Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

BMJ Open 2018 Dec 14;8(12):e025123. Epub 2018 Dec 14.

Lysholm Department of Neuroradiology, The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery UCL Hospitals NHS Trust, London, UK.

Introduction: Central nervous system (CNS) gliomas are the most common primary intra-axial brain tumours and pose variable treatment response according to their grade, therefore, precise staging is mandatory. Histopathological analysis of surgical tumour samples is still deemed as the state-of-the-art staging technique for gliomas due to the moderate specificity of the available non-invasive imaging modalities. A recently evolved analysis of the tissue water diffusion properties, known as diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI), is a dimensionless metric, which quantifies water molecules' degree of non-Gaussian diffusion, hence reflects tissue microenvironment's complexity by means of non-invasive diffusion-weighted MRI acquisitions. Read More

Semin Nucl Med 2019 Jan 17;49(1):71-81. Epub 2018 Nov 17.

Cancer Imaging, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne Australia; Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address:

Ventilation/Perfusion (V/Q) positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET/CT) is now possible by substituting Technetium-99m (Tc) with Gallium-68 (Ga), using the same carrier molecules as conventional V/Q imaging. Ventilation imaging can be performed with Ga-carbon nanoparticles using the same synthesis device as Technegas. Perfusion imaging can be performed with Ga-macroaggregated albumin. Read More

Front Neurol 2018 20;9:927. Epub 2018 Nov 20.

Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences, Ribeirao Preto Medical School, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil.

In patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), presurgical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) often reveals hippocampal atrophy, while neuropathological assessment indicates the different types of hippocampal sclerosis (HS). Different HS types are not discriminated in MRI so far. We aimed to define the volume of each hippocampal subfield on MRI manually and to compare automatic and manual segmentations for the discrimination of HS types. Read More

Front Neurol 2018 27;9:1013. Epub 2018 Nov 27.

Epilepsy Center, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, United States.

Surgical management of patients with cingulate epilepsy (CE) is highly challenging, especially when the MRI is non-lesional. We aimed to use a voxel-based MRI post-processing technique, implemented in a morphometric analysis program (MAP), to facilitate detection of subtle epileptogenic lesions in CE, thereby improving surgical evaluation of patients with CE with non-lesional MRI by visual inspection. Included in this retrospective study were 9 patients with CE (6 with negative 3T MRI and 3 with subtly lesional 3T MRI) who underwent surgery and became seizure-free or had marked seizure improvement with at least 1-year follow-up. Read More

Neuromodulation 2018 Dec 10. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Center for Applied Neuroscience (CeNAp), University Hospital (HU), Federal University of Santa Catarina State (UFSC), Florianópolis, SC, Brazil.

Objectives: Previous studies demonstrated significant improvement in mean pain scores and quality of life (QOL) scales in patients with chronic pain who underwent spinal cord stimulation (SCS). However, the number of individuals who experience relevant improvements in QOL, termed the meaningful clinical improvement (MCI), is not known. The present study investigated changes in pain measurements based on MCI after SCS. Read More

Clin Neurophysiol 2018 Nov 26;130(1):128-137. Epub 2018 Nov 26.

Epilepsy Centre, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Germany. Electronic address:

Objective: High frequency oscillations (HFO) between 80-500 Hz are markers of epileptic areas in intracranial and maybe also scalp EEG. We investigate simultaneous recordings of scalp and intracranial EEG and hypothesize that scalp HFOs provide important additional clinical information in the presurgical setting.

Methods: Spikes and HFOs were visually identified in all intracranial scalp EEG channels. Read More

Neuroimage 2018 Dec 5;188:70-83. Epub 2018 Dec 5.

Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, 1200, Brussels, Belgium.

The human insula is an important target for spinothalamic input, but there is still no consensus on its role in pain perception and nociception. In this study, we show that the human insula exhibits activity preferential for sustained thermonociception. Using intracerebral EEG recorded from the insula of 8 patients (2 females) undergoing a presurgical evaluation of focal epilepsy (53 contacts: 27 anterior, 26 posterior), we "frequency-tagged" the insular activity elicited by sustained thermonociceptive and vibrotactile stimuli, by periodically modulating stimulation intensity at a fixed frequency of 0. Read More

Cleft Palate Craniofac J 2018 Dec 9:1055665618816892. Epub 2018 Dec 9.

1 Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, St Petersburg, FL, USA.

Presurgical infant orthopedic manipulation is utilized prior to cleft lip/nasal repair to facilitate a gingivoperiosteoplasty (GPP) and primary nasolabial repairs. The Latham dentomaxillary advancement appliance uses a screw that must be tightened daily to approximate the cleft segments in unilateral complete clefts. Our cleft center has been utilizing a "modified Latham" appliance since 1987, including an orthodontic elastic power chain to close the gap in a shorter amount of time. Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2018 Dec 3;90:93-98. Epub 2018 Dec 3.

IRCCS "NEUROMED", Pozzilli, IS, Italy; Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report long-term seizure outcome in patients who underwent frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) surgery.

Method: This retrospective study included 44 consecutive subjects who underwent resective surgery for intractable FLE at IRCCS NEUROMED (period 2001-2014), followed up for at least 2 years (mean: 8.7 years). Read More

J Clin Lab Anal 2018 Dec 5:e22724. Epub 2018 Dec 5.

Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital of Chengdu Office of People's Government of Tibetan Autonomous Region, Chengdu, China.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of presurgical factors for psychiatric disorders (PD) in refractory temporal lobe epilepsy and mesial temporal sclerosis (TLE-MTS) patients underwent cortico-amygdalohippocampectomy (CAH).

Methods: A total of 98 refractory TLE-MTS patients underwent CAH were consecutively enrolled in this cohort study. Several presurgical factors were recorded, such as married status, employment status, highest education, disease duration, family history of epilepsy, and disorganized VEEG background activity. Read More

Cancer Manag Res 2018 9;10:5559-5572. Epub 2018 Nov 9.

Organ Transplant Center, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong, China,

Introduction: RALY plays a critical role in promoting invasiveness and is associated with poor prognosis in different types of cancers. However, the prognostic value of RALY and its precise role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unknown.

Materials And Methods: We detected the expression of RALY in 127 clinical HCC tissue samples and seven HCC cell lines by immunohistochemical staining and Western blotting. Read More

Neurol India 2018 Nov-Dec;66(6):1655-1666

Department of Neurology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Aim: Surgery for drug resistant epilepsy (DRE) with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) often requires multiple non-invasive as well as invasive pre-surgical evaluations and innovative surgical strategies. There is limited data regarding surgical management of people with FCD as the underlying substrate for DRE among the low and middle-income countries (LAMIC) including India.

Methodology: The presurgical evaluation, surgical strategy and outcome of 52 people who underwent resective surgery for DRE with FCD between January 2008 and December 2016 were analyzed. Read More

Neurology 2018 Nov 30. Epub 2018 Nov 30.

From the Departments of Neurosurgery (A.R., M.Z., E.D., G.Z.-B., J.P.), Neuroradiology (M.E., S. Porelli, C.O), and Neuropathology (A.T.-E., P.V.), Sainte-Anne Hospital; Paris Descartes University (A.R., M.E., S. Porelli, A.T.-E., M.Z., E.D., G.Z.-B., S. Puget, P.V., C.O., J.P.), Sorbonne Paris Cité; Inserm (A.R., M.E., M.Z., E.D., P.V., C.O., J.P.), U894, IMA-Brain, Centre Psychiatrie et Neurosciences; Departments of Neuro-oncology (M.S.) and Neurosurgery (L.C.), Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital; and Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery (S. Puget), Necker Hospital, Paris, France.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of developmental venous anomaly in adult patients with diffuse glioma.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study (2010-2016) of consecutive adult patients harboring a supratentorial diffuse glioma in 2 centers: Sainte-Anne Hospital (experimental and control sets) and Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital (external validation set). We included 219 patients with diffuse glioma (experimental set), 252 patients with brain metastasis (control set), and 200 patients with diffuse glioma (validation set). Read More

World Neurosurg 2018 Nov 28. Epub 2018 Nov 28.

Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurosurgery, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Germany; Department OF Neuropediatrics, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address:

Objective: Multilobar resections for MRI-negative drug-resistant epilepsy warrant attention since they account for up to one-third of MRI-negative epilepsy surgery. Despite their high relevance, data is sparse, and the risk-benefit ratio is yet under debate. This study aimed to investigate the postsurgical seizure outcomes in this particularly challenging subgroup. Read More

Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol) 2018 Nov 27. Epub 2018 Nov 27.

Research Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; Center for Clinical Epidemiology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.

Aims: To examine the influence of pre-existing psychiatric disorder on the choice of treatment in patients with gynaecological cancer.

Materials And Methods: The analyses were based on all patients who underwent surgical treatment for endometrial, ovarian or cervical cancer who were registered in the Danish Gynecological Cancer Database in the years 2007-2014 (3059 patients with ovarian cancer, 5100 patients with endometrial cancer and 1150 with cervical cancer). Logistic regression model and Cox regression model, adjusted for relevant confounders, were used to estimate the effect of pre-existing psychiatric disorder on the course of cancer treatment. Read More

Ultrasound Q 2018 Dec 3. Epub 2018 Dec 3.

Department of Diagnostic Radiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the ability of ultrasound to predict survival and detect more aggressive tumors in women with ovarian masses.

Materials And Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained. A total of 167 patients who presented with adnexal mass/masses were included. Read More

Epilepsia 2018 Dec 22;59(12):2272-2283. Epub 2018 Nov 22.

Department of Neurology, Christian-Doppler-Klinik, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria.

Objective: The European Union-funded E-PILEPSY network (now continuing within the European Reference Network for rare and complex epilepsies [EpiCARE]) aims to harmonize and optimize presurgical diagnostic procedures by creating and implementing evidence-based guidelines across Europe. The present study evaluates the current evidence on the diagnostic accuracy of long-term video-electroencephalographic monitoring (LTM) in identifying the epileptogenic zone in epilepsy surgery candidates.

Methods: MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL, and ClinicalTrials. Read More

Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol 2019 14;7(1):73-91. Epub 2018 Sep 14.

Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan. Electronic address:

Background & Aims: Oropharyngeal and esophageal squamous cell carcinomas, especially the latter, are a lethal disease, featuring intratumoral cancer cell heterogeneity and therapy resistance. To facilitate cancer therapy in personalized medicine, three-dimensional (3D) organoids may be useful for functional characterization of cancer cells . We investigated the feasibility and the utility of patient-derived 3D organoids of esophageal and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas. Read More

J Hosp Infect 2018 Nov 27. Epub 2018 Nov 27.

Center for Evidence-Based Health Care, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei City, Taiwan; Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei City, Taiwan; Cochrane Taiwan, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address:

Background: Presurgical hand washing is crucial for preventing surgical site infections (SSIs). Chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) and povidone-iodine (PI) products have been conventionally used as hand scrubs for presurgical hand preparation. However, waterless hand rub (WHR) products have been developed for operating room staff. Read More

Anesth Analg 2018 Nov 21. Epub 2018 Nov 21.

Department of Anesthesiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Background: Minimally invasive fetal surgery is commonly performed to treat twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome with selective fetoscopic laser photocoagulation and twin-reversed arterial perfusion sequence using radiofrequency ablation. Although an increasing number of centers worldwide are performing these procedures, anesthetic management varies. Both neuraxial anesthesia and monitored anesthesia care with local anesthesia are used at different institutions. Read More

Tokai J Exp Clin Med 2018 Dec 20;43(4):168-172. Epub 2018 Dec 20.

Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa 259-1193, Japan:

Objective: We aimed to assess whether patients who underwent early palatoplasty have normal speech.

Methods: 19 patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate were enrolled in this study. At 6 months of age, we performed simultaneous lip, maxilla, and palate repair using presurgical orthodontics. Read More

J Neurosurg 2018 Oct 1:1-8. Epub 2018 Oct 1.

OBJECTIVEResting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) represents a promising and cost-effective alternative to task-based fMRI for presurgical mapping. However, the lack of clinically streamlined and reliable rs-fMRI analysis tools has prevented wide adoption of this technique. In this work, the authors introduce an rs-fMRI processing pipeline (ReStNeuMap) for automatic single-patient rs-fMRI network analysis. Read More

Hong Kong Med J 2018 Nov 27. Epub 2018 Nov 27.

Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Kwong Wah Hospital, Yaumatei, Hong Kong.

Epilepsy is defined as drug-resistant after failure of two adequate trials of appropriately chosen and administered antiepileptic drugs. Approximately 30% of patients with epilepsy have drug-resistant epilepsy. Reasons for treatment failure include failure to recognise epilepsy syndrome, poor drug compliance, and lifestyle factors. Read More

J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2018 Nov 2. Epub 2018 Nov 2.

Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy. Electronic address:

Purpose: The purpose was to evaluate donor-site clinical morbidity and changes in kinematic gait parameters after the harvest of a vascularized free fibula flap for facial reconstruction.

Materials And Methods: We enrolled 14 patients (aged 50 ± 15 years) in a longitudinal study. Every patient underwent a double evaluation in which a presurgical assessment and 6-month postsurgical assessment were performed. Read More

Neurosurgery 2018 Nov 27. Epub 2018 Nov 27.

Divisions of Neuro-Oncology and Hematology/Oncology, Departments of Medicine and Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.

Background: Papillary craniopharyngiomas are characterized by BRAFV600E mutations. Targeted therapy can elicit a dramatic radiographic regression of these tumors. Therefore, prediction of BRAF mutation status before definitive surgery could enable neoadjuvant treatment strategies. Read More

Epilepsy Res 2018 Oct 28;149:44-52. Epub 2018 Oct 28.

Department of Neurology, Division of Child Neurology, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/ Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 180 Fort Washington Avenue, New York, New York, USA. Electronic address:

Aims: We aimed to classify ictal onset patterns (IOPs) in pediatric patients undergoing intracranial electroencephalography (IEEG) to guide surgery for refractory epilepsy. We aimed to determine if morphology of IOPs can predict surgical outcome.

Materials And Methods: We performed a retrospective review of pediatric patients who underwent epilepsy surgery guided by subdural IEEG from 2007 to 2016. Read More

Sleep 2018 Nov 26. Epub 2018 Nov 26.

Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, Departments of Psychiatry, Hennepin County Medical Center and University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Study Objectives: Complex sexual behavior during sleep (CSBS) is a well described clinical entity in NREM sleep parasomnias (i.e. sexsomnia). Read More

Neuropsychology 2018 Nov 26. Epub 2018 Nov 26.

Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology, Tilburg University.

Objective: The majority of meningioma patients suffer from presurgical cognitive deficits. Since meningiomas do not directly damage the brain, this is presumably caused by a functional integrity reduction of the surrounding brain tissue through perilesional edema and/or mass effect of the tumor. Tumor location is a key feature in determining neurological symptoms in brain tumor patients, but the relationship between meningioma location and cognitive performance remains unclear. Read More

Clin Neurophysiol 2018 Nov 14;130(1):20-24. Epub 2018 Nov 14.

Medical University of Vienna, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescence Medicine, Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria. Electronic address:

Objective: To evaluate prospectively the informative/prognostic value of epileptic discharges in the post-resection ECoGs of children with drug-resistant epilepsies and Focal Cortical Dysplasia type II (FCD-II).

Methods: Included were consecutive patients with focal epilepsies and suspected FCD-II who were planned for single-stage epilepsy surgery based on non-invasive presurgical evaluation results. Intraoperative ECoGs were recorded using a 32-channel system with strip- and/or grid-electrodes. Read More

Spine J 2018 Nov 22. Epub 2018 Nov 22.

Canada East Spine Centre, Saint John Regional Hospital, 400 University Ave, PO Box 2100, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, E2L 4L4; Saint John Regional Hospital, Horizon Health Network, 400 University Ave, PO Box 2100, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, E2L 4L4; Department of Surgery, Dalhousie University, 100 Tucker Park Rd, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, E2K 5E2.

Background Context: Patient expectations have been demonstrated to influence recovery following spine surgery. Addressing patient expectations specifically in regards to pain and postsurgical healing is an important factor in improving recovery patterns. Presurgical education can potentially help manage patient expectations. Read More

Eur Urol 2019 Jan 25;75(1):111-128. Epub 2018 Oct 25.

Department of Urology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Context: The role of cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) in the management of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) in the targeted therapy (TT) era is controversial.

Objective: To assess if CN versus no CN is associated with improved overall survival (OS) in patients with mRCC treated in the TT era and beyond, characterize the morbidity of CN, identify prognostic and predictive factors, and evaluate outcomes following treatment sequencing.

Evidence Acquisition: Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases were searched from inception to June 4, 2018 for English-language clinical trials, cohort studies, and case-control studies evaluating patients with mRCC who underwent and those who did not undergo CN. Read More

Acta Neurol Scand 2018 Nov 19. Epub 2018 Nov 19.

Department of Neurology & National Clinical Research Center for Aging and Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Introduction: Subthalamic deep brain stimulation (STN DBS) has been reported to improve the quality of life (QoL) related to Parkinson's disease (PD). However, not all subjects are satisfied with the postsurgical QoL outcome. We aimed to detect the related factors and possible predictors to QoL improvement for those PD patients one year after STN DBS. Read More

J Perianesth Nurs 2018 Dec 12;33(6):887-894. Epub 2017 Oct 12.

Nurse practitioners play a pivotal role as members of the perioperative team. This article outlines the evolution of presurgical testing from the vantage of generic testing to one that is tailored to the patient's clinical presentation and the type of surgery to be performed, whether it is high, intermediate, or low risk. Emphasis is placed on indicated testing, screening tools to identify patients at risk for perioperative complications, the optimization of patients before undergoing major cancer surgery, and enhanced recovery after surgery. Read More

J Craniofac Surg 2018 Nov 15. Epub 2018 Nov 15.

Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo.

The timing of cleft lip nose surgery remains controversial. The less invasive the procedure at the time of primary cleft lip repair, the less the growth and development of the nose is affected. Therefore, the nasal-stenting component of presurgical nasoalveolar molding has increasingly been used. Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2018 Nov 13. Epub 2018 Nov 13.

Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, UK; Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, King's College Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK. Electronic address:

Objectives: Resective surgery for medically refractory epilepsy in proximity to speech receptive areas requires balancing adequate resection of the epileptogenic zone for optimal seizure control with preservation of function. We develop a simple test (Single Word Auditory Comprehension or SWAC) to localize speech receptive areas by evaluating patients' ability to comprehend a single word.

Methods: Patients were studied during presurgical or intraoperative assessment for epilepsy with intracranial electrodes. Read More

Thyroid 2018 Nov 14. Epub 2018 Nov 14.

Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland, Nuclear Medicine and Thyroid Centre, Bellinzona, Switzerland ;

Background: The recent introduction of non-invasive follicular thyroid neoplasms with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP) in the WHO classification of thyroid tumors has significantly modified the risk of malignancy of cytological diagnoses. In fact, while this tumor was previously classified as a carcinoma (the encapsulated, non-invasive form follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma), it is now considered a neoplasm with low malignant potential. Given that the NIFTP cytological features are not specific and overlap with other pathologic entities, there is no specific cytological diagnostic category for NIFTP. Read More

AJR Am J Roentgenol 2018 Nov 13:1-9. Epub 2018 Nov 13.

1 Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Ave, New York, NY 10065.

Objective: The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the diagnostic performance of and interreader agreement for CT colonography (CTC) in the local staging of colon cancer, with emphasis given to the FOxTROT (Fluoropyrimidine, Oxaliplatin, and Targeted-Receptor pre-Operative Therapy [Panitumumab]) trial inclusion criteria, which propose a new tailored treatment paradigm for colon cancer that uses neoadjuvant therapy for patients with a high-risk of locoregional disease as determined by imaging.

Materials And Methods: This biinstitutional retrospective study involved 89 patients (with 93 tumors) who had colon cancer and underwent presurgical CTC. Two radiologists reviewed the CTC studies for local staging, including measurement of the tumor beyond the muscularis propria on a true orthogonal plane. Read More

Radiol Technol 2018 Jul;89(6):571CT-591CT

Rhinosinusitis involves symptomatic inflammation of the paranasal sinuses. This common condition affects approximately 1 in 7 adults in the United States and is associated with significant morbidity and financial costs. Although rhinosinusitis primarily is a clinical diagnosis, medical imaging plays a unique role in sinusitis diagnosis and treatment, particularly in presurgical planning. Read More

J Acad Nutr Diet 2018 Nov 9. Epub 2018 Nov 9.

Background: Akkermansia muciniphila (AM) is a gram-negative, mucin-degrading bacteria inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract associated with host phenotypes and disease states.

Objective: Explore characteristics of overweight and obese female early-stage (0 to II) breast cancer patients with low AM relative abundance (LAM) vs high (HAM) enrolled in a presurgical weight-loss trial.

Design: Secondary analysis of pooled participants in a randomized controlled trial (NCT02224807). Read More

Oper Neurosurg (Hagerstown) 2018 Nov 10. Epub 2018 Nov 10.

Department of Neurosurgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.

Background And Importance: Abdominal epilepsy is a rare seizure disorder characterized by episodic gastrointestinal symptoms with electroencephalogram abnormalities. It is typically well treated with anti-epileptic medications; however, little is known about treatment of refractory cases.

Clinical Presentation: The patient is a 16-yr-old male who began experiencing episodic abdominal pain and distension at the age of 2. Read More

Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2018 Nov 5. Epub 2018 Nov 5.

Smile Train Cleft Centre, Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital, Bengaluru, India.

Nasoalveolar moulding is a presurgical orthopaedic technique used to improve the outcomes of bilateral clefts. However, the lack of a validated scale tailored to bilateral clefts makes it difficult to quantify the merits of nasoalveolar moulding and compare it to other techniques. In this study, a recently published anatomical subunit scale was used to evaluate and compare the early effects of nasoalveolar moulding. Read More

Brain Res 2018 Nov 5. Epub 2018 Nov 5.

Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Neuromodulation, Beijing 100053, China; Center of Epilepsy, Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053, China. Electronic address:

Precise noninvasive presurgical localization of insular epilepsy is important. The objective of the present study was to detect and localize interictal high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) in patients with insular epilepsy at the source levels using magnetoencephalography (MEG). We investigated whether HFOs can delineate epileptogenic areas. Read More

Obes Surg 2018 Nov 5. Epub 2018 Nov 5.

Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition, Parc Taulí University Hospital, UAB, Sabadell, Spain.

Context: Information concerning the risk-benefit profile of bariatric surgery in subjects with liver cirrhosis is scarce. Our aim was to describe the long-term outcomes of bariatric surgery in a cohort of patients with liver cirrhosis submitted to bariatric surgery.

Methods: This was a multicenter, retrospective observational study performed by the Obesity Group of the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (GOSEEN), with a review of patients with cirrhosis who had undergone bariatric surgery during the period from April 2004 to March 2017 in ten public reference hospitals in Spain. Read More

Clin Exp Dent Res 2018 Oct 25;4(5):152-157. Epub 2018 Jul 25.

Department of Oral Health Sciences-Orthodontics, KU Leuven and Dentistry University Hospitals Leuven Belgium.

The objective was to present an optimized imaging protocol for orofacial cleft (OFC) patients, which might be used as an international recommendation for OFC care programs. The present radiological protocol has been structured by the OFC team of the University Hospitals Leuven based on a combined approach of clinical experience and scientific evidence. The development was based on careful monitoring of the existing needs for radiological diagnosis by the involved disciplines. Read More

AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2018 Dec 1;39(12):2326-2331. Epub 2018 Nov 1.

From the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (B.S., G.D.), Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Background And Purpose: Functional MR imaging of the brain, used for both clinical and neuroscientific applications, relies on measuring fluctuations in blood oxygenation. Such measurements are susceptible to noise of vascular origin. The purpose of this study was to assess whether developmental venous anomalies, which are frequently observed normal variants, can bias fMRI measures by appearing as true neural signal. Read More

J Clin Neurophysiol 2018 Oct 31. Epub 2018 Oct 31.

Neurologist and Epileptologist, Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai, India.

Purpose: To design a non-patient-specific system to detect the electrical onset of seizures in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

Methods: We used EEG data from 29 seizures of 18 temporal lobe epilepsy patients who underwent multiday video-scalp EEG monitoring as part of their presurgical evaluations. We segmented each data set into preictal and ictal phases, and identified spectral entropy, spectral energy, and signal energy as useful features for discriminating normal and seizure conditions. Read More

Cleft Palate Craniofac J 2018 Oct 31:1055665618806104. Epub 2018 Oct 31.

1 Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL, USA.

Background:: Presurgical infant orthopedics (PSIO) techniques were introduced to improve the outcomes achieved when treating children with complete cleft lip and palate. The effect of PSIO on the incidence of postoperative fistulae has never been reliably demonstrated. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the effectiveness of PSIO in reducing postoperative fistulas in patients with complete cleft lip and palate. Read More

Epileptic Disord 2018 Oct;20(5):319-338

Departement of Neuropediatrics, University Children's Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.

Polymicrogyria (PMG) is one of the most common malformations of cortical development (MCDs), with epilepsy affecting most patients. PMG-related drug-resistant epilepsy patients can be considered for epilepsy surgery in well-selected cases. In this context, a comprehensive presurgical evaluation, often including stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG), is warranted to accurately delineate the epileptogenic zone. Read More

J Craniofac Surg 2018 Oct 29. Epub 2018 Oct 29.

Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery.

Background: Early management of unilateral coronal synostosis (UCS) aims to treat the cranial abnormality with the hope of improving middle and lower facial morphology. This study analyzed osseous volume and 3-dimensional distances in the midface and mandible of patients with UCS to assess changes in facial symmetry following a cranial vault procedure.

Methods: Patients who underwent fronto-orbital advancement for UCS repair between 1981 and 2012 with follow-up of at least 3 years were included. Read More

Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2018 Dec 28;115:120-124. Epub 2018 Sep 28.

Department of Respiratory Endoscopy, Hospital de Pediatría Juan P. Garrahan, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Objetives: To describe our experience in reconstructive laryngeal surgery in patients with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP).

Introduction: RRP is a rare laryngeal disease requiring multiple surgical endoscopic interventions during its course. These interventions may cause secondary lesions that may compromise airway patency. Read More