The latest medical research on Neurosurgery

The research magnet gathers the latest research from around the web, based on your specialty area. Below you will find a sample of some of the most recent articles from reputable medical journals about neurosurgery gathered by our medical AI research bot.

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KangDuo surgical robot versus da Vinci robotic system in urologic surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Journal of Robotic Surgery

It was a systematic review and meta-analysis that aimed to compare the efficiency and safety of robot-assisted urological surgery using both the Ka...

Neuroimmune-competent human brain organoid model of Diffuse Midline Glioma.

Neuro-Oncology

Pediatric high-grade gliomas, such as diffuse midline glioma (DMG), have a poor prognosis and lack curative treatments. Current research models of DMG primarily rely on human DMG cell lines cultured in vitro or xenografted into the brains of immunodeficient mice. However, these models are insufficient to recapitulate the complex cell-cell interactions between DMG and the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), therefore fall short of accurately reflecting how efficacious therapeutic agents or combinations will be in the clinical setting.

To address these challenges, we developed a neuroimmune-competent brain/tumor fusion organoid model system consisting entirely of human cells to investigate the interactions between DMG cells and the primary innate immune cells of the brain, microglia, in the TIME at both cellular and subcellular levels. We generated microglia-containing brain organoids (MiCBO) that carry morphologically mature, motile microglia and multiple subtypes of neurons to mimic the brain tumor microenvironment. These organoids were then fused with H3K27M mutant, TP53P27R/K132R DMG tumor spheroids to create the MiCBO-tumor fusion (MiCBO-TF) model.

We utilized live imaging methods to simultaneously track the mobility of microglial cell bodies and the motility of their process, as well as the behavior of tumor cells within a human brain tissue environment. Our MiCBO-TF model faithfully recapitulated the diffuse infiltration pattern of DMG into brain tissue and revealed that microglial mobility and interactions with tumor cells are highly influenced by external factors and surrounding tissue environment.

The MiCBO-TF model represents a powerful platform for both mechanistic investigations and the development of precision medicine approaches for DMG.

Measurable disease as baseline criterion for response assessment in glioblastoma: A comparison of PET -based (PET RANO 1.0) and MRI-based (RANO) assessments.

Neuro-Oncology

Recently, criteria based on amino acid positron emission tomography (PET) have been proposed for response assessment in diffuse gliomas (PET RANO 1.0). In this study, we compare the prevalence of measurable disease according to PET RANO 1.0 with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO) criteria in glioblastoma.

We retrospectively identified patients with newly diagnosed IDH-wild-type glioblastoma who underwent [18F] Fluoroethyltyrosine (FET) PET and MRI after resection or biopsy and before radio-/radiochemotherapy. Two independent investigators analyzed measurable disease according to PET RANO 1.0 or MRI-RANO criteria. Additionally, lesion size, congruency patterns, and uptake intensity on [18F]FET PET images were assessed.

We evaluated 125 patients including 49 cases after primary resection and 76 cases after biopsy. Using PET criteria, 113 out of 125 patients (90.4%) had measurable disease, with a median PET-positive volume of 15.34 cm3 (8.83-38.03). With MRI, a significantly lower proportion of patients had measurable disease (57/125, 45.6%; P < .001) with a median sum of maximum cross-sectional diameters of 35.65 mm (26.18-45.98). None of the 12 patients without measurable disease on PET had measurable disease on MRI. Contrariwise, 56/68 patients (82.4%) without measurable disease on MRI exhibited measurable disease on PET. Clinical performance status correlated significantly with PET-positive volume and MRI-based sum of diameters (P < .0059, P < .0087, respectively).

[18F]FET PET identifies a higher number of patients with measurable disease compared to conventional MRI in newly diagnosed glioblastoma. PET-based assessment may serve as a novel baseline parameter for evaluating residual tumor burden and improving patient stratification in glioblastoma studies. Further validation in prospective trials is warranted.

Cost-Effectiveness of Nonoperative Management vs Upfront Laparoscopic Appendectomy for Pediatric Uncomplicated Appendicitis Over 1 Year.

American College of Surgeons

Non-operative management (NOM) with antibiotics alone for pediatric uncomplicated appendicitis is accepted to be safe and effective. However, the relative cost-effectiveness of this approach compared to appendectomy remains unknown. We aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of non-operative versus operative management for pediatric uncomplicated acute appendicitis.

A trial-based real-world economic evaluation from the healthcare sector perspective was performed using data collected from a multi-institutional non-randomized controlled trial investigating NOM versus surgery. The time horizon was 1 year, with costs in 2023 US dollars. Ratio of costs-to-charges (RCC)-based data for the initial hospitalization, readmissions, and unplanned emergency department visits were extracted from the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS). Utility data were derived from patient-reported disability days and health-related quality-of-life scores. Multiple scenarios and one-way deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses accounted for parameter uncertainty. Willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold was set at $100,000 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) or disability-adjusted life year (DALY). Primary outcome measures included total and incremental mean costs, QALY, DALY, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs).

Of 1,068 participants, 370 (35%) selected NOM and 698 (65%) selected urgent laparoscopic appendectomy. Operative management cost an average of $9,791/patient and yielded an average of 0.884 QALYs while NOM cost an average of $8,044/patient and yielded an average of 0.895 QALYs. NOM was both less costly and more effective in base case and scenario analyses using disability days and alternate methods of calculating utilities.

NOM is cost-effective compared to laparoscopic appendectomy for pediatric uncomplicated appendicitis over 1 year.

Longitudinal multimodal profiling of IDH-wildtype glioblastoma reveals the molecular evolution and cellular phenotypes underlying prognostically different treatment responses.

Neuro-Oncology

Despite recent advances in the biology of IDH-wildtype glioblastoma, it remains a devastating disease with median survival of less than 2 years. However, the molecular underpinnings of the heterogeneous response to the current standard-of-care treatment regimen consisting of maximal safe resection, adjuvant radiation, and chemotherapy with temozolomide remain unknown.

Comprehensive histopathologic, genomic, and epigenomic evaluation of paired initial and recurrent glioblastoma specimens from 106 patients was performed to investigate the molecular evolution and cellular phenotypes underlying differential treatment responses.

While TERT promoter mutation and CDKN2A homozygous deletion were early events during gliomagenesis shared by initial and recurrent tumors, most other recurrent genetic alterations (eg, EGFR, PTEN, and NF1) were commonly private to initial or recurrent tumors indicating acquisition later during clonal evolution. Furthermore, glioblastomas exhibited heterogeneous epigenomic evolution with subsets becoming more globally hypermethylated, hypomethylated, or remaining stable. Glioblastoma that underwent sarcomatous transformation had shorter interval to recurrence and were significantly enriched in NF1, TP53, and RB1 alterations and the mesenchymal epigenetic class. Patients who developed somatic hypermutation following temozolomide treatment had significantly longer interval to disease recurrence and prolonged overall survival, and increased methylation at 4 specific CpG sites in the promoter region of MGMT was significantly associated with this development of hypermutation. Finally, an epigenomic evolution signature incorporating change in DNA methylation levels across 347 critical CpG sites was developed that significantly correlated with clinical outcomes.

Glioblastoma undergoes heterogeneous genetic, epigenetic, and cellular evolution that underlies prognostically different treatment responses.

Phase 2 Trial of Veliparib, Local Irradiation and Temozolomide in Patients with Newly Diagnosed High-Grade Glioma: A Children's Oncology Group Study.

Neuro-Oncology

The outcome for pediatric patients with high-grade glioma (HGG) remains poor. Veliparib, a potent oral poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase (PARP) 1/2 inhibitor, enhances the activity of radiotherapy and DNA-damaging chemotherapy.

We conducted a single-arm, non-randomized phase 2 clinical trial to determine whether treatment with veliparib and radiotherapy, followed by veliparib and temozolomide, improves progression-free survival in pediatric patients with newly diagnosed HGG without H3 K27M or BRAF mutations compared to patient level data from historical cohorts with closely matching clinical and molecular features. Following surgical resection, newly diagnosed children with non-metastatic HGG were screened by rapid central pathology review and molecular testing. Eligible patients were enrolled on Stratum 1 (IDH wild-type) or Stratum 2 (IDH mutant).

Both strata were closed to accrual for futility after planned interim analyses. Among the 23 eligible patients who enrolled on Stratum 1 and received protocol therapy, the 1-year event-free survival (EFS) was 23% (standard error, SE = 9%) and 1-year overall survival (OS) was 64% (SE = 10%). Among the 14 eligible patients who enrolled on Stratum 2 and received protocol therapy, the 1-year EFS was 57% (SE = 13%) and 1-year OS was 93% (SE = 0.7%).

Rapid central pathology review and molecular testing for eligibility was feasible. The protocol therapy including radiation, veliparib and temozolomide was well tolerated but failed to improve outcome compared to clinically and molecularly matched historical control cohorts treated with higher doses of alkylator chemotherapy.

Alternative lengthening of telomere-based immortalization renders H3G34R -mutant diffuse hemispheric glioma hypersensitive to PARP inhibitor combination regimens.

Neuro-Oncology

Diffuse hemispheric glioma, H3G34R/V-mutant (DHG-H3G34) is characterized by poor prognosis and lack of effective treatment options. DHG-H3G34R further harbor deactivation of Alpha-Thalassemia/Mental Retardation Syndrome X-linked protein (ATRX; DHG-H3G34R_ATRX) suggesting a unique interaction of these two oncogenic alterations. In this study, we dissect their cell biological interplay, investigate the impact on telomere stabilization and, consequently, validate a targeted therapy approach.

We characterized patient-derived primary pediatric high-grade glioma (pHGG) models for telomere-maintenance mechanisms, DNA damage stress (including protein expression, pH2AX/Rad51 foci, cell-cycle arrest) and their sensitivity towards poly-ADP polymerase inhibitor (PARPi) combinations. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were used for modelling the disease. The anticancer activity of PARPi combinations in vivo was studied in Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) and orthotopic in vivo experiments. Finally, we treated a DHG-H3G34R_ATRX patient with a PARPi combination therapy.

We elaborate that alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) is a key characteristic of DHG-H3G34R_ATRX. A dominant cooperative effect between H3G34R and ATRX loss in ALT activation also became apparent in iPSCs, which endogenously exert telomerase activity. In both, patient-derived DHG-H3G34R_ATRX models and H3G34R+/ATRX- iPSCs, the ALT phenotype was associated with increased basal DNA damage stress, mediating synergistic susceptibility towards PARPi (talazoparib, niraparib) combinations with topoisomerase-I inhibitors (topotecan, irinotecan). In a first-of-its-kind case, treatment of a DHG-H3G34R_ATRX patient with the brain-penetrant PARP inhibitor niraparib and topotecan resulted in a significant tumor reduction.

Our preclinical and clinical data strongly support the further development of PARPis together with DNA damage stress-inducing treatment regimens for DHG-H3G34R_ATRX.

Associations of life-course cardiovascular risk factors with late-life cerebral haemodynamics.

J Cereb Blood

While the associations of mid-life cardiovascular risk factors with late-life white matter lesions (WMH) and cognitive decline have been establishe...

Risk factors for urinary retention after robot-assisted radical cystectomy with orthotopic neobladder diversion: a multicenter study.

Journal of Robotic Surgery

To determine risk factors for urinary retention (UR) after robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RALC) with orthotopic neobladder diversion. A total o...

The crucial role of 5G, 6G, and fiber in robotic telesurgery.

Journal of Robotic Surgery

This paper explores the role of 5G-and future 6G networks-in advancing robotic telesurgery by minimizing latency and enhancing data reliability for...

Clinical and Genetic Markers of Vascular Toxicity in Glioblastoma Patients: Insights from NRG Oncology RTOG-0825.

Neuro-Oncology

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive form of brain cancer in which treatment is associated with toxicities that can result in therapy discontinuation or death. This analysis investigated clinical and genetic markers of vascular toxicities in GBM patients during active treatment.

591 Non-Hispanic White GBM patients with clinical data were included in the analysis from NRG RTOG-0825. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were performed from genotyped blood samples (N=367) by occurrence of thrombosis or hypertension (grade ≥2). A clinical prediction model was produced for each vascular toxicity. Significant GWAS variants were then added to the clinical model as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) -dose effect variable to produce the final genetic models.

Thrombosis and hypertension were experienced by 62 (11%) and 59 (10%) patients, respectively. Patients who experienced hypertension displayed improved survival over those without hypertension (median overall survival: 25.72 vs 15.47 months, p=0.002). The genetic model of thrombosis included corticosteroid use (OR: 7.13, p=0.02), absolute neutrophil count (OR: 1.008, p=0.19), body surface area (OR: 18.87, p=0.0008), and the SNP-dose effect (3 variants; OR: 3.79, p<.0001). The genetic model of hypertension included bevacizumab use (OR: 0.97, p=0.95) and the SNP-dose effect (6 variants; OR: 4.44, p<.0001).

In this study, germline variants were superior in predicting hypertension than clinical variables alone. Additionally, corticosteroid use was a considerable risk factor for thrombosis. Future investigations should confirm the hazard of corticosteroid use on thrombosis and the impact of bevacizumab in other malignancies after accounting for the genetic risk of hypertension.

Changes in the prognosis of CADASIL over time: a 23-year study in 555 individuals.

Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is the most common monogenic form of stroke and is associated with early-onset stroke and dementia. Whether its clinical phenotype is becoming milder with better risk factor treatments and other care improvements is unknown. In a large longitudinal CADASIL cohort, we determined whether the prognosis has changed over 23 years.

Patients were identified from the Cambridge CADASIL register and the UK Familial stroke study. Change in age at stroke over the time of recruitment was determined using linear mixed-effects model, and the impact of genetic and vascular risk factors on stroke and dementia risk was further evaluated using Cox proportional hazard regression.

A total of 555 patients with CADASIL were recruited between 2001 and 2023. The age of stroke onset significantly increased over time (p<0.001), with the mean age of stroke onset for patients recruited before 2016 (n=265) at 46.7±9.2 years and 51.6±9.5 years for those recruited since 2016 (n=290). Patients recruited since 2016 had lower risks of both stroke (HR 0.36, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.50, p<0.001) and dementia (HR 0.43, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.99, p=0.046) after adjusting for sex, hypertension history, smoking status, epidermal growth factor-like repeat position and calendar effect.

The clinical phenotype of CADASIL is improving. While this may be partly explained by reduced vascular risk factors such as smoking and the identification of milder cases, differences persisted after controlling for risk factors and mutation sites. These updated risk estimates should be used when counselling patients with CADASIL on prognosis.