Search results for "spin"
showing 10 items of 5044 documents
Spinal Instability and the Issue of Bracing and Bed Rest.
2019
Nearly 20% of cancer patients develop symptomatic spine metastases. Metastatic spine tumors are most commonly extradural tumors that grow quickly and often cause persistent pain, weakness, paresthesias, urinary/bowel dysfunction, and/or paralysis. Surgical intervention aims to achieve more effective pain management, preserve/restore neurological function, provide local tumor control, and stabilize the spinal column. The desired result of treatment is ultimately to improve a patient's quality of life. Neurosurgeons employ multiple decision frameworks and grading scales to assess the need and effectiveness of a variety of surgical interventions ranging from minimally to maximally invasive. Li…
Minimally invasive procedures for the management of vertebral bone pain due to cancer: The EAPC recommendations.
2015
Image-guided percutaneous ablation methods have proved effective for treatment of benign bone tumors and for palliation of metastases involving the bone. However, the role of these techniques is controversial and has to be better defined in the setting of palliative care.A systematic review of the existing data regarding minimally invasive techniques for the pain management of vertebral bone metastases was performed by experts of the European Palliative Care Research Network.Only five papers were taken into consideration after performing rigorous screening according to inclusion and exclusion criteria (low number of patients, retrospective series, proceedings).According to the present data …
Spinal metastases: Is stereotactic body radiation therapy supported by evidences?
2016
Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is becoming widely adopted in the treatment of primary and secondary tumors. Spinal bone metastases are frequently discovered in cancer patients, and in the past have been usually treated with a palliative goal. Nevertheless, in some particular clinical settings, such as oligometastatic patients and/or those with a long life expectancy, spinal SBRT could be considered a valid therapeutic option to obtain long-lasting palliation and, when possible, with a curative goal. This review aims to summarize available clinical and dosimetric data of published studies about spinal SBRT.
Ocular Motor Palsy After Spinal Puncture
2017
Abstract Ocular motor palsy is a rare but alarming complication of subarachnoid puncture. In order to better understand this condition, a literature search was performed in English of PubMed articles for cranial nerves III, IV, and VI palsies after spinal puncture. Sixty-five articles (dated 1930–2015) were identified, and 114 cases were obtained for analysis. Subarachnoid anesthesia was the most frequent cause (45.6%), with a higher incidence for females than males. The age of patients was 40.24 ± 13.35 years (age range, 6–71 years). The sixth cranial nerve was the most commonly involved (92.1%), with higher frequency in the right eye. Palsy onset started 7.30 ± 4.09 days after puncture. D…
Aquaporin-4 distribution in control and stressed astrocytes in culture and in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with traumatic brain injuries
2012
Distribution of aquaporin-4 (AQP4) was studied by western analysis and immunofluorescence in rat astrocytes exposed to either hypothermic (30 °C) or hyperosmolar (0.45 M sucrose) stress, and in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients who suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI). CSF was obtained from 5 healthy subjects and from 20 patients suffering from severe TBI. CSF samples were taken at admission and on days 3 and 5-7. Here we report that, in response to both hypothermia and hyperosmolar stress, AQP4 was markedly reduced in cultured astrocytes. We also found that AQP4 significantly increased in patients with severe brain injury in respect to healthy subjects (P < 0.002). AQP4 in CSF rem…
Overexpression of nerve growth factor in peritoneal fluid from women with endometriosis may promote neurite outgrowth in endometriotic lesions
2011
To investigate the role of the nerve growth factor (NGF) in the endometriosis-associated innervation in the development of endometriosis- associated symptoms, 41 peritoneal fluid samples (PF) from patients with surgically and histologically proven endometriosis and 20 PF from patients with other gynecologic conditions were analyzed with Western blot and a novel in vitro model using dorsal root ganglia (DRG) to show neuronal outgrowth; endometrial cells also were analyzed. The results suggest that the PF of endometriosis patients and endometriotic lesions have neurotropic properties, because the Western blot analysis and the cell culture stainings showed NGF expression, and the neurite outgr…
Biophysics of venous return from the brain from the perspective of the pathophysiology of chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency
2011
This article discusses the biophysical aspects of venous outflow from the brain in healthy individuals and in patients with chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency. Blood flows out of the brain differently, depending on body position. In the supine position it flows out mainly through internal jugular veins, while in the upright position it uses the vertebral veins. This phenomenon is probably not due to the active regulation of the flow but instead results from the collapse of jugular veins when the head is elevated. Such a collapse is associated with a significant increase in flow resistance, which leads to redirection of the flow towards the vertebral pathway. Theoretical calculations…
Improved Regeneration of Autologous Nerve Transplants by Means of VEGF-Gene Therapy
2009
The impact of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) on the angiogenic cascade is proven. Recently its neuroprotective effect after peripheral nerve injuries on α-motoneurons in the spinal cord was shown. Experiments on α-motoneurons demonstrated a decreased sensitivity to ischemia under VEGF-therapy. Aim of the study was to elucidate the effect of a localized VEGF-gene-therapy using an adenoviral vector construct in the model of a peripheral nerve defect in the rat treated with an autologous nerve transplant.
Spinal Intradural Intramedullary Dissemination in the Absence of Intracranial Relapse of a Previously Radically Treated Temporal Lobe Glioblastoma Mu…
2017
Intracranial glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) constitutes the most frequent and unfortunately aggressive primary central nervous system malignancy. Despite the high tendency of these tumors to show local relapse within the brain after primary therapy, dissemination into the spinal axis is an infrequent event. If spinal metastases occur they are leptomeningeal in the vast majority of cases and always in the context of intracranial progressive disease. Spinal intramedullary metastases of intracranial GBM have rarely been described to date. We report the unique case of a young woman with subacute progressive paraparesis due to spinal intramedullary metastases of a temporal lobe GBM despite the re…