A Case of Dentatotomy for Pain and Spasticity and Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Surgical interventions for spasticity aim to improve motor function and pain in cases that are refractory to medical treatment. Ablation of the cerebellar dentate nucleus (dentatotomy) may be a useful alternative. CASE REPORT: A 55-year-old male patient with spasticity, secondary to a traumatic cervical spinal cord injury with quadriparesis, had bilateral lumbar DREZotomy with an improvement that lasted for 6 years. Ten years after the DREZotomy, a progressive increased spasticity manifested as spastic diplegia (Ashworth 4) and spontaneous muscle painful spasms (Penn 4), as well as spasticity in the upper extremities, predominantly on the right side (Ashworth 3). A right radio frequency dentatotomy was performed with intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring. Spasticity scales were applied at the following times: preoperative and at 1 and 8 months after surgery. During the first month, the patient presented a clear decrease in spasticity ipsilateral to the side of lesioning (Ashworth 1) and of painful spasms in the lower extremities (Penn 1). After 8 months, spasticity ipsilateral to the injury decreased even more to Ashworth (0), but a progressive increase in muscle spasms of lower extremities was observed (Penn 2). CONCLUSION: Stereotactic dentatotomy may be an effective surgical alternative for management of spasticity associated with painful spasms in selected patients.

Presentación sincrónica de tumor epidermoides intracraneal y absceso cerebral: reporte de un caso / Synchronous presentation of intracranial epidermoid tumor and brain abscess: case report

Introducción: Un paciente con tumor epidermoides intracraneal extradural con presentación sincrónica con absceso cerebral, sin antecedentes de trauma craneal penetrante, no ha sido reportado con anterioridad en la revisión del tema realizada por los autores. Se presenta un caso con estas características y se exponen consideraciones sobre el diagnóstico y el tratamiento. Caso clínico: Paciente femenina, de 48 años de edad, con antecedentes de cefalea crónica y tumor craneal palpable en región frontal izquierda. Los estudios humorales fueron normales. La RNM craneal mostró dos imágenes en anillo yuxtapuestas, extra e intraaxial de forma respectiva. En la cirugía se encontró tumor perlado extradural sin evidencia a la inspección de tumor intradural, se comprobó en el examen histopatológico tumor epidermoides. En los controles imagenológicos posoperatorios se descubrió la persistencia de la lesión intraaxial, en anillo, frontal izquierda. Una segunda cirugía evidenció un absceso cerebral de ubicación subcortical y se efectuó la resección radical. La evolución fue favorable, sin secuelas después de cuatro meses de seguimiento. Conclusiones: Se reportó un caso infrecuente, donde se presentó de forma sincrónica un tumor epidermoides extradural frontal izquierdo y absceso cerebral frontal ipsilateral, sin relación de continuidad ni comunicación fistulosa demostrada en las neuroimágenes ni en la exploración quirúrgica.

Introduction: A patient with intracranial extradural epidermoid tumor with synchronous presentation with brain abscess and no history of penetrating head trauma, has not been previously reported in the revision of the subject made by the authors. A case with these characteristics is presented and also considerations about diagnosis and treatment. Case report: A 48-yearold female patient, with a history of chronic headache and cranial palpable tumor in left frontal region. Humoral studies were normal. Cranial MRI showed two juxtaposed, extra and intraaxial ring images. At surgery an extradural pearly tumor without evidence of intradural tumor on inspection was found, biopsy showed an epidermoid tumor. Persistence of intraaxial ring lesion in left frontal lobe was showed in postoperative imaging controls. A second surgery discovered a subcortical brain abscess and radical resection was done. Patient outcome has been without sequelae after four months of follow-up. Conclusions: An uncommon case where reported with extradural left frontal epidermoid tumor and ipsilateral frontal brain abscess synchronously presented, neither continuity nor fistulous communication were demonstrated on neuroimaging or surgical exploration.