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Background and Purpose— Central retinal artery occlusion results in acute visual loss with poor spontaneous recovery. Current standard therapies do not alter the natural history of disease. Several open-label clinical studies using continuous infusion of thrombolytic agents have suggested that local intraarterial fibrinolysis (LIF) is efficacious in the treatment of central retinal artery occlusion. The aim is to compare the visual outcome in patients with acute central retinal artery occlusion of presumed thromboembolic etiology treated with LIF administered in aliquots with that of patients treated with standard therapy. Methods— We conducted a single-center, nonrandomized interventional study of consecutive patients with acute central retinal artery occlusion from July 1999 to July 2006. Results— Twenty-one patients received LIF and 21 received standard therapy. Seventy-six percent of subjects in the LIF group had a visual acuity improvement of one line or more compared with 33% in the standard therapy group ( P =0.012, Fisher exact). Multivariate logistic regression controlling for gender, history of prior stroke/transient ischemic attack, and history of hypercholesterolemia showed that patients who received tissue plasminogen activator were 36 times more likely to have improvement in visual acuity ( P =0.0001) after adjusting for these covariates. Post hoc analysis showed that patients who received tissue plasminogen activator were 13 times more likely to have improvement in visual acuity of 3 lines or more ( P =0.03) and 4.9 times more likely to have a final visual acuity of 20/200 or better ( P =0.04). Two groin hematomas were documented in the LIF group. No ischemic strokes, retinal or intracerebral hemorrhages were documented. Conclusions— LIF administered in aliquots is associated with an improvement in visual acuity compared with standard therapy and has few side effects.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to analyze the safety and efficacy of intervention in patients with symptomatic Tarlov cysts by percutaneous, CT-guided two-needle cyst aspiration and fibrin sealant injection. Materials and Methods This study was designed to assess outcomes in patients who underwent CT-guided aspiration and injection of one or more sacral Tarlov cysts at Johns Hopkins Hospital between the years of 2003 and 2013. In all, 289 cysts were treated in 213 consecutive patients. All of these patients were followed for at least six months; 90% were followed for one year and 83% were followed for three to six years. The aspiration-injection procedure employed two needles and was carried out with local anesthesia and intravenous analgesia. In the fibrin injection stage of the procedure, a commercially available fibrin sealant was injected into the cyst through the deep needle (Tisseel VH; Baxter Healthcare, Westlake Village, California). Results One year post-procedure, excellent results had been obtained in 104 patients (54.2% of patients followed) and good or satisfactory results had been obtained in 53 patients (27.6%). Thus, 157 patients (81.8%) in all were initially satisfied with the outcome of treatment. At three to six years post-procedure, 74.0% of patients followed were satisfied with treatment. There were no significant complications. Conclusions The aspiration-injection technique described herein constitutes a safe and efficacious treatment option that holds promise for relieving cyst-related symptoms in many patients with very small risk.

Knowledge of the CSF pathways holds implications for our ability to understand, prognose, and even treat diseases related to CSF circulation and so is a matter of considerable relevance to neuroradiology and neurology.

The earliest randomized prospective study by Koivisto et al. found clinical and angiographic results between the two methodologies to be statistically equivalent. The more recent and larger randomized, prospective study from the International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial group suggests that endovascular coiling is statistically superior to microsurgical clipping in clinical outcomes, although the recently published long-term follow-up of International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial patients documents higher recurrence and rehemorrhage rates after endovascular coiling. Although there is no clear consensus in these two studies or in the 45 observational studies included, clinically useful information can be extracted to improve shared decision making and interaction between interventionalists and neurosurgeons, create more individualized treatment algorithms, and enhance future research.

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SUMMARY:Treatment of sacral insufficiency fractures (SIFs) has traditionally been conservative, but several patients have been treated with percutaneous sacroplasty. Unfortunately, in the setting of severe, bilateral SIFs, cement may not withstand shear forces present at the lumbosacral junction, and surgical hardware may not provide adequate fixation in osteoporotic, cancellous bone of the sacrum, leading to eventual pseudarthrosis. Thus, we propose a novel technique in which guidance with CT fluoroscopy allows placement of a transiliosacral bar in conjunction with sacroplasty.