Role of Fresh Cadaver Practice and Jesus Prayers on Daily Base in Innovations of a Difficult Neurosurgical Operation (Craniopagus Separation)

Purpose: Challenging cases in neurosurgery require experience, which is gained by operating on a number of similarly difficult cases. However, even in large population centers, there are extremely rare cases, such as craniopagus twins. In these instances, other case-specific solutions are required which were improved in the course of fresh cadaver practice on daily base. Methods: During a 20-month preparation period by fresh cadavers the surgical strategy was developed step by step, comprising five neurosurgical ideas, facilitated by deep Jesus prayers as a spiritual source. Possible causes of postoperative complications that occured on 33d postoperative day were also analyzed. Results: During surgery, these nuances proved to be useful, which is also reflected by the postoperative clinical results. One of the twins advanced to a GOS score of 5three months after the surgery. The other twin, despite nonsurgical septic complications, continued to progress well, but on postoperative day 33 for seemingly unknown reasons, she suffered a severe cerebral hemorrhage, which significantly delayed her rehabilitation. A thorough revision of the whole process much later revealed a pitfall that could have a role in this complication. Conclusions: The challenging neurosurgical separation of the craniopagus twins was carried out successfully with the help of five novel neurosurgical refinements, which were found during 300 fresh cadaver practices. Mistakes can serve as a lesson. We hope that the procedures developed and the knowledge gained can be applied in the future.

Thoracic Epidural Morphine for Postoperative Analgesia after Hemiclamshell Incision in Castleman Disease

The hemiclamshell incision is a valid but infrequent surgical alternative for the resection of tumors from mediastinum. This point makes this approach impossible to be studied under a randomized controlled trial. The triple association of thoracotomy, sternotomy and cervicothomy makes the hemiclamshell approach a high intensity postoperative pain surgery. However, there is no published data on this topic, and the reviewed articles only mention the analgesic regimens as a secondary point. Indeed, no author defines the best epidural drugs mixture for the patients. Multimodal analgesic regimen based on regional anesthesia should be used. Based on the recent advances on spinal opioids, morphine could be a good choice as epidural coadjutant to local anesthetics for hemiclamshell incision.

Evaluation of the Future of the Patients Operating on a Switching Mandibuletomy in Madagascar

Introduction: Interruptive mandibulectomy is often unavoidable despite the functional postoperative handicaps that it generates. Plate reconstruction is the only possible reconstruction in CHUDR Antananarivo. The objective of this study is to evaluate the oral-facial functional status of patients who have undergone interruptive mandibulectomy. Methods: It is a descriptive and transversal retrospective study of 18 months from January 17, 2017 to July 17, 2018. We retained 30 patients who had undergone an interruptive mandibulectomy in the ward during the study period. We studied the state of mastication, phonation, pain, swallowing, labial continence, psychological state, deformity and satisfaction. Patients were classified into 3 groups according to type of intervention A, B and C. Results: Thirty patients were included. The type C intervention was the most frequent, followed by types B and A. The postoperative follow-up period ranged from 1 to 23 months. Chewing disorder has been encountered in more than half of cases. The phonation disorder was found in groups B and C. We found 13 cases of deformity. Patients became well integrated into society after surgery. Conclusion: Mandibulectomy creates aesthetic and functional prejudices for patients. Despite these disorders, patients adapt well to their daily lives.

Evaluation of Surgical Complications of Mandibulectomy

Mandibulectomy is a surgery that leads to heavy aesthetic and functional sequelae. Surgical complications have been noted but have not yet been evaluated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the surgical complications of mandibulectomy. This is a retrospective descriptive and analytical study of patients who underwent mandibulectomy in the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery of the CHU JDR Befelatanana between January 2017 and December 2020. A correlation between the occurrence of complications, parameters related to the patients and those related to the surgery was sought. Patient-related parameters were: age and sex, comorbidities, toxic habits and body mass index. The parameters related to the surgery which were studied were the duration of the intervention, the size and the seat of the bone defect, the interruption or not of the mandibular continuity. Forty-six cases were selected. The average age was 36.98 years and the sex ratio was 0.7. Fifty percent of patients developed surgical complications. The total number of complications was 38. Salivary fistula was the most frequent complication (26.32%). No correlation was found between the occurrence of complications and patient-related parameters. There were 69.57% of complications when the procedure lasted more than 180 minutes (p = 0.003). A correlation was found between the occurrence of complications and the size of the resected bone (p = 0.009). Among the complications, 56.52% occurred when the size exceeded 130 mm (p = 0.03). The complication rate is high. The size of the resected bone and the duration of the operation influence the occurrence of complications.

Surgical pitfalls with custom-made porous hydroxyapatite cranial implants

Aim:Cranioplasty implants are used primarily in cases of surgical cranial decompression following pathological elevations of intracranial pressure.Available bone substitutes include porous hydroxyapatite(HA)and polymethylmethacrylate.Whichever material is used,however,prosthetic cranial implants are susceptible to intra-and postsurgical complications and even failure.The aim of this study was to investigate such occurrences in HA cranioplasty implants,seeking not only to determine the likely causes(whether correlated or not with the device itself)but also,where possible,to suggest countermeasures.Methods:We analyzed information regarding failures or complications reported in postmarketing surveillance and clinical studies of patients treated worldwide with custom-made HA cranial implants(Custom Bone Service Fin-Ceramica Faenza,Italy)in the period 1997-2013.Results:The two most common complications were implant fractures(84 cases,2.9%of the total fitted)and infections(51 cases,1.77%).Conclusion:Although cranioplasties are superficial and not difficult types of surgery,and use of custom-made implants are often considered the“easy”option from a surgical perspective,these procedures are nonetheless plagued by potential pitfalls.If performed well they yield more than satisfactory results from the points of view of both the patient and surgeon,but lack of appropriate care can open the door to numerous potential sources of failure,which can compromise-even irreparably-the ability to heal.