Shin Tsuruoka

A new surgical treatment of moyamoya disease in children: A preliminary report

A new operative method, encephalo-duro-arterio-synangiosis, for the surgical treatment of pediatric moyamoya disease has been developed. The rationale of the operation is to help promote the natural tendency of this disease to develop cerebrovascular collaterals. The method is to transplant a scalp artery with a strip of galea, leaving the distal as well as the proximal arteries intact, to a narrow linear dural opening made under an osteoplastic craniotomy. A representative case is described and the operative procedure is outlined. Our new method is compared with other surgical treatments of this disease.

Carotid-cavernous fistula with brainstem congestion mimicking tumor on MRI.

Article abstract—A 65-year-old woman presented with a left abduction deficit and “red eye,” mild proptosis, chemosis, arterialization of the conjunctival vessels, intention tremor, and bilateral pyramidal signs. MRI showed significant left-sided brainstem involvement that mimicked a tumor. Right hemiplegia ensued 1 week later. Venous congestion of the brainstem with hemiplegia resulting from shunting of blood flow from both carotid arteries is an extremely rare complication of carotid-cavernous fistula.

Serial positron emission tomography (PET) in gliomatosis cerebri treated with radiotherapy: a case report

Results of serial positron emission tomography (PET) in a biopsy-proven case of gliomatosis cerebri (GC) are reported. Computed tomography (CT) with and without contrast failed to detect focal abnormalities, but magnetic resonance (MR) revealed iso-intensity or low-intensity lesions in T1-weighted images and high-intensity lesions in T2-weighted images. Lesions were seen in the left thalamus, right temporal lobe and claustrum, and pons. Radiotherapy remarkably improved clinical and imaging findings. Both before and shortly after radiotherapy, 11C-methionine PET images showed hypermetabolism while 15O-water PET images showed a marked increase in cerebral blood flow in GC lesions. However, 6 months later PET images had remarkably improved, appearing nearly normal.

Immunofluorescence study of immune complexes in polymyalgia rheumatica

Two elderly patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), one with and the other without temporal arteritis (TA), are presented. Immunofluorescence study of muscle biopsy specimens showed IgG, IgA, and fibrinogen deposits in the perifascicular area in the perimysium. This finding suggests that immune complexes play a role in the pathogenesis of this condition and that the pathophysiology of PMR involves an interstitial inflammatory process.

A case of internal carotid artery occlusion successfully treated by encephalo-duro-arterio-synangiosis

In many cases, intracranial occlusive strokes in children are treated symptomatically, with a diagnosis of acute infantile hemiplegia. This is because angiography is more difficult in children and, even if occlusive cerebral arterial disease is diagnosed, there is no definite therapeutic procedure. A case is reported of left internal carotid artery occlusion presenting with acute infantile hemiplegia and followed by repeated transient ischemic attacks. Encephalo-duro-arterio-synangiosis — developed as an operation for moyamoya disease — was performed on this patient, resulting in a marked revascularization of the brain in 8 postoperative months with good improvement in symptoms. This suggests that the operation may be effective in chronic cerebral ischemic diseases other than moyamoya disease.

PET Study in Bilateral Internal Carotid Artery Occlusion

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Disappearance of the Hummingbird Sign after Shunt Surgery in a Case of Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus

A 79-year-old man presented with a slowly progressive gait disturbance. Brain MRI demonstrated ventriculomegaly and the hummingbird sign. A lumbar puncture showed no abnormalities of the cerebrospinal fluid. The improvement of the gait disturbance after the ventriculoperitoneal shunt led to a diagnosis of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus. Interestingly, postoperative brain MRI demonstrated the disappearance of not only ventriculomegaly, but also the hummingbird sign. The disappearance of the hummingbird sign suggests that an increase in the cerebrospinal fluid in the lateral and third ventricles could cause the compression of the superior surface of the midbrain tegmentum, which manifests as the hummingbird sign.

CT Diagnosis of Brain Tumors

This report is mainly based on experiences of CT in 195 cases of brain tumor, 39 cases of which were examined by sequential delayed enhanced CT. The CT findings of these were compared with those of delayed radioisotope scan, operative and histological findings. The results are as follows. Malignant glioma has usually lower density than normal brain tissue on plain CT, and has a ring or irregular shaped circular high density zone on contrast enhanced CT. The density of cystic or necrotic portion increases gradually and reaches its peak in 3 hours after intravenous contrast media injection (ivcmi). In radioisotope scanning, these tumors show higher uptake in delayed scan than early scan. The density of astrocytoma with large or multiple small cysts is very low on CT, and does not increase on enhanced CT. However, in the case of solid astrocytoma with cyst, the density of cystic area reaches its peak in 3 hours after ivcmi. Meningioma is more sharply delineated than other tumors on CT, and its density becomes homogeneously highest immediately after ivcmi for a short time (30 min.), and then begins to decrease rapidly; in radioisotope scan, early scan reveals higher uptake than delayed scan. Acoustic neurinoma is usually characteristic of its major low density area on plain CT, which takes high density after ivcmi in some cases. In metastatic tumor, a large amount of low density area is detected around the metastatic nodules, and the finding of multiplicity offers considerable evidence of its diagnosis. The increase in density of brain tumor on CT after ivcmi is probably due to its high vascularity and/or increased permeability of vessels in tumor and/or adjacent tissue, and contrast enhancement of cyst in brain tumor is presumably caused by the exudation and/or transudation of contrast media through the cyst wall. In general, the sequential increase and decrease of density of brain tumor on CT after intravenous administration of contrast media is approximate to the sequential change of uptake of radioisotope in tumor on R I scan. We have classified the brain tumor into 4 groups by its sequential pattern of contrast enhancement on CT; immediate, delayed, continuous, and no enhancement.