Penetrating Sacral Injury with a Wooden Foreign Body

Spinal penetrating trauma has a complex neurosurgical management. This study presents a 55-year-old male admitted in our center with a 1 × 1 centimeter laceration on the sacral area skin due to a wooden penetrating object. The computed tomography (CT) of the spine revealed a hypodense penetrating object that was introduced from the posterior aspect of the sacrum into dural space and then stopped in the S1 vertebral body. We performed a laminectomy of intact superior portion of the S1 lamina and released the wood from the surrounding bone, and finally, we pulled it out

Biogas production and electrical power potential, challenges and barriers from municipal solid waste (MSW) for developing countries: A review study in Iran

Currently, finding a renewable source for energy production and also the problems caused by the production and disposal of municipal solid waste have led researchers to think of ways to generate energy from waste. To produce biogas from waste, anaerobic digestion method is used. In developing countries, including Iran, the production of biogas from municipal solid waste in metropolitan areas is being studied and developed. In turn, this study investigates the potential of biogas production from municipal solid waste in Iran. First, the amount of municipal solid waste produced in Iran was estimated. Then, the biogas production potential and the generated electric power were calculated through mathematical relations. The recorded physical properties of the waste and the volume of the biogas produced by it (PCV, Pdegradable, Pdry, Pmax, Prad, Prl were calculated) showed that Iran has a high potential for biogas production from municipal solid waste. PCV, Pdegradable, Pdry, Pmax, Prad, Prl values for this type of waste in the most populous provinces of Iran (Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, Khuzestan, Fars, East Azerbaijan, Esfahan, Mazandaran, West Azerbaijan and Gilan) were 2171.02, 900.2, 356.35, 1256.45, 262.43, 315.05 MW, respectively

Non-surgical management of spinal epidural hematoma after kyphoplasty: A case report

Kyphoplasty and Vertebroplasty (VP) are accepted therapeutic approaches to treat pain associated with vertebral compression fractures. Major complications such as cord or root compression, subdural and epidural hematomas (EDH), as well as pulmonary emboli, have been reported in less than 1% of patients. Spinal EDH is an extremely rare complication that usually happens a few hours after the procedure. We report a case of spinal EDH that developed four days after a successful kyphoplasty

Histiocytic Sarcoma Involving Cervical Vertebra: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Histiocytic sarcoma (HS) is a rare neoplasm composed of cells with immunohistochemical characteristics of mature histiocytes. It can be disseminated or localized and usually involves the skin, spleen, and gastrointestinal tract. Primary involvement of the vertebral column is extremely rare. We report a 29-year-old female who presented with neck pain and had a destructive 35*43*48 mm lesion in C2 with a paravertebral extension. The initial biopsy did not lead to the correct diagnosis. She later developed dysphagia, and the anterior approach was used for tumor decompression. The diagnosis of cervical histiocytic sarcoma was made, and she underwent radiotherapy. The follow-up MRI showed a marked response to radiotherapy. Here, we report the first case of cervical HS, review all cases of vertebral HS, compare patients’ characteristics and clinical courses, and discuss diagnostic nuances and treatment options

Endoscopic repair of transsellar transsphenoidal meningoencephalocele; case report and review of approaches

We present an extremely rare case of transsellar transsphenoidal meningoencephalocele in a 36-year-old woman with pituitary dwarfism complaining of nasal obstruction. Imaging studies showed a bony defect in the sellar floor and sphenoid sinus with huge nasopharyngeal mass and 3rd ventricle involvement. Using endoscopic endonasal approach the sac was partially removed and the defect was reconstructed with fat and fascial graft, and buttressed with titanium mesh and septal flap. Visual field improvement was noticed post-operatively and no complication was encountered during follow-up. So, endoscopic endonasal approach with partial resection of the sac is a safe and effective treatment for this diseas

Delayed Effect of Dendritic Cells Vaccination on Survival in Glioblastoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Dendritic cell vaccination (DCV) strategies, thanks to a complex immune response, may flare tumor regression and improve patients’ long-term survival. This meta-analysis aims to assess the efficacy of DCV for newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients in clinical trials. Methods: The study databases, including PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Cochrane, were searched by two blinded investigators considering eligible studies based on the following keywords: “glioblastoma multiforme”, “dendritic cell”, “vaccination”, “immunotherapy”, “immune system”, “immune response”, “chemotherapy”, “recurrence”, and “temozolomide”. Among the 157 screened, only 15 articles were eligible for the final analysis. Results: Regimens including DCV showed no effect on 6-month progression-free survival (PFS, HR = 1.385, 95% CI: 0.822–2.335, p = 0.673) or on 6-month overall survival (OS, HR = 1.408, 95% CI: 0.882–2.248, p = 0.754). In contrast, DCV led to significantly longer 1-year OS (HR = 1.936, 95% CI: 1.396–2.85, p = 0.001) and longer 2-year OS (HR = 3.670, 95% CI: 2.291–5.879, p = 0.001) versus control groups. Hence, introducing DCV could lead to increased 1 and 2-year survival of patients by 1.9 and 3.6 times, respectively. Conclusion: Antitumor regimens including DCV can effectively improve mid-term survival in patients suffering glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), but its impact emerges only after one year from vaccination. These data indicate the need for more time to achieve an anti-GBM immune response and suggest additional therapeutics, such as checkpoint inhibitors, to empower an earlier DCV action in patients affected by a very poor prognosis

Neuropsychiatric manifestations of COVID-19 can be clustered in three distinct symptom categories

Several studies have reported clinical manifestations of the new coronavirus disease. However, few studies have systematically evaluated the neuropsychiatric complications of COVID-19. We reviewed the medical records of 201 patients with confirmed COVID-19 (52 outpatients and 149 inpatients) that were treated in a large referral center in Tehran, Iran from March 2019 to May 2020. We used clustering approach to categorize clinical symptoms. One hundred and fifty-one patients showed at least one neuropsychiatric symptom. Limb force reductions, headache followed by anosmia, hypogeusia were among the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms in COVID-19 patients. Hierarchical clustering analysis showed that neuropsychiatric symptoms group together in three distinct groups: anosmia and hypogeusia; dizziness, headache, and limb force reduction; photophobia, mental state change, hallucination, vision and speech problem, seizure, stroke, and balance disturbance. Three non-neuropsychiatric cluster of symptoms included diarrhea and nausea; cough and dyspnea; and fever and weakness. Neuropsychiatric presentations are very prevalent and heterogeneous in patients with coronavirus 2 infection and these heterogeneous presentations may be originating from different underlying mechanisms. Anosmia and hypogeusia seem to be distinct from more general constitutional-like and more specific neuropsychiatric symptoms. Skeletal muscular manifestations might be a constitutional or a neuropsychiatric symptom

State of the Art in Combination Immuno/Radiotherapy for Brain Metastases: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives: Common origins for brain metastases (BMs) are melanoma, lung, breast, and renal cell cancers. BMs account for a large share of morbidity and mortality caused by these cancers. The advent of new immunotherapeutic treatments has made a revolution in the treatment of cancer patients and particularly, as a new concept, if it is combined with radiotherapy, may lead to considerably longer survival. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the survival rate and toxicities of such a combination in brain metastases. Methods: To perform a systematic review of the literature until January 2021 using electronic databases such as PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase; the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale was used to evaluate the quality of cohort studies. For data extraction, two reviewers extracted the data blindly and independently. Hazard ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI), fixed-effect model, and inverse-variance method was calculated. The meta-analysis has been evaluated with the statistical software Stata/MP v.16 (The fastest version of Stata). Results: In the first step, 494 studies were selected to review the abstracts, in the second step, the full texts of 86 studies were reviewed. Finally, 28 studies were selected consisting of 1465 patients. The addition of IT to RT in the treatment of brain metastasis from melanoma and non-small-cell lung carcinoma was associated with a 39% reduction in mortality rate and has prolonged overall survival, with an acceptable toxicity profile. The addition of IT to RT compared with RT alone has a hazard ratio of 0.39(95% CI 0.34–0.44). Conclusions: A combination of immuno/radiotherapy (IR) for the treatment of patients with BMs from melanoma and non-small-cell lung carcinoma has prolonged overall survival and reduced mortality rate, with acceptable toxicity. In terms of timing, RT seems to have the best effect on the result when performed before or simultaneously with immunotherapy

Limits on using the clock drawing test as a measure to evaluate patients with neurological disorders

Abstract Background The Clock Drawing Test (CDT) is used as a quick-to-conduct test for the diagnosis of dementia and a screening tool for cognitive impairments in neurological disorders. However, the association between the pattern of CDT impairments and the location of brain lesions has been controversial. We examined whether there is an association between the CDT scores and the location of brain lesions using the two available scoring systems. Method One hundred five patients with brain lesions identified by CT scanning were recruited for this study. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) battery including the CDT were administered to all partcipants. To score the CDT, we used a qualitative scoring system devised by Rouleau et al. (1992). For the quantitative scoring system, we adapted the algorithm method used by Mendes-Santos et al. (2015) based on an earlier study by Sunderland et al. (1989). For analyses, a machine learning algorithm was used. Results Remarkably, 30% of the patients were not detected by the CDT. Quantitative and qualitative errors were categorized into different clusters. The classification algorithm did not differentiate the patients with traumatic brain injury ‘TBI’ from non-TBI, or the laterality of the lesion. In addition, the classification accuracy for identifying patients with specific lobe lesions was low, except for the parietal lobe with an accuracy of 63%. Conclusion The CDT is not an accurate tool for detecting focal brain lesions. While the CDT still is beneficial for use with patients suspected of having a neurodegenerative disorder, it should be cautiously used with patients with focal neurological disorders