Radicular symptoms in lumbar arachnoiditis were successfully relieved by various endoscopic dissection techniques, such as restoration of the improved CSF flow by subarachno-epidurostomy along the rootlet. This has been identified as one of the causal factors of the clinical symptoms. In cases where lumbar pain persists in spite of a previous thecaloscopy, further treatment with a lumboperitoneal shunt device has proved most successful.
Further randomized studies are needed to confirm the role of TCS in specific surgical procedures and whether or not they are related with lower risk for mortality.
Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) represents a common disorder among older people with mild elevation of cerebrospinal fluid pressure and certain clinical manifestations. We present a patient with such a disorder in whom a programmable valve was implanted. With the use of a lower opening pressure, the patient developed a subdural hematoma although the symptoms subsided. After evacuating the hematoma and by setting the valve pressure higher, the patient recovered without any symptomatology. We observed that only the higher pressure was the right one, although in two different pressure values the symptoms had subsided.
Trigeminal neuralgia (TN), also known as tic douloureaux, is a craniofacial pain disorder which is typically associated with acute-onset severe pain on one side of the face usually. The condition is characterized by intermittent unilateral pain affecting the lower face and jaw. Although many potential causes have been implicated, in many patients the etiology remains obscure. Initially, patients with trigeminal neuralgia should be offered conservative medical management. If surgery is necessary, the simplest and least hazardous procedure should be chosen. The goals of modern surgical therapy are: Long-term pain control, minimal to no morbidity, and as low a mortality risk as possible. In this study, we attempted to perform middle cranial fossa endoscopic exploration in four adult phenol-formalin embalmed cadavers, using a rigid endoscope with 3.8 mm external diameter and two working channels of 1 mm in diameter each (Karl Storz, Tuttlingen, Germany), inserted through a burr-hole centered at the base of the middle cranial fossa, 1 cm in front and 1 cm upwards of the tragus. Our objective was to determine if this approach provides adequate access to the trigeminal ganglion for possible dissection of V2 and V3 trigeminal roots, the two typically radiating sites of TN. In all four cadavers, middle cranial fossa exploration was possible without difficulties. We offer this approach as a minimally invasive surgical procedure to access the trigeminal ganglion, for potential use as another alternative for the surgical management of medically refractory trigeminal neuralgia.
Endoscopic anatomy differs from microsurgical anatomy. Topographical orientation as well as the proportion of objects, is different as they depend on the lens/object distance. Orientation under endoscopic conditions requires structures with defined positions or recognisable structures previously identified radiolologically. Structures are anatomical landmarks if the topographical relation to their surroundings is constant and they are easy and reliable to recognise. The contents of the dural sack are nerve roots with their supplying vessels, arachnoid trabeculars, filum terminale, and CSF. Safe navigation of a thecaloscope in relation to the bony structures is only possible with the simultaneous use of intraoperative fluoroscopy. To facilitate the navigation of scopes and instruments in the subarachnoid space we attempted to identify and describe reliable, and therefore constant recognisable anatomical landmarks.
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