Sinus pericranii: an overview and literature review of a rare cranial venous anomaly (a review of the existing literature with case examples).

Sinus pericranii is a rare vascular abnormality characterised by abnormal connections between the intra- and extracranial venous systems and is usually found in children. In most instances, a sinus pericranii presents as a soft scalp swelling that appears with the patient in the recumbent position and disappears in the erect position. We review two cases of sinus pericranii presented in adulthood and treated surgically with good outcomes. We have performed a search of the English literature using the PubMed database and reviewed the published cases to date to present an overview of this pathological entity.

Blunt traumatic vertebral artery injury: a clinical review.

Blunt traumatic vertebral injury (TVAI) is frequently associated with head and neck injury and is being detected with increasing frequency due to improved imaging of the trauma patient. In a few cases, it can lead to potentially fatal posterior circulation ischaemia There is debate in the literature regarding whether TVAI should be actively screened for and, if so, how. Management of TVAI may be conservative, medical (antiplatelet agents or anticoagulation), endovascular or open surgery. We review the literature concerning the mechanisms and presentation of TVAI following blunt injury and the current screening recommendations. Management strategies proposed are based on the radiological grade and clinical severity of TVAI, where high-grade symptomatic injuries and high-grade injuries in patients where anticoagulation is contraindicated are treated endovascularly and asymptomatic or low-grade injuries are managed with anticoagulation where it is not contraindicated. Follow-up is via CT angiography to assess for resolution of the injury.

Financial and clinical governance implications of clinical coding accuracy in neurosurgery: a multidisciplinary audit.

Clinical coding is the translation of documented clinical activities during an admission to a codified language. Healthcare Resource Groupings (HRGs) are derived from coding data and are used to calculate payment to hospitals in England, Wales and Scotland and to conduct national audit and benchmarking exercises. Coding is an error-prone process and an understanding of its accuracy within neurosurgery is critical for financial, organizational and clinical governance purposes. We undertook a multidisciplinary audit of neurosurgical clinical coding accuracy. Neurosurgeons trained in coding assessed the accuracy of 386 patient episodes. Where clinicians felt a coding error was present, the case was discussed with an experienced clinical coder. Concordance between the initial coder-only clinical coding and the final clinician-coder multidisciplinary coding was assessed. At least one coding error occurred in 71/386 patients (18.4%). There were 36 diagnosis and 93 procedure errors and in 40 cases, the initial HRG changed (10.4%). Financially, this translated to pound111 revenue-loss per patient episode and projected to pound171,452 of annual loss to the department. 85% of all coding errors were due to accumulation of coding changes that occurred only once in the whole data set. Neurosurgical clinical coding is error-prone. This is financially disadvantageous and with the coding data being the source of comparisons within and between departments, coding inaccuracies paint a distorted picture of departmental activity and subspecialism in audit and benchmarking. Clinical engagement improves accuracy and is encouraged within a clinical governance framework.

Assessment of the flexibility of the lumbar spine in childhood and adolescence.

Two different tape measurement techniques were tested for anterior spinal flexion in 393 children varying in age from 7 to 14 years. With one technique the skin distraction was found to be more than 6 cm and with the other one more than 4.7 cm. Both were age-dependent but were independent of height and weight.

Cardiac tamponade and heart failure secondary to ventriculo-pleural shunt malfunction: a rare presentation.

We report an unusual case of a patient with a ventriculo-pleural shunt presenting with signs and symptoms of heart failure due to massive pericardial effusion. Imaging revealed the distal shunt catheter end within the middle mediastinum to have migrated from the pleural space. The patient underwent a shunt revision procedure resulting in complete resolution of the presenting pathology. We intend to draw the reader's attention to this rare presentation of ventriculo-pleural shunt malfunction.

Embolization of a wide neck giant basilar tip aneurysm using two coils. A case report.

Pictorial demonstration of aneurysm lumen thrombosis and diversion of flow hemodynamics with the use of a minimum number of coils in the treatment of hemorrhagic basilar tip aneurysm. We present a 62-year-old lady who underwent endovascular treatment for acute subarachnoid hemorrhage due to a giant basilar tip aneurysm and a left carotico-ophthalmic aneurysm. Following deployment of two of the longest available coils, the procedure was terminated due to a sudden change of jet flow within the aneurysm and unsustainable coil and microcatheter positions in spite of further attempts. Post-procedural follow-up angiogram on day 22, revealed an approximately 90% occlusion of the giant basilar tip aneurysm. Significant reduction in flow dynamic by minimum number of coils can achieve remarkable and near complete thrombosis and occlusion of a giant basilar tip aneurysm.

Selective testicular venography for the localization of undescended testicles.

Percutaneous venography of the internal spermatic vein was performed for the localization of unpalpable testicles in 5 patients varying from 4 to 45 years of age. The catheterization of the vein on the left side was successful in all 5 cases; and the testicle was localized and verified by surgery in all but one case in which a competent valve prevented the retrograde filling of the whole length of the vein down to the testicle. In the two patients with bilateral undescended testicles the right internal vein could not be identified in one patient, and in the other patient a semiselective injection was done into that vein which appeared to represent the spermatic vein, but the examination was not conclusive.

The diagnostic importance of the recognition of the inferior vena cava abnormalities on CT-examinations.

Two unusual variations of the Vena cava inferior, as shown by CT examinations, are reported and characteristic X-rays, as well as CT scans, are presented. The first case shows an IVC course to the left of the aorta and the second case absence of the intrahepatic portion of the IVC with azygos continuation. Difficulties in the differential diagnosis are analyzed and discussed, both demonstrated by plain X-rays and CT scans.