Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability for which there is currently no effective drug therapy available. Because drugs targeting a single TBI pathological pathway have failed to show clinical efficacy to date, pleiotropic agents with effects on multiple mechanisms of secondary brain damage could represent an effective option to improve brain recovery and clinical outcome in TBI patients. In this multicenter retrospective study, we investigated severity-related efficacy and safety of the add-on therapy with two concentrations (20 ml/day or 30 ml/day) of Cerebrolysin (EVER Neuro Pharma, Austria) in TBI patients. Adjunctive treatment with Cerrebrolysin started within 48 hours after TBI and clinical outcomes were ranked according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale and the Modified Rankin Disability Score at 10 and 30 days post-TBI. Analyses of efficacy were performed separately for subgroups of patients with mild, moderate or severe TBI according to Glasgow Coma Scale scores at admission. Compared to standard medical care alone (control group), both doses of Cerebrolysin were associated with improved clinical outcome scores at 10 days post-TBI in mild patients and at 10 and 30 days in moderate and severe cases. A dose-dependent effect of Cerebrolysin on TBI recovery was supported by the dose-related differences and the significant correlations with treatment duration observed for outcome measures. The safety and tolerability of Cerebrolysin in TBI patients was very good. In conclusion, the results of this large retrospective study revealed that early Cerebrolysin treatment is safe and is associated to improved TBI outcome.
We report here a retrospective study of 59 consecutive patients with olfactory groove meningiomas admitted and operated on between 1991 and 2008. Our goal was to characterize clinical features, treatment strategies, and outcome of these lesions. The surgical resection grade, the histological type and the presence of recurrences in the follow-up period were analyzed. Maximum tumor diameter determined by preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations was between 2 and 11 cm. In 38 surgical procedures (64.4%), the tumor was removed through a bilateral subfrontal approach, in 12 (20.3%) a unilateral subfrontal approach was used, and in nine procedures (15.3%) a pterional approach was performed. The average age at presentation was 52 years (age: 20-76 years) and the sex ratio was 1.45:1 (females/males). According to Simpson's grading system, the degree of tumor removal was: grade I in 14 cases (23.8%), grade II in 38 cases (64.4%), grade III in four cases (6.8%) and grade IV in three cases (5%). Fifty-six patients had benign meningiomas (94.9%) and three patients had atypical meningiomas (5.1%). Two patients (3.4%) died from pulmonary embolism and bronchopneumonia. There were recurrences in six patients (10.1%), between 9 months and 12 years (mean 7.2 years) after surgery. The olfactory groove is a relatively frequent location for intracranial meningiomas, accounting for 9.1% of all intracranial meningiomas in our experience. Olfactory groove meningiomas tend to be clinically silent tumors until they are very large when symptoms or other abnormalities become evident. A surgical procedure adapted to the size and the extension of the tumor combined with microsurgical techniques allows total meningioma removal with good neurological outcome.
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