Biomedical subjects

R Carrea

Publications and source records attributed to R Carrea.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1977

Preoperative radiotherapy in the management of posterior fossa choroid plexus papillomas.

Although primary radical removal is the procedure of choice in the treatment of choroid plexus papillomas, the age of the child, the size and/or location of the tumor and an above average surgical risk can make advisable the use of a first stage shunt operation, with section of the tentorium if there are signs of upwards tentorial herniation. The present two observations clearly demonstrate that radiotherapy shrinks the vascular stroma of these tumors, thus reducing its size and vascularity making possible the postponement of radical surgery and greatly simplifying the final radical removal of the lesion. Preoperative radiotherapy as well as shunt operations and tentorial section can be considered as first stage procedures for the surgical management of choroid plexus neoplasms in certain cases.

Cerebral Ventricle Neoplasms↗

PubMed1977

[Alexia without agraphia (clinicotomographic correlation)].

Two cases of alexia without agraphia, one due to a cerebrovascular accident which improved spontaneously and the other in a cerebral abscess partially recovered after surgical treatment are presented. Both were anatomically verified by computed tomography. The second was also verified at surgery. A small well localized lesion of the fusiform and lingual gyri in the dominant hemisphere can lead to alexia without agraphia. The lack of involvement of the optic radiation and calcarine fissure explain the abscence of visual field defects and hence the purest type of this syndrome as shown in our first case. The involvement of the splenium of the corpus calosus and related forceps majors seems essential for a long lasting reading defect. The integrity of the dorsal or superior splenium is responsible for the abscence of the color warning defect found on about 30% of the cases of pure word blindness. The severity and ultimate progression of the alexia will depend not only upon the extension of the dominant occipital lesion but of its association with the damage of other possible pathways. A slowly growing and potentially treatable expanding lesion, as in our second case, can also produce an almost pure form of the syndrome. It appears to us that the wider use of CT will allow on the near future will lead to a better knowledge of the anatomical lesions and a better understanding of this fascinating syndrome.

Adult↗

PubMed1975

Surgical treatment of hydatid cysts of the central nervous system in the pediatric age (Dowling's technique).

Single hydatid cysts of the brain are rarely seen by pediatric neurosurgeons who do not reside in certain countries, i.e. Australia, Uruguay, and Argentina. It is, however, of considerable importance that every pediatric neurosurgeon be aware of the manner of diagnosis of this condition and surgical management of these patients. Out of 35 cases of hydatidosis of the CNS and its covering observed over a 42-year period, there were 29 hydatid cysts of the brain and one of the spinal cord. Emphasis is placed on the former. Surgically, the hydatid cyst can be removed intact. The essential steps of the technique are: (1) a large flap; (2) careful handing during all the operative steps avoiding monopolar coagulation; (3) opening of the atrophic cortex overlying the cyst over an area whose diameter should be no less than three quarters of the diameter of the cyst, and (4) letting the cyst come out by just lowering the head of the operating table and instillating warm saline between the cyst and surrounding brain. In this series of hydatid cysts of the CNS, there was no operative mortality. The 20 cases in which the cyst was removed unbroken with Dowling's technique are alive and only two have sequelae of the preoperative lesion (blind). In the 11 cases in which Dowling's technique was not used and the cyst broke during ventriculography (3) or surgery (7, one broke spontaneously), only 7 are alive and well and there were 4 late deaths.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1973