No abstract

No abstract

Background. The amalgam of noises inherent to the modern-day operating room has the potential of diluting surgeon concentration, which could affect surgeon performance and mood and have implications on quality of care and surgeon resilience. Objective. Evaluate the impact of operating room environmental noises on surgeon performance including fine motor dexterity, cognition, and mood. Methods. 37 subjects were tested under three different environmental noise conditions including silence, a prerecorded soundtrack of a loud bustling operating room, and with background music of their choosing. We used the Motor Performance Series to test motor dexterity, neuropsychological tests to evaluate cognitive thinking, and Profile of Mood States to test mental well-being. Results. Our results showed that typical operating room noise had no impact on motor dexterity but music improved the speed and precision of movements and information processing skills. Neurocognitive testing showed a significant decrement from operating room noise on verbal learning and delayed memory, whereas music improved complex attention and mental flexibility. The Profile of Mood States found that music resulted in a significant decrease in feelings of anger, confusion, fatigue, and tension along with decreased total mood disturbance, which is a measure of psychological distress. Loud operating room noise had a negative impact on feelings of vigor but no increase in total mood disturbance. Conclusion. Our results suggest that loud and unnecessary environmental noises can be distracting to a surgeon, so every effort should be taken to minimize these. Music of the surgeons’ choosing does not negatively affect fine motor dexterity or cognition and has an overall positive impact on mood and can therefore be safely practiced if desired.

Tumor protein 53 (p53) regulates fundamental pathways of cellular growth and differentiation. Aberrant p53 expression in glioblastoma multiforme, a terminal brain cancer, has been associated with worse patient outcomes and decreased chemosensitivity. Therefore, correctly identifying p53 status in glioblastoma is of great clinical significance. p53 immunohistochemistry is used to detect pathological presence of the TP53 gene product. Here, we examined the relationship between p53 immunoreactivity and TP53 mutation status by DNA Sanger sequencing in adult glioblastoma. Of 41 histologically confirmed samples, 27 (66%) were immunopositive for a p53 mutation via immunohistochemistry. Utilizing gene sequencing, we identified only eight samples (20%) with TP53 functional mutations and one sample with a silent mutation. Therefore, a ≥10% p53 immunohistochemistry threshold for predicting TP53 functional mutation status in glioma is insufficient. Implementing this ≥10% threshold, we demonstrated a remarkably low positive-predictive value (30%). Furthermore, the sensitivity and specificity with ≥10% p53 immunohistochemistry to predict TP53 functional mutation status were 100% and 42%, respectively. Our data suggests that unless reliable sequencing methodology is available for confirming TP53 status, raising the immunoreactivity threshold would increase positive and negative predictive values as well as the specificity without changing the sensitivity of the immunohistochemistry assay.

Glioblastoma is the most frequent primary brain tumor in adults, with a dismal prognosis despite aggressive resection, chemotherapeutics, and radiotherapy. Although understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of glioblastoma has progressed in recent years, therapeutic options have failed to significantly change overall survival or progression-free survival. Thus, researchers have begun to explore immunomodulation as a potential strategy to improve clinical outcomes. The application of oncolytic virotherapy as a novel biological to target pathogenic signaling in glioblastoma has brought new hope to the field of neuro-oncology. This class of immunotherapeutics combines selective cancer cell lysis prompted by virus induction while promoting a strong inflammatory antitumor response, thereby acting as an effective in situ tumor vaccine. Several investigators have reported the efficacy of experimental oncolytic viruses as demonstrated by improved long-term survival in cancer patients with advanced disease. Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is one of the most well-researched oncolytic viruses known to affect a multitude of human cancers, including glioblastoma. Preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies as well as human clinical trials have demonstrated that NDV exhibits oncolytic activity against glioblastoma, providing a promising avenue of potential treatment. Herein, the authors provide a detailed discussion on NDV as a mode of therapy for glioblastoma. They discuss the potential therapeutic pathways associated with NDV as demonstrated by in vitro and in vivo experiments as well as results from human trials. Moreover, they discuss current challenges, potential solutions, and future perspectives in utilizing NDV in the treatment of glioblastoma.

Background: Concerns regarding the effects of fatigue on physician performance and quality of life lead to the implementation of duty hour restrictions for residents by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). These restrictions have been met by strong criticism from the neurosurgical community. This is partly due to a lack of objective evidence that fatigue results in decrements in professional function in neurological surgeons. There is also concern that the restrictions have diminished clinical and operative experience as well as the development of professional responsibility in residency.Objective: To evaluate whether 24-hour neurosurgical call has an objective impact on fine motor dexterity, cognitive thinking skills, and mental well-being.Methods: Subjects were tested before and after taking 24 hours of neurosurgical call. We evaluated fine motor dexterity using the Vienna Test System Motor Performance Series, cognitive thinking abilities using a battery of paper-pencil neuropsychological tests, and mental well-being using the Profile of Mood States. Results: A total of 27 subjects were included in this study, 12 seasoned to neurosurgical call and 15 naive to neurosurgical call. The seasoned subjects demonstrated no statistically significant change in performance after call on any of the tests for fine motor dexterity or cognitive thinking abilities. The nonseasoned subjects demonstrated multiple decrements in fine motor dexterity and cognitive thinking abilities after taking call. In the Motor Performance Series, they had a statistically significant decrease in the speed of untargeted movements in the nondominant hand during the tapping test (p = 0.002), and a decline in the precision of fine motor movements and information processing as evidenced by an increase in the number of errors of the dominant hand in the line tracking test (p = 0.014). There was a statistically significant decline in their immediate memory during Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (p = 0.025), and complex attention, mental flexibility, and visual-motor speed in the Trail Making Test (p = 0.03). The Profile of Mood States found no difference in feelings of anger (p = 0.54), tension (p = 0.358), or depression (p = 0.65). There were increased feelings of confusion (p < 0.001) and decreased feelings of vigor (p < 0.001) and friendliness (p = 0.001). Nonseasoned subjects had an increase in total mood disturbance (p = 0.012) but seasoned subjects did not (p = 0.083). Conclusion: Our results suggest that fatigue-induced decrements in professional function can be ameliorated by experience with prolonged duty hours. In contrast to nonseasoned subjects, those who were conditioned to 24-hour neurosurgical call demonstrated resilience in fine motor dexterity and cognitive thinking skills, and exhibited no change in total mood disturbance. An argument can be made that we are turning the neurosurgical training paradigm upside down with the current ACGME duty hour restrictions.

Intracranial epidermoid cysts are benign lesions that typically remain asymptomatic; however, although histopathologically benign, these cysts can rarely undergo malignant transformation into squamous cell carcinoma. Primary intracranial squamous cell carcinoma carries a poor prognosis as optimal treatment modalities remain unclear due to their low incidence. Here, we present a case of a cerebellopontine angle epidermoid cyst remnant that underwent malignant transformation into squamous cell carcinoma 40 years after partial resection. To our knowledge, this case establishes the longest time interval to date for an intracranial epidermoid cyst to undergo malignant transformation. We also review the relevant literature and discuss recent retrospective clinical studies that have analyzed the effect of multimodal treatment approaches on survival outcomes in patients with these lesions.

No abstract