Zamanian, Cameron

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Epilepsy is considered one of the most prevalent and severe chronic neurological disorders worldwide. Our study aims to analyze the national trends in different treatment modalities for individuals with drug-resistant epilepsy and investigate the outcomes associated with these procedural trends in the United States. METHODS: Using the National Inpatient Sample database from 2010 to 2020, patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy who underwent laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT), open surgical resection, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), or responsive neurostimulation (RNS) were identified. Trend analysis was performed using piecewise joinpoint regression. Propensity score matching was used to compare outcomes between 10 years prepandemic before 2020 and the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: This study analyzed a total of 33 969 patients with a diagnosis of drug-resistant epilepsy, with 3343 patients receiving surgical resection (78%), VNS (8.21%), RNS (8%), and LITT (6%). Between 2010 and 2020, there was an increase in the use of invasive electroencephalography monitoring for seizure zone localization ( P = .003). There was an increase in the use of LITT and RNS ( P < .001), while the use of surgical resection and VNS decreased over time ( P < .001). Most of these patients (89%) were treated during the pre-COVID pandemic era (2010-2019), while a minority (11%) underwent treatment during the COVID pandemic (2020). After propensity score matching, the rate of pulmonary complications, postprocedural hematoma formation, and mortality were slightly higher during the pandemic compared with the prepandemic period ( P = .045, P = .033, and P = .026, respectively). CONCLUSION: This study indicates a relative decrease in the use of surgical resections, as a treatment for drug-resistant focal epilepsy. By contrast, newer, minimally invasive surgical approaches including LITT and RNS showed gradual increases in usage.

OBJECTIVE High-grade gliomas (HGGs) are among the rarest yet most aggressive tumor types in neurosurgical practice. In the current literature, few studies have assessed the drivers of early outcomes following resection of these tumors and investigated their association with quality of care. The authors aimed to identify the clinical predictors for 30-day readmission and reoperation following HGG surgery using the American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Surgical Quality Improvement Project (NSQIP) database and sought to create web-based applications predicting each outcome. METHODS Using the ACS NSQIP database, the authors conducted a retrospective, multicenter cohort analysis of patients who underwent resection of supratentorial HGGs between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2020. Demographics and comorbidities were extracted. The primary outcomes were 30-day unplanned readmission and reoperation. A stratified 80:20 split of the available data was carried out. Supervised machine learning algorithms were trained to predict 30-day outcomes. RESULTS A total of 9418 patients were included in our cohort. The observed rate of unplanned readmission within 30 days of surgery was 13.0% (n = 1221). In terms of predictors, weight, chronic steroid use, preoperative blood urea nitrogen level, and white blood cell count were associated with a higher risk of readmission. The observed rate of unplanned reoperation within 30 days of surgery was 5.2% (n = 489). In terms of predictors, increased weight, longer operative time, and more days between hospital admission and operation were associated with an increased risk of early reoperation. The random forest algorithm showed the highest predictive performance for early readmission (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.967), while the XGBoost algorithm showed the highest predictive performance for early reoperation (AUC = 0.985). Web-based tools for both outcomes were deployed ( https://glioma-readmission.herokuapp.com/ and https://glioma-reoperation.herokuapp.com/ ). CONCLUSIONS In this study, the authors provide the first nationwide analysis for short-term outcomes in patients undergoing resection of supratentorial HGGs. Multiple patient, hospital, and admission factors were associated with readmission and reoperation, confirmed by machine learning predicting patients’ prognosis, leading to better planning preoperatively and subsequently improved personalized patient care.

OBJECTIVE Tethered cord syndrome (TCS) can lead to significant downstream neurological deficits including gait deterioration, incontinence, and often unexplained chronic low-back pain. Surgical intervention may relieve symptoms, but there are no defined radiological parameters associated with surgical outcomes and functional status. The authors aimed to define pre- and postoperative radiological parameters for assessing surgical outcomes in TCS. METHODS The authors performed a single-center retrospective review of all pediatric patients treated for TCS between 2016 and 2021. Patient baseline characteristics and operative metrics included age, sex, level of conus, level of procedure, tethering pathology, symptoms at presentation, complications, improvement of symptoms, and reoperation rate. MRI measurements included pre- and postoperative anterior canal distance (ACD) and bending angle (BA). RESULTS Thirty-three pediatric patients were identified who underwent untethering of the spinal cord and had pre- and postoperative MRI between 2016 and 2021. The mean patient age was 5.64 ± 5.33 years. Twenty patients (60.60%) were female. Regarding the site of untethering, 31 procedures (93.93%) were performed at the lumbosacral region and 2 (6.06%) were performed at the thoracolumbar region. The conus medullaris was found above L3 in 21.21% of patients. Postoperatively, 18.18% of patients experienced complications, 48.48% showed improvement in their symptoms, and 48.48% were equivocal or had persistent symptoms. The mean preoperative ACD0 (measured from the posterior vertebral body margin [middle] to the anterior margin of the conus medullaris) was 6.15 ± 3.18 mm, the postoperative ACD0 was 2.25 ± 2.72 mm, and the average change in ACD0 was −0.90 ± 1.31 mm. The mean preoperative BA was 26.00° ± 11.56°, the mean postoperative BA was 15.92° ± 9.81°, and the average change in BA was −10.08° ± 8.80°. An optimal cutoff value for preoperative BA to predict reoperation in pediatric patients with complex TCS undergoing surgery was ≥ 31.70° (area under the curve = 0.83). CONCLUSIONS In surgically treated patients with TCS, certain preoperative radiological parameters may be important in predicting postoperative surgical outcomes; these parameters can be evaluated and reported to indicate patients at high risk for complications. Further prospective multicenter research is warranted to offer robust evidence of association of patient outcomes with preoperative radiological parameters in TCS.

Neuroimmunology plays a critical role in our understanding of the pathophysiological processes that underlie a variety of diseases treated by neurosurgeons, including degenerative disc disease (DDD), glioblastoma (GBM), aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH), and others. Compared with traditional methods in neuroimmunology, which study one pathway or gene at a time, emerging multiomics methodologies allow for holistic interrogation of multiple immune-signaling pathways to test hypotheses and the effects of therapeutics at a systems level. In this review, the authors summarize key concepts for gathering and analyzing multiomics data so that neurosurgeons can contribute to the emerging field of systems neuroimmunology. Additionally, they describe 3 use cases, based on original research published by their group and others, that utilize transcriptomic, metabolomic, and proteomic analyses to study immune-signaling pathways in DDD, aSAH, and GBM. Through these use cases, techniques for performing machine learning and network-based analyses to generate new clinical insights from multiomics data are shared. The authors hope that neurosurgeons might use this review as a summary of common tools and principles in systems immunology to better engage in creating the immunotherapies of tomorrow.

Abstract Introduction: Sacral and presacral schwannomas are rare and account for a minority of spinal schwannomas. We aim to present our institution’s experience surgically treating sacral schwannomas over twenty-one years. Additionally, we assess the literature for surgical cases of sacral schwannomas to compare tumor characteristics and outcomes following resection.Methods: Data on demographics, presenting symptoms, lesion characteristics, surgical management, and outcomes were collected for 27 patients treated surgically for sacral or presacral schwannoma between 1997 and 2018 at all Mayo Clinic locations and compared to those of patients found in the literature. Results: We identified 31 studies in the literature containing 93 patients with sacral schwannoma treated surgically. Our patients and those in the literature experienced similar symptoms, with the most common symptom being pain and the least common being sexual dysfunction, and age at diagnosis. Most of our patients (59.3%) reported full recovery from preoperative symptoms, while a minority reported a partial recovery (33.3%) and no recovery (11.1%). A smaller percentage of patients found in the literature experienced full recovery (31.9%) and partial recovery (29.8%) but also no recovery (1.1%). Our patients experienced fewer complications (14.8% versus 25.5%).Conclusion: Outcomes of patients with sacral or presacral schwannomas vary based on patient demographics, tumor characteristics, symptoms, and surgical treatment. Among the range of symptoms experienced by these patients, the most common is pain. Prognosis improves and overall survival rate is high when the surgical approach towards sacral schwannomas is prepared and executed appropriately.