Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive primary brain tumour. As GBM incidence is associated wi... more Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive primary brain tumour. As GBM incidence is associated with age, elderly people represent a consistent subgroup of patients. Elderly people with GBM show dismal prognosis (about 6 months) and limited response to treatments. Age is a negative prognostic factor, which correlates with clinical frailty, poorer tolerability to surgery or adjuvant radio-chemotherapy, and higher occurrence of comorbidities and/or secondary complications. The aim of this paper is to review the clinical and molecular characteristics, current therapeutic options, and prognostic factors of elderly patients with GBM.
Objective: The L4-L5 disc disease associated with a defect of differentiation L5 (sacralization) ... more Objective: The L4-L5 disc disease associated with a defect of differentiation L5 (sacralization) is a common degenerative disease. Some interesting pathophysiological considerations can be made about this situation. In fact, probably the disc disease comes from an increased stress on the disc L4-L5 [for full text, please go to the a.m. URL]
The introduction of modern endoscopy in neurosurgery brought light to one of the darkest areas: t... more The introduction of modern endoscopy in neurosurgery brought light to one of the darkest areas: the skull base. In particular, the trans-nasal route allowed skull base surgeons to visualize and dominate the entire midline skull base. We analyzed our surgical series of 199 patients that were affected by several pathologies (pituitary adenomas, clivalchordomas, craniopharyngioma, Rathke's cleft cysts, tuberculum sellaemeningiomas, and craniovertebral junction pathologies with bulbar compression) and treated each by using a 3D-HD endoscope between December 2012 and December 2015 and reviewed the literature. We present our results in terms of tumor resections and decompression inpatients affected by craniovertebral junction pathologies. Analyzing our direct experience, as well as the literature, we can assert that the amount and accuracy of necessary movements in order to achieve a determined target are affected by the screen clarity and image resolution of the device. Additionally,...
With the increasing life expectancy, a large number of intracranial meningiomas (IM) have been id... more With the increasing life expectancy, a large number of intracranial meningiomas (IM) have been identified in elderly patients. There is no general consensus regarding the management for IMs nor studies regarding the outcome of older patients undergoing meningioma surgery. We aimed to determine whether preoperative variables and postoperative clinical outcomes differ between age groups after meningioma surgery. We analyzed data from all patients who had undergone IM surgery from our departments. The final cohort consisted of 340 patients affected by IM with ASA class I-II: 188 in the young group (<65) and 152 in the elderly. The two subgroups did not present significant differences concerning biological characteristics of tumor, localization, diameters, lesion and edema volumes and surgical radicality. Despite these comparable data, elderly presented with a significantly lower Karnofsky Performance status value on admission and remained consistently lower during the follow-up. We ...
Background: Cavernous malformations generally occur in brain parenchyma but rarely these lesions ... more Background: Cavernous malformations generally occur in brain parenchyma but rarely these lesions arise from cranial nerves (CNs). Case Description: This paper described a case of a woman presented with III CN dysfunction due to the presence of a right III CN cavernoma. Surgical treatment with nerve sparing gross total resection was performed. A 3-month follow-up was documented. Conclusion: Only few cases of CNs cavernomas have been described in the literature. These lesions have been described to show a more aggressive behavior compared to intraparenchymal cavernomas, especially in symptomatic patients. Differential diagnosis and surgical treatment could be challenging, especially trying to preserve nerve integrity and function.
Background: Despite the aggressiveness of multimodal treatment, glioblastoma (GBM) is still a cha... more Background: Despite the aggressiveness of multimodal treatment, glioblastoma (GBM) is still a challenge for neurosurgeons, neurooncologists, and radiotherapists. A surgical approach is still a cornerstone in GBM therapeutic management, as the extent of resection is strongly related both to overall survival and progression-free survival. From this perspective, the use of photodynamic molecules could represent an interesting tool to achieve maximal and safe resection. Being able to trace the lesion’s edges, indeed, could allow to improve the extent of resection and to minimize residual tumor while sparing normal tissue. The use of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) as a photodynamic tracer is well established due to its strict correlation both with cellularity and metabolic activity of the GBM cell clones. Objective: Our study aims to define whether a different molecular asset of GBM (especially investigating IDH 1/2 mutation, proliferation index, and MGMT promoter methylation) results in ...
Summary Background. Vestibular nerve section is considered to be the most effective surgical proc... more Summary Background. Vestibular nerve section is considered to be the most effective surgical procedure to control intractable symptoms secondary to Meni e disease (MD). This study was developed to analyze the adequacy of retrosigmoid vestibular neurectomy in terms of vertigo control, hearing preservation and clinical complications of this procedure. Methods. A retrospective review was carried out on 14 patients affected by definite unilateral MD who underwent vestibular neurectomy via the retrosigmoid approach. Findings. One patient was lost from follow-up; another one had only a short postoperative observation. At follow-up performed on 12 cases, no patients reported any crisis of acute vertigo. Four patients were free from any vestibular symptoms, while 8 reported some slight gait disturbances. Hearing function was preserved in 10 patients and improved in 2. 1 year postoperative vestibular function was absent at the side operated on and unchanged on the other side in all the cases...
Background: Cavernous malformations generally occur in brain parenchyma but rarely these lesions ... more Background: Cavernous malformations generally occur in brain parenchyma but rarely these lesions arise from cranial nerves (CNs). Case Description: This paper described a case of a woman presented with III CN dysfunction due to the presence of a right III CN cavernoma. Surgical treatment with nerve sparing gross total resection was performed. A 3-month follow-up was documented. Conclusion: Only few cases of CNs cavernomas have been described in the literature. These lesions have been described to show a more aggressive behavior compared to intraparenchymal cavernomas, especially in symptomatic patients. Differential diagnosis and surgical treatment could be challenging, especially trying to preserve nerve integrity and function.
Brain metastases from prostate cancer are very rare. We report an unusual case of PSA-negative ce... more Brain metastases from prostate cancer are very rare. We report an unusual case of PSA-negative cerebellar metastasis in a 77-year-old man with known prostate cancer since 2003 and negative clinical and radiological follow-up for the following 10 years. The lesion was discovered during the radiological follow-up for his pre-existent cerebrovascular disease; at first the patient was completely asymptomatic and only after one year began to complain of symptoms related to the area involved rather than the mass-effect. Beside the highly unusual cerebellar site, another peculiarity is the lack of rise in PSA serum level and the cerebellum as the only and first site of distant spread. This suggests a particular type of cancer behavior with direct brain occurrence via the paravertebral venous plexus draining from the prostate, and a relatively benign growth; for some still unknown reason this has happened without a significant PSA increase. The case reported also suggests that in a patient ...
Facial nerve schwannoma localized in the middle fossa is a rare lesion. We report a case of a fac... more Facial nerve schwannoma localized in the middle fossa is a rare lesion. We report a case of a facial nerve schwannoma in a 30-year-old male presenting with facial nerve palsy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a 3 cm diameter tumor of the right middle fossa. The tumor was removed using a sub-temporal approach. Intraoperative monitoring allowed for identification of the facial nerve, so it was not damaged during the surgical excision. Neurological clinical examination at discharge demonstrated moderate facial nerve improvement (Grade III House-Brackmann).
Background One of the greatest neuro-oncological concern remains the lack of knowledge about the ... more Background One of the greatest neuro-oncological concern remains the lack of knowledge about the etiopathogenesis and physiopathology of gliomas. Several studies reported a strict correlation between radiological features and biological behaviour of gliomas; in this way the velocity of diametric expansion (VDE) correlate with lower grade glioma aggressiveness. However, there are no the same strong evidences for high grade gliomas (HGG) because of the lack of several preoperative MRI. Patients and methods We describe a series of 4 patients affected by HGG followed from 2014 to January 2019. Two patients are male and two female; two had a pathological diagnosis of glioblastoma (GBM), one of anaplastic astrocytoma (AA) and one had a neuroradiological diagnosis of GBM. The VDE and the acceleration time (AT) was calculated for fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) volume and for the enhancing nodule (EN). Every patients underwent sequential MRI study along a mean period of 413 days...
Titanium is one of the most frequently used materials in bone regeneration due to its good biocom... more Titanium is one of the most frequently used materials in bone regeneration due to its good biocompatibility, excellent mechanical properties, and great osteogenic performance. However, osseointegration with host tissue is often not definite, which may cause implant failure at times. The present study investigates the capacity of the mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-secretome, formulated as a ready-to-use and freeze-dried medicinal product (the Lyosecretome), to promote the osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties of titanium cages. In vitro tests were conducted using adipose tissue-derived MSCs seeded on titanium cages with or without Lyosecretome. After 14 days, in the presence of Lyosecretome, significant cell proliferation improvement was observed. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the cytocompatibility of titanium cages: the seeded MSCs showed a spread morphology and an initial formation of filopodia. After 7 days, in the presence of Lyosecretome, more frequent and complex c...
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive primary brain tumour. As GBM incidence is associated wi... more Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive primary brain tumour. As GBM incidence is associated with age, elderly people represent a consistent subgroup of patients. Elderly people with GBM show dismal prognosis (about 6 months) and limited response to treatments. Age is a negative prognostic factor, which correlates with clinical frailty, poorer tolerability to surgery or adjuvant radio-chemotherapy, and higher occurrence of comorbidities and/or secondary complications. The aim of this paper is to review the clinical and molecular characteristics, current therapeutic options, and prognostic factors of elderly patients with GBM.
Objective: The L4-L5 disc disease associated with a defect of differentiation L5 (sacralization) ... more Objective: The L4-L5 disc disease associated with a defect of differentiation L5 (sacralization) is a common degenerative disease. Some interesting pathophysiological considerations can be made about this situation. In fact, probably the disc disease comes from an increased stress on the disc L4-L5 [for full text, please go to the a.m. URL]
The introduction of modern endoscopy in neurosurgery brought light to one of the darkest areas: t... more The introduction of modern endoscopy in neurosurgery brought light to one of the darkest areas: the skull base. In particular, the trans-nasal route allowed skull base surgeons to visualize and dominate the entire midline skull base. We analyzed our surgical series of 199 patients that were affected by several pathologies (pituitary adenomas, clivalchordomas, craniopharyngioma, Rathke's cleft cysts, tuberculum sellaemeningiomas, and craniovertebral junction pathologies with bulbar compression) and treated each by using a 3D-HD endoscope between December 2012 and December 2015 and reviewed the literature. We present our results in terms of tumor resections and decompression inpatients affected by craniovertebral junction pathologies. Analyzing our direct experience, as well as the literature, we can assert that the amount and accuracy of necessary movements in order to achieve a determined target are affected by the screen clarity and image resolution of the device. Additionally,...
With the increasing life expectancy, a large number of intracranial meningiomas (IM) have been id... more With the increasing life expectancy, a large number of intracranial meningiomas (IM) have been identified in elderly patients. There is no general consensus regarding the management for IMs nor studies regarding the outcome of older patients undergoing meningioma surgery. We aimed to determine whether preoperative variables and postoperative clinical outcomes differ between age groups after meningioma surgery. We analyzed data from all patients who had undergone IM surgery from our departments. The final cohort consisted of 340 patients affected by IM with ASA class I-II: 188 in the young group (<65) and 152 in the elderly. The two subgroups did not present significant differences concerning biological characteristics of tumor, localization, diameters, lesion and edema volumes and surgical radicality. Despite these comparable data, elderly presented with a significantly lower Karnofsky Performance status value on admission and remained consistently lower during the follow-up. We ...
Background: Cavernous malformations generally occur in brain parenchyma but rarely these lesions ... more Background: Cavernous malformations generally occur in brain parenchyma but rarely these lesions arise from cranial nerves (CNs). Case Description: This paper described a case of a woman presented with III CN dysfunction due to the presence of a right III CN cavernoma. Surgical treatment with nerve sparing gross total resection was performed. A 3-month follow-up was documented. Conclusion: Only few cases of CNs cavernomas have been described in the literature. These lesions have been described to show a more aggressive behavior compared to intraparenchymal cavernomas, especially in symptomatic patients. Differential diagnosis and surgical treatment could be challenging, especially trying to preserve nerve integrity and function.
Background: Despite the aggressiveness of multimodal treatment, glioblastoma (GBM) is still a cha... more Background: Despite the aggressiveness of multimodal treatment, glioblastoma (GBM) is still a challenge for neurosurgeons, neurooncologists, and radiotherapists. A surgical approach is still a cornerstone in GBM therapeutic management, as the extent of resection is strongly related both to overall survival and progression-free survival. From this perspective, the use of photodynamic molecules could represent an interesting tool to achieve maximal and safe resection. Being able to trace the lesion’s edges, indeed, could allow to improve the extent of resection and to minimize residual tumor while sparing normal tissue. The use of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) as a photodynamic tracer is well established due to its strict correlation both with cellularity and metabolic activity of the GBM cell clones. Objective: Our study aims to define whether a different molecular asset of GBM (especially investigating IDH 1/2 mutation, proliferation index, and MGMT promoter methylation) results in ...
Summary Background. Vestibular nerve section is considered to be the most effective surgical proc... more Summary Background. Vestibular nerve section is considered to be the most effective surgical procedure to control intractable symptoms secondary to Meni e disease (MD). This study was developed to analyze the adequacy of retrosigmoid vestibular neurectomy in terms of vertigo control, hearing preservation and clinical complications of this procedure. Methods. A retrospective review was carried out on 14 patients affected by definite unilateral MD who underwent vestibular neurectomy via the retrosigmoid approach. Findings. One patient was lost from follow-up; another one had only a short postoperative observation. At follow-up performed on 12 cases, no patients reported any crisis of acute vertigo. Four patients were free from any vestibular symptoms, while 8 reported some slight gait disturbances. Hearing function was preserved in 10 patients and improved in 2. 1 year postoperative vestibular function was absent at the side operated on and unchanged on the other side in all the cases...
Background: Cavernous malformations generally occur in brain parenchyma but rarely these lesions ... more Background: Cavernous malformations generally occur in brain parenchyma but rarely these lesions arise from cranial nerves (CNs). Case Description: This paper described a case of a woman presented with III CN dysfunction due to the presence of a right III CN cavernoma. Surgical treatment with nerve sparing gross total resection was performed. A 3-month follow-up was documented. Conclusion: Only few cases of CNs cavernomas have been described in the literature. These lesions have been described to show a more aggressive behavior compared to intraparenchymal cavernomas, especially in symptomatic patients. Differential diagnosis and surgical treatment could be challenging, especially trying to preserve nerve integrity and function.
Brain metastases from prostate cancer are very rare. We report an unusual case of PSA-negative ce... more Brain metastases from prostate cancer are very rare. We report an unusual case of PSA-negative cerebellar metastasis in a 77-year-old man with known prostate cancer since 2003 and negative clinical and radiological follow-up for the following 10 years. The lesion was discovered during the radiological follow-up for his pre-existent cerebrovascular disease; at first the patient was completely asymptomatic and only after one year began to complain of symptoms related to the area involved rather than the mass-effect. Beside the highly unusual cerebellar site, another peculiarity is the lack of rise in PSA serum level and the cerebellum as the only and first site of distant spread. This suggests a particular type of cancer behavior with direct brain occurrence via the paravertebral venous plexus draining from the prostate, and a relatively benign growth; for some still unknown reason this has happened without a significant PSA increase. The case reported also suggests that in a patient ...
Facial nerve schwannoma localized in the middle fossa is a rare lesion. We report a case of a fac... more Facial nerve schwannoma localized in the middle fossa is a rare lesion. We report a case of a facial nerve schwannoma in a 30-year-old male presenting with facial nerve palsy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a 3 cm diameter tumor of the right middle fossa. The tumor was removed using a sub-temporal approach. Intraoperative monitoring allowed for identification of the facial nerve, so it was not damaged during the surgical excision. Neurological clinical examination at discharge demonstrated moderate facial nerve improvement (Grade III House-Brackmann).
Background One of the greatest neuro-oncological concern remains the lack of knowledge about the ... more Background One of the greatest neuro-oncological concern remains the lack of knowledge about the etiopathogenesis and physiopathology of gliomas. Several studies reported a strict correlation between radiological features and biological behaviour of gliomas; in this way the velocity of diametric expansion (VDE) correlate with lower grade glioma aggressiveness. However, there are no the same strong evidences for high grade gliomas (HGG) because of the lack of several preoperative MRI. Patients and methods We describe a series of 4 patients affected by HGG followed from 2014 to January 2019. Two patients are male and two female; two had a pathological diagnosis of glioblastoma (GBM), one of anaplastic astrocytoma (AA) and one had a neuroradiological diagnosis of GBM. The VDE and the acceleration time (AT) was calculated for fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) volume and for the enhancing nodule (EN). Every patients underwent sequential MRI study along a mean period of 413 days...
Titanium is one of the most frequently used materials in bone regeneration due to its good biocom... more Titanium is one of the most frequently used materials in bone regeneration due to its good biocompatibility, excellent mechanical properties, and great osteogenic performance. However, osseointegration with host tissue is often not definite, which may cause implant failure at times. The present study investigates the capacity of the mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-secretome, formulated as a ready-to-use and freeze-dried medicinal product (the Lyosecretome), to promote the osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties of titanium cages. In vitro tests were conducted using adipose tissue-derived MSCs seeded on titanium cages with or without Lyosecretome. After 14 days, in the presence of Lyosecretome, significant cell proliferation improvement was observed. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the cytocompatibility of titanium cages: the seeded MSCs showed a spread morphology and an initial formation of filopodia. After 7 days, in the presence of Lyosecretome, more frequent and complex c...
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