially to treat aggressive hemangiomas, but it then was extended to the treatment of osteolytic metastases, multiple myeloma and osteoporotic compression fractures refractory to medical therapy. In this article we review the current techniques, indications for this procedure, preoperative and postoperative evaluations.

Dopamine 2 and somatostatin 1-5 receptors coexpression in clinically non-functioning pituitary adenomas.

This study investigated quantitated expression of dopamine 2 receptor (D2R) and somatostatin receptors of the five types (SSTR1-SSTR5) in a large series of clinically non-functioning pituitary adenomas (CNFAs). Co-expression of these receptors in individual adenomas was studied as well as correlation between receptor types. Adenoma tissue from 198 patients who underwent surgery for CNFAs was analyzed by immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time PCR. D2R and SSTR1-3 mRNA was expressed in all 198 adenomas. SSTR4 and SSTR5 were detectable in 85 % and 61 % of adenomas, respectively. Expression of D2R was significantly higher than that of the somatostatin receptors. The median relative expressions were as follows from highest D2R >> SSTR3 > SSTR2 > SSTR1 > SSTR5 > SSTR4. High relative expression (ratio to beta-glucuronidase mRNA > 1) of D2R was found in 60 % of tumors, high expression of SSTR1 in 7.5 %, SSTR2 in 7 %, SSTR3 in 4 % and SSTR5 in 0.5 %. The quantity of D2R correlated positively with expression of SSTR2 and SSTR3, and negatively with SSTR1 and SSTR5. Among histological adenoma types, SSTR1 was significantly higher in null-cell adenomas and SSTR3 was lower in silent corticotroph adenomas. In conclusions, in CNFAs, high expression of somatostatin receptors is much less common than that of D2R, and co-expression of both these receptors is exceptional. D2R and SSTR3 seem to be the most promising targets for pharmacological treatment.

Extensive spinal epidural hematoma: a rare complication of aortic coarctation.

Development of collateral circulation belongs among the typical signs of aortic coarctation. Cerebral or spinal artery aneurysm formation with increased risk of subarachnoid hemorrhage represent the most common neurovascular complication of this disease. We report a case of a 20-year-old sportsman who developed acute non-traumatic paraplegia as a result of extensive spinal epidural hemorrhage from collateral vessels accompanying aortic coarctation which was unrecognized up to that time. To the best of our knowledge, acute spinal epidural hematoma as a complication of aortic coarctation has not been previously reported.