Harvey Cushing is considered the father of neurosurgery, not just for his work within the United States, but also for his global influence through international visitors and trainees. Starting in 1920, the neurosurgical clinic at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, led by Cushing, trained surgeons from all over the globe, many of whom returned home to establish neurosurgical departments and become neurosurgical pioneers themselves. The objective of this vignette is to highlight the importance of Cushing’s international trainees, describe their contributions, and discuss how each had an impact on the development of the practice of neurosurgery worldwide. The authors demonstrate how Cushing provided the impetus for a movement that revolutionized neurology and neurosurgery worldwide. Even today, international cooperation continues to shape the success of our delicate specialty.

The aim of this study was to characterize the clinical and electrophysiological findings of epilepsy originating from the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) as well as its surgical outcomes.

The authors retrospectively reviewed 27 consecutive cases of patients with drug-resistant orbitofrontal epilepsy (OFE) who underwent tailored resective surgery after a detailed presurgical workup. Demographic features, seizure semiology, imaging characteristics, resection site, pathological results, and surgical outcomes were analyzed. Patients were categorized according to semiology. The underlying neural network was further explored through quantitative FDG-PET and ictal stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) analysis at the group level. FDG-PET studies between the semiology group and the control group were compared using a voxel-based independent t-test. Ictal SEEG was quantified by calculating the energy ratio (ER) of high- and low-frequency bands. An ER comparison between the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the amygdal good overall outcome.

Various surgical treatments have been reported for vertebral pseudarthrosis after osteoporotic vertebral fracture (OVF). However, the outcomes are not always good. The authors now have some experience with combined anterior-posterior short-segment spinal fusion (1 level above and 1 level below the fracture) using a wide-foot-plate expandable cage. Here, they report their surgical outcomes with this procedure.

Between June 2016 and August 2018, 16 consecutive patients (4 male and 12 female; mean age 75.1 years) underwent short-segment spinal fusion for vertebral pseudarthrosis or delayed collapse after OVF. The mean observation period was 20.1 months. The level of the fractured vertebra was T12 in 4 patients, L1 in 3, L2 in 4, L3 in 3, and L4 in 2. Clinical outcomes were assessed using the lumbar Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scale and 100-mm visual analog scale for low-back pain. Local kyphotic angle, intervertebral height, bone union rate, and instrumentation-related adverse events were investigases. There were no cases of screw loosening. No cases required reoperation due to instrument-related adverse events. Bone union was observed in all 14 cases that had CT evaluation.

This short-segment fusion procedure is relatively minimally invasive, and local reconstruction and bone fusion have been achieved. This procedure is considered to be attempted for the surgical treatment of osteoporotic vertebral pseudarthrosis after OVF.

This short-segment fusion procedure is relatively minimally invasive, and local reconstruction and bone fusion have been achieved. This procedure is considered to be attempted for the surgical treatment of osteoporotic vertebral pseudarthrosis after OVF.

The objective of this study was to determine the publication rate of abstracts presented at the annual meetings of the AANS/CNS Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves (Spine Summit).

The authors used a search algorithm in PubMed to determine the publication rate of abstracts presented at the Spine Summit from 2007 to 2012. The variables assessed were presentation modality, topic, meeting year, publication year, destiny journal and its 5-year impact factor (IF), country, and citation count (retrieved from the Scopus database).

One thousand four hundred thirty-six abstracts were analyzed; 502 were oral presentations and 934 were digital poster presentations. The publication rate was 53.97% (775/1436). The mean time from presentation to publication was 1.35 ± 1.97 years (95% CI 1.21-1.49 years). The mean citation count of published articles was 40.55 ± 55.21 (95% CI 36.66-44.44). Oral presentations had a higher publication rate (71.51%, 359/502) than digital posters (44.54%, 416/934; OR 3.ted at the meeting are further published in high-IF journals and had a high citation count. Therefore, the Spine Summit maintains its high standards of scientific papers, which reflects the high quality of the research performed in the spine surgery field in North America.

Induction chemotherapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCCA) has principally been studied prior to radiation therapy. We evaluated pre-operative induction therapy followed by surgery followed by risk-adapted adjuvant therapy. This report details the mature 5-year survival statistics, clinical and functional outcomes.

An IRB-approved single institution prospective phase II clinical trial from October 2012 to November 2016 was conducted for patients with transorally-resectable American Joint Committee on Cancer 7th ed. stage III/IV HNSCCA. Patients were treated once weekly for six weeks with a multi-drug induction regimen of carboplatin, paclitaxel and daily lapatinib followed by transoral surgery and neck dissection. Patients were then stratified based on pathologic response to either observation or adjuvant therapy. Survival statistics and functional patient outcomes were analyzed. Specifically, peri-operative outcomes were analyzed and compared to a matched surgical cohort.

38/40 enrolled patients completed trial therapy. Median hospital stay was 3days with 9/38 patients receiving a PEG (median 46days). Median NPO status was 1day, with a median return to a regular diet in 16days. BMS-345541 purchase Mean patient weight was well preserved from pretreatment to 1year after surgery (85.1kg (95% CI 79.6-90.7) vs 83.1kg (95% CI 77.7-88.6kg) respectively). Of the 38 patients who completed trial therapy; DSS, PFS and OS were 100%, 97% and 97% respectively with median follow up of 4.9years (3.33-7.25).

Transoral surgery was feasible following this novel induction regimen with excellent peri-operative, functional and longterm survival outcomes.

Transoral surgery was feasible following this novel induction regimen with excellent peri-operative, functional and longterm survival outcomes.