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Although long-term follow-up studies using a greater number of patients is required for further validation of this technique, this preliminary assessment shows that covered stent graft placement is an efficient, safe, and microinvasive technique, and is a promising tool in treating intracranial VA dissecting aneurysms.

Currently, surgical resection is one of only a few options for treating brain cancer. Unfortunately, postoperative tumour recurrence remains almost inevitable despite additional radiation or chemotherapy treatment following resection. Clinical observations and a growing body of experimental evidence have led to speculation that there is a population of persistent brain tumour stem cells (BTSCs)--or brain tumour initiating cells--that are difficult to completely remove surgically. Furthermore, residual BTSCs following surgery may actually be more resistant to subsequent radiation and/or chemotherapies. It remains to be determined if brain surgeries render the postoperative tissue microenvironment more favourable for the survival and growth of BTSCs, and therefore the recurrence of brain tumours.We hypothesise that BTSC-based tumour recurrence may develop within a specific niche of the aberrant tumour microenvironment. Even when the gross appearance of the primary tumour seems confined, BTSCs (albeit accounting only for a small population of tumour cells) may microscopically enter the stroma, hampering curative surgeries. This article discusses the theory that surgical resection of brain tumours generates niches recruiting BTSCs to the surgical wounds, stimulating the proliferation and invasiveness of BTSCs, and leading to tumour recurrence. Postoperative brains are marked with active wound repair in peritumoural margins, which is likely to be accompanied by increased inflammatory paracrine production, angiogenesis and reactive astrogliosis. The postoperative BTSC niche concept is consistent with the observation that brain tumour recurrence usually occurs in tissues that are proximal to the resection margin. In this article, we intend to reflect recent advances that may lead to novel strategies to eliminate postoperative brain tumour recurrence.

It has been suggested that the elastin gene is a candidate gene for the development of intracranial aneurysms (IAs). We investigated the association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the elastin gene in sporadic subarachnoid hemorrhage and in patients with unruptured aneurysms in China. We genotyped 446 (47.9%) IA patients (308 ruptured and 138 unruptured) and 485 (52.1%) control subjects for seven exonic and intronic SNPs in the elastin gene and then evaluated their allelic associations with sporadic ruptured and unruptured IAs. We found that IA is associated with two SNPs in the elastin gene: rs2071307 (odds ratio 2.87; 95% confidence interval, 2.26-3.64; p < 0.001) and rs2856728 (odds ratio 2.12; 95% confidence interval, 1.71-2.62; p < 0.001). Furthermore, the minor allele of rs2071307 (allele A) was also associated with IA rupture; 31.3% of patients with ruptured IAs were carriers of the minor allele, whereas only 23.2% of patients with unruptured IAs carried the minor allele (odds ratio 1.51; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-2.10; p = 0.013). In conclusion, our study indicates that the elastin gene may be associated with the formation of IAs, and importantly, that it may also be associated with the rupture of IAs.

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Primitive trigeminal artery (PTA) and primitive otic artery (POA) is a very rare entity in adult life. We present a case of PTA and POA associated with a giant unruptured cavernous aneurysm in a 54-year-old woman. The PTA and the POA arose from the sac of the aneurysm directly, which greatly complicated endovascular therapy management.

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