PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S Ben Amor

Publications and source records attributed to S Ben Amor.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

[Vertical fracture of the odontoid process. A case report].

Odontoid process fractures are commonly classified as types I through III according to the Anderson & D'Alonzo scheme. A fourth type of fracture not included in this classification has been described as "vertical odontoid fracture". These fractures are located in the vertical plan of the dens. We describe a new case of an oblique coronally oriented fracture through the odontoid process with extension to the body of C2. Our patient is a 22-year-old lady who sustained a road traffic accident with head, facial and cervical trauma. Computed tomography with 2D and 3D reconstruction characterized the fracture. We suppose that the mechanism of injury was an axial load associated with dorsal to ventral force. The patient was placed on a halo-vest for 12 weeks with good healing and no evidence of instability on flexion-extension studies 6 months later. This case demonstrates that the odontoid and C2 vertebral body fractures belong to the same spectrum and are determined by the patient's anatomy and the mechanism of the injury.

Adult↗

Primary midbrain germinoma.

Intracranial germinomas arising primarily in the midbrain are extremely rare and only one case has been reported in the literature. A 15-year-old boy presented with headache, diplopia, unsteadiness and personality changes. Brain MRI showed a heterogeneous lesion in the midbrain. The pineal body region was free. The preoperative diagnosis included brain-stem glioma, metastasis and lymphoma. Stereotactic biopsy was permitted in order to take a specimen and the diagnosis of germinoma was established. The patient responded well to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Germinoma should be included in the differential diagnosis of midbrain lesions. Preoperative diagnosis is difficult and biopsy is still needed for such lesions.

Adolescent↗

Mesenchymal extraskeletal chondrosarcoma of the orbit. Report of a case and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Extraskeletal mesenchymal chondrosarcoma (MCS) is relatively uncommon. Orbital location is extremely rare: only 16 cases have been reported until now. We report a case of extraskeletal mesenchymal chondrosarcoma in a 27-year-old man and review the literature on its manifestations and management. CASE REPORT: This patient had a 2-year history of progressive proptosis of the right eye. Skull X-ray and CT scan showed intraorbital calcification and a large lesion in the upper right orbit. He was operated three times because of recurrence of the tumor. The last recurrence was observed to have extension to the intracranial region, detected on MRI and CT scan. This secondary extension of the tumor to the intracranial region has not been previously reported. Immunohistochemical analysis for S-100 protein showed focal positivity. CONCLUSION: Mesenchymal chondrosarcoma of the orbit is rare, and secondary extension to the intracranial region has not previously been reported.

Adult↗

[Spontaneous intracranial hypotension syndrome].

Spontaneous intracranial hypotension is a rare but well known entity first described by the German neurosurgeon Schaltenbrand. We report the clinical and radiological findings of four patients (2 males, 2 females, mean age 55 years) presenting with this clinical entity and peculiar constant MRI findings. Intense postural headache was present in all patients together with a very low CSF pressure at lumbar tap although none of the patients had any history of recent lumbar puncture, spinal or cerebral surgery or cranio-cervical trauma. MRI revealed in all patients an intense meningeal enhancement and thickening which was most prominent on the dural side of the subdural space. The ventricular system was thin, presenting almost like slit ventricules. A downward shift of the cerebellar tonsils and hemorrhagic subdural collections were also observed in two patients. Biopsy of meninges performed in two patients showed fibrosis of the leptomeninges together with signs of old hemorrhage in one case. We postulate that histologic and radiologic changes are due to chronic subdural bleeding in relation with abnormal displacement of the nervous structures due to intracranial hypotension. The underlying cause of spontaneous intracranial hypotension is rarely established and the course of the disease is benign. Some authors have advocated to perform isotopic cysternography in search for a CSF leak, particularly in the spine, that could be surgically corrected. No such investigation has been conducted yet in our patients because the spontaneous evolution has been mostly favorable.

Cerebrovascular Disorders↗