Asifur Rahman

Solitary osteochondroma of the atlas causing spinal cord compression: a case report and literature review.

Solitary osteochondroma (SOC) of the spine is very rare, though OC is the commonest benign tumour of the bone. Only about 1–4% of SOCs occur in the spine. And solitary ostechondroma of spine causing cord compression is even rarer. These tumours slowly enlarge, creating insidious but progressive symptoms of myelopathy or radiculopathy or both. Clinical histories, routine radiographs, CT studies, MRI studies and histopathological studies are the adjuncts for a definitive diagnosis. Surgical intervention can lead to functional and neurologic improvement with very little chance of recurrence. The authors present a case of a C1 posterior arch intraspinal SOC with cord compression who recovered very well after surgery and was doing well without recurrence after 1 year of surgery. The authors are reporting this case with English language medical literature review as it is quite rare among the SOCs of the cervical spine.

Double migration of a schwannoma of thoracic spine

Mobile intraspinal tumours have rarely been reported. In most cases, mobile tumours such as schwannomas or ependymomas were located in the cauda equina. Perusal of the literature revealed only two reports of mobile schwannomas in the cervical and thoracic regions. We report a case of thoracic schwannoma which migrated twice in successive operations resulting in negative exploration in the expected area. The aim of this report is to remind the surgeons about the possibility of migration of intradural-extramedullary tumour.

Contiguous haemangioblastomas of the brain and spine in a patient of Von Hippel-Lindau disease

Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease is an inherited, autosomal-dominant syndrome caused by heterozygous germline mutations in the VHL gene, and predisposing to the development of benign and malignant tumours and cysts in multiple organ systems involving eyes, kidneys, pancreas, liver and central nervous system. The responsible tumour suppressor gene for VHL disease is in chromosome 3p25. We are presenting a case of a patient with both cerebellar as well as spinal haemangioblastoma in addition to polycystic pancreas. We operated on both the spinal and the cerebellar haemangioblastomas and the patient had made a very good recovery. We present this case for its rarity along with the literature review.

Rhino-orbital mucourmycosis in a non-immunocompromised patient

Mucormycosis, also known as phycomycosis or zygomycosis, is caused by common Zygomycete fungi frequently found in soil and decaying vegetation. These mainly infect immunocompromised patients and cause an acute fulminating fungal disease; mucormycosis rarely affects otherwise healthy people. Mucormycosis is a fatal infection with a poor prognosis. Of the different types of mucormycosis, the rhinocerebral type is the most severe one, and its type 2 subtype, the rhino-orbital-cerebral form is the deadliest variety. Here, we report a case of mucormycosis presenting with extensive necrosis of the maxilla with extension into the retrobulbar and infrabulbar region in an otherwise healthy patient. He underwent extensive debriding surgery followed by amphotericin B first and then oral antifungal therapy, but unfortunately, even after extensive surgery and medical treatment, he did not survive.

Spinal extradural cavernous haemangioma in an elderly man

Cavernous haemangiomas are vascular malformations that may affect any part of the central nervous system. Epidural haemangiomas are rare and constitute ∼4% of all epidural tumours and 12% of all intraspinal haemangiomas. These tumours enlarge slowly and produce symptoms of progressive myelopathy or radiculopathy or both. History, clinical examination, routine radiographs, MRI and histopathological studies are the aids for a definitive diagnosis. Surgery can give a very beneficial result with good functional and neurological improvement. Chance of recurrence is less after a good surgical removal. Here we present a case of spinal extradural cavernous haemangioma in a 65- year-old man who had a good functional and neurological recovery after surgery. At 9 months postoperative follow-up, he did well without any new problems with regard to recurrence. We report this case for its rarity.

Was Cavum Septum Pellucidum the Cause of Intractable Seizure in a 17-Year-Old Boy with Wilson Disease?

BACKGROUND Cavum septum pellucidum (CSP), which is often found incidentally in a few populations, occasionally becomes symptomatic if enlarged significantly. Wilson disease (WD) is an uncommon autosomal recessive inborn defect in copper metabolism characterized by abnormal accumulation of copper in various tissues, particularly in the liver and the brain. Seizure disorder, although rare both in CSP and WD, may happen in a few patients with either of the conditions. CASE DESCRIPTION We report a case of 17-year-old boy, a patient with known WD, who developed intractable seizure for a year, which was not controlled with a large amount of antiepileptics. Magnetic resonance imaging showed enlargement of his preexisting CSP, which was small and asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis of WD. His WD was in a state of remission when he developed the seizure disorder. On endoscopic cyst fenestration, he was relieved of the seizure. CONCLUSIONS Symptomatic CSP is a rare disorder, but the coexistence of WD is even rarer. Endoscopic cyst fenestration is a novel procedure that can be successful in properly selected cases. To the best of our knowledge, CSP associated with WD has not been reported in any English literature. We present this case for its rarity along with a relevant literature review.

“Stealth cranioplasty:” A novel endeavor for symptomatic adult Chiari I patients with syringomyelia: Technical note, appraisal, and philosophical considerations

Aim and Objective: In this article, we describe a novel technique of reconstruction of posterior fossa by cranioplasty with use of preshaped titanium mesh following posterior fossa decompression (PFD) for Chiari malformation type I (CMI) with syringomyelia (SM) in symptomatic adults. Materials and Methods: Eleven patients underwent limited PFD and expansive cranioplasty with preshaped titanium mesh, what we term as “Stealth Cranioplasty” (SCP), following arachnoid preserving duraplasty (APD) and hexagonal tenting of the duraplasty with the cranioplasty (HTDC) for the management of symptomatic adult CMI with SM. All these patients had syringes extending from 3 to >10 vertebral levels. Results: Seven male and four female symptomatic CMI adult patients, between age ranges of 22 and 44 years (mean 29.45 years), presented with different neurological symptoms related to CMI and SM for 6–84 months (mean 37.09 months). All the patients underwent PFD, APD followed by SCP and HTDC and were followed up for 7–54 months (mean 35.90 months). Of 11 patients, 8 patients improved according to the Chicago Chiari Outcome Scale (CCOS) with score of 13–15 while 3 patients remained unchanged with CCOS of 12, and there was no worsening. There was no complication related to Chiari surgery in any of the patients. All the patients had good reestablishment of cisterna magna. Two patients had marked reduction of syrinx while eight patients had moderate-to-mild reduction and one patient had no change of syrinx. None of the patients needed redo surgery. Conclusion: SCP is an effective, fruitful, and cost-effective technique for the management of symptomatic adult CMI with SM. This technique has the advantages of preventing complications and recurrences in addition to the improvement of symptoms by addressing the basic pathology.

A Demographic Study of Thoracolumbar Junction Fracture in a Developing Country and its Social Impact

Introduction: Spinal cord injury due to traumatic accidents is a major cause of disability throughout the world. Among the spinal injury patients more than 30% suffered from Thoracolumbar Spine (TLS) injury with great preponderance to Thoracolumbar Junction (T10-L2) injury. Delay or inappropriate management of these patients leads to a great socio-economical impact on the society. Methods and materials: This was a prospective study on 38 patients who were admitted in the Neurosurgery Department at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in the period of January 2010 to December 2011 with thoracolumbar junction injuries and were analyzed regarding demographic patterns after getting approval of the Ethical Committee of Bangladesh College of Physician and Surgeons (BCPS) and DMCH. Patients with single level Thoracolumbar Junction Injury (D10-L2) and who had TLICS score ≥ 4 were included in this study. Patients with TLICS score ≤ 3, multiple level thoracolumbar junction injury, associated other injuries like head injury, abdominal injury, long bone fractures and any pathological thoracolumbar fractures were excluded. Result: There were 36 males and 2 females with average age of 29.42 ± 8.11 years (range 17-50 years). Fall from height was the commonest (79%) cause of injury. Most of the patients were farmers and came from lower income class. Most of the patients 29(76.3%) were illiterate. The mean time interval from injury to admission was found to be 8.97 ± 10.11 days (2 to 60 days). Conclusion: In this study large number of patients was in their active period of life. Due to lack of awareness in their working place, proper counseling and appropriate management of these patients eventually become burden to their family and society. This burden can be minimized with good governance regarding safety measurement in working place and raising awareness among people in their active lives.

Primary Ewing's sarcoma of the skull

Ewings sarcoma, a highly malignant bone tumour, typically affects the pelvis and the long bones of the lower extremities in children and young adults and primary involvement of the skull is rare. Here, we present a case of primary Ewings sarcoma of the skull with localised swelling in a young adult that involved the frontoparietal region of the skull and was very aggressive in nature. Even with aggressive surgery, the patient had multiple recurrences within 1 month of surgery and ultimately the patient died.

Calcified chronic subdural haematoma

Chronic subdural haematoma (CSH) is a well-known disease entity; however, calcified CSH (CCSH) is quite rare. Here the authors report on a 65-year-old man who developed gradual left hemiparesis and had gradually deteriorating level of consciousness for 1 month. CT scan revealed a huge right-sided CCSH. He underwent surgery and the CCSH was excised totally. The patient recovered well and was able to do his daily activities by himself. Surgical treatment for CCSH results in good neurological outcome.