Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Bertal.
The intramedullary localization of schwannoma is rare, corresponding to 0.3% of all intraspinal tumors. We report a case of intramedullary schwannoma without symptoms suggestive of neurofibromatosis. This patient presented with symptoms of spinal compression. Total removal of the tumor was achieved. The literature is reviewed about of this rare localization of schwannoma.
Hydatid disease is a serious public health problem in developing countries. Cerebrospinal localizations account for 1% of all cases of hydatid disease. The spino-radicular form is exceptional. We report a case of a 25-year-old women with cauda equina. Thoraco-lumbar MRI has showed an intradural process extending from L3 to L5, a low-intensity signal on T1 weighted images and a high-intensity signal on T2 weighted images, which were not enhanced after gadolinium injection. There was no vertebral involvement. After L3 L4 and L5 laminotomy and opening of the dura-matter, multiple vesicles were found scattered among the roots, with no adhesion to meninges or nervous structures. Total extirpation was easy. The outcome was marked by recovery of the motor deficit and sphincter disorders. This localization is serious but its prognosis is excellent if the diagnosis is made early enough to prevent cyst rupture and to allow total resection.
Tuberculosis of the central nervous system is uncommon. The intramedullary localization is exceptional. We report five cases of intramedullary tuberculosis observed in four women and one man with a mean age of 43 years. Two patients had a prior history of tuberculosis. Spinal cord compression was found clinically in all cases. The spinal MRI visualized the tuberculoma in all patients; two had a double tumor. Complete removal of the tuberculoma was possible in only one patient. Outcome was stationary for four patients.
Acute subdural hematoma (ASDH) of the posterior fossa is very rare in childhood. It represent 0.52% of all subdural hematomas. We report a case of post-traumatic acute subdural hematoma of the posterior fossa in a 4-year-old child who was drowsy, without a neurologic defect. The CT scan revealed a simple ASDH, with a good recovery after surgical treatment. The literature is reviewed, clinical and therapeutic aspects are discussed.
The cerebral localization of the hydatid cyst is still rare (1 to 4% of the cases). The calcified cerebral hydatid cyst is exceptional. We report one case collected in our department. It is about a patient of 28 years old, that the case histories consist in convulsive attacks since the age of 8 years old, hospitalized because of a left hemiparesis with progressive installation. The cerebral computerized tomography showed a right parieto-occipital that is largely calcified. During the operation, a calcified hydatid cyst discovered with various daughter vesicles and a cerebral gliosis, the latter has been extracted entirely. The evolution has been favourable with improvement of the left hemiparesis. The calcified hydatid cyst of brain is still exceptional, its symptomatology is the same as the safe CHC, but it poses some diagnostic and therapeutic problems.
In the Western world, inflammatory aneurysms account for only 1 to 5%, of all operated thoracic aorta aneurysms. Takayasu's disease is by far the commonest cause although all forms of aortitis may result in aneurysm formation. Usually observed in young patients, these aneurysms are suitable for often major surgery with results that are globally better than in degenerative or dissecting aneurysms. However, they pose, two specific problems: the progression of the inflammatory disease which may require pre- and/or post-operative steroid therapy and that of the risk, at least in theory, of a late pseudo-aneurysm, which justifies regular long-term follow-up after surgery.
PURPOSE: To assess the clinical success and short-term patency of the Wallstent endoprosthesis in the treatment of superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-one 14-mm-diameter endoprostheses were implanted in 15 patients (mean age, 60 years) treated for SVC syndrome due to malignant compression (n = 14) or postirradiation fibrotic stenosis (n = 1) of the SVC. RESULTS: Immediate technical success was achieved in all patients. Two early complications occurred: retroperitoneal hemorrhage due to venous iliac tear and early stent thrombosis. In the 14 patients without early stent occlusion, stent placement resulted in complete relief of SVC syndrome; clinical success was 93%. SVC syndrome did not recur from 1 to 14 months, until the patient died (n = 11) or until the end of the study (n = 3). Helical CT showed a patent stent in five patients, respectively, at 3, 6, 8, 10, and 11 months. CONCLUSION: SVC stent placement has good clinical results and a high patency rate at short-term follow-up in patients with SVC syndrome.
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Chordoma is a rare tumor in spine. Two cases, exceptional in adolescents, are reported. The clinical evolution is slow and progressive. CT shows a lobulated tumor, precises the degree of vertebral osteolysis and detects intra-tumoral calcifications. MRI is useful to determine especially in high in soft tissues and the vertebral canal. Arteriography is realised in pre-operative time and permits an embolization when the tumor is hypervascularised.
Between 1977 and 1989, 24 patients (19 women and 5 men) with Takayasu's disease underwent renal artery restoration. Mean age was 32.9 years (range 15 to 60 years). All patients were hypertensive and three had moderate, chronic renal failure. Renal artery lesions were unilateral in two patients (8%), bilateral in 17 patients (71%), and unilateral in a solitary kidney in five (21%). Associated lesions of the thoracic or abdominal aorta or both were found in 22 patients (92%). Lesions of the visceral arteries found located in 21 patients (87%) and of the supraaortic trunks in 16 (67%). Initial revascularization of the supraaortic trunks was performed in four patients (17%). Renal artery revascularization was unilateral in 11 patients (46%) and bilateral in 13 (54%). Concomitant aortic reconstruction was performed in 21 patients (87%), visceral artery reconstruction in 17 patients (71%), and supraaortic surgery in seven (29%). One patient who underwent combined aortic and renal artery restoration, and in whom visceral artery involvement had been neglected, died postoperatively of heart failure and intestinal infarction. Three patients were lost to follow-up. Twenty patients have been followed for a mean of 61.3 months (range 4 to 124 months). One patient died at 89 months of intestinal infarction secondary to embolization originating from a false aortic aneurysm. Five repeat renal revascularizations were required in four patients. Hypertension is presently cured in 12 patients (63%), improved in six (31%), and unchanged in one (6%). Even though surgical treatment of arterial lesions in Takayasu's disease often includes complex and repeat revascularization procedures, satisfactory long-term results suggest the use of renal artery reconstruction in this affliction.