Patients with malignancy, particularly patients with high-grade glioma (HGG; WHO grade III/IV), have an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE

Summary: Epilepsy surgery is an effective treatment in many patients with drug‐resistant focal epilepsies. An early decision for surgical therapy is facilitated by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)—visible brain lesion congruent with the electrophysiologically abnormal brain region. Recent advances in the pathologic diagnosis and classification of epileptogenic brain lesions are helpful for clinical correlation, outcome stratification, and patient management. However, application of international consensus classification systems to common epileptic pathologies (e.g., focal cortical dysplasia [FCD] and hippocampal sclerosis [HS]) necessitates standardized protocols for neuropathologic workup of epilepsy surgery specimens. To this end, the Task Force of Neuropathology from the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Commission on Diagnostic Methods developed a consensus standard operational procedure for tissue inspection, distribution, and processing. The aims are to provide a systematic framework for histopathologic workup, meeting minimal standards and maximizing current and future opportunities for morphofunctional correlations and molecular studies for both clinical care and research. Whenever feasible, anatomically intact surgical specimens are desirable to enable systematic analysis in selective hippocampectomies, temporal lobe resections, and lesional or nonlesional neocortical samples. Correct orientation of sample and the sample's relation to neurophysiologically aberrant sites requires good communication between pathology and neurosurgical teams. Systematic tissue sampling of 5‐mm slabs along a defined anatomic axis and application of a limited immunohistochemical panel will ensure a reliable differential diagnosis of main pathologies encountered in epilepsy surgery.

Objectives: The validity of 3 Tesla motor functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in patients with gliomas involving the primary motor cortex was investigated by intraoperative navigated motor cortex stimulation (MCS). Methods: Twenty two patients (10 males, 12 females, mean age 39 years, range 10–65 years) underwent preoperative fMRI studies, performing motor tasks including hand, foot, and mouth movements. A recently developed high field clinical fMRI technique was used to generate pre-surgical maps of functional high risk areas defining a motor focus. Motor foci were tested for validity by intraoperative motor cortex stimulation (MCS) employing image fusion and neuronavigation. Clinical outcome was assessed using the Modified Rankin Scale. Results: FMRI motor foci were successfully detected in all patients preoperatively. In 17 of 22 patients (77.3%), a successful stimulation of the primary motor cortex was possible. All 17 correlated patients showed 100% agreement on MCS and fMRI motor focus within 10 mm. Technical problems during stimulation occurred in three patients (13.6%), no motor response was elicited in two (9.1%), and MCS induced seizures occurred in three (13.6%). Combined fMRI and MCS mapping results allowed large resections in 20 patients (91%) (gross total in nine (41%), subtotal in 11 (50%)) and biopsy in two patients (9%). Pathology revealed seven low grade and 15 high grade gliomas. Mild to moderate transient neurological deterioration occurred in six patients, and a severe hemiparesis in one. All patients recovered within 3 months (31.8% transient, 0% permanent morbidity). Conclusions: The validation of clinically optimised high magnetic field motor fMRI confirms high reliability as a preoperative and intraoperative adjunct in glioma patients selected for surgery within or adjacent to the motor cortex.

OBJECTIVE: Surgical resection of cranial base meningiomas is often limited owing to involvement of crucial neural structures. Within the last 2 decades Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) has gained increasing importance as an adjunct treatment after incomplete resection and as an alternative treatment to open surgery. However, reports of long-term results are still sparse. We therefore performed this study to analyze the long-term results of GKRS treatment of cranial base meningiomas, following our previously published early follow-up experience. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the medical files for Gamma Knife and surgical treatments, clinicoradiological findings, and outcome was carried out focusing on tumor control, clinical course, and morbidity. RESULTS: Between 1992 and 1995, we treated 36 patients with cranial base meningiomas using GKRS (male:female ratio, 1:5; mean age, 59 yr; range, 44–89 yr). Twenty-five patients were treated with GKRS after open surgery, and 11 patients received GKRS alone. Tumor control, neurological outcomes, and adverse effects were analyzed after a long-term follow-up period (mean, 103 mo; range, 70–133 mo) and compared with our previous results after an early follow-up period (mean, 48 mo; range, 36–76 mo). Control of tumor growth was achieved in 94% of patients. Compared with the early follow-up period, the late neuroradiological effects of GKRS on cranial base meningiomas were continuing tumor shrinkage in 11 patients (33%), stable tumor size in 20 patients (64%) and tumor progression in two meningiomas (6%). The neurological status improved in 16 patients (44%), remained stable in 19 patients (52%), and deteriorated in one patient (4%). Adverse side effects of GKRS were found only during the early follow-up period. CONCLUSION: Our data confirm that GKRS is not only a safe and effective treatment modality for cranial base meningiomas in short-term observation, but also in a mean long-term follow-up period of more than 8 years. Tumor shrinkage and clinical improvement also continued during the longer follow-up period.

Object: Indocyanine green (ICG) videoangiography (VA) in cerebral aneurysm surgery allows confirmation of blood flow in parent, branching, and perforating vessels as well as assessment of remnant aneurysm parts after clip application. A retrospective analysis and review of the literature were conducted to determine the current essential advantages of ICG-VA in aneurysm surgery. Methods: The authors retrospectively evaluated all aneurysm cases treated with the aid of intraoperative ICG-VA at a single institution between 2007 and 2013. They also analyzed the literature published since the initial description of ICG-VA in 2003. Results: Two hundred forty-six procedures were performed in 232 patients harboring 295 aneurysms. The patients, whose mean age was 54 years, consisted of 159 women and 73 men. One hundred twenty-four surgeries were performed after subarachnoid hemorrhage, and 122 were performed for incidental aneurysms. Single aneurysms were clipped in 185 patients, and multiple aneurysms were clipped in 47 (mean aneurysm diameter 6.9 mm, range 2–40 mm). No complications associated with ICG-VA occurred. Intraoperative microvascular Doppler ultrasonography was performed before ICG-VA in all patients, and postoperative digital subtraction angiography (DSA) studies were available in 121 patients (52.2%) for retrospective comparative analysis. In 22 (9%) of 246 procedures, the clip position was modified intraoperatively as a consequence of ICG-VA. Stenosis of the parent vessels (16 procedures) or occlusion of the perforators (6 procedures), not detected by micro-Doppler ultrasonography, were the most common problems demonstrated on ICG-VA. In another 11 procedures (4.5%), residual perfusion of the aneurysm was observed and one or more additional clips were applied. Vessel stenosis or a compromised perforating artery occurred independent of aneurysm location and was about equally common in middle cerebral artery and anterior communicating artery aneurysms. In 2 procedures (0.8%), aneurysm puncture revealed residual blood flow within the lesion, which had not been detected by the ICG-VA. In the postoperative DSA studies, unexpected small (< 2 mm) aneurysm neck remnants, which had not been detected on intraoperative ICG-VA, were found in 11 (9.1%) of 121 patients. However, these remnants remained without consequence except in 1 patient with a 6-mm residual aneurysm dome, which was subsequently embolized with coils. Conclusions: In a large cohort of consecutive patients, ICG-VA proved to be a helpful intraoperative tool and led to a significant intraoperative clip modification rate of 15%. However, small, < 2-mm-wide neck remnants and a 6-mm residual aneurysm were missed by intraoperative ICG-VA in up to 10% of patients. Results in this study confirm that DSA is indispensable for postoperative quality assessment in complex aneurysm surgery.