Anti-thrombotic drugs may increase the risk for chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH). However, whether to continue or discontinue/counteract these drugs has not been investigated in patients with mild head trauma. CSDH incidence after mild head trauma, as well as the risk for CSDH in patients with anti-thrombotic drugs, were investigated in this study. The study included 765 consecutive elderly (>65 y.o.) patients with mild head trauma and an initial Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 14 or 15. All patients received initial CT within 24 hours after trauma and were re-examined 30 days after trauma to detect CSDH formation, repeating for every 30 days to examine symptomatic CSDH progression. Patients were divided into two groups, with anti-thrombotic drugs (n = 195) or without them (n = 263), to investigate the influence of pre-traumatic conditioning with anti-thrombotic drugs on CSDH. The whole sample was 458 out of 765 cases. The incidence of CSDH formation was 91 out of 458 cases (19.9%) after mild head trauma, with no significant difference between with and without anti-thrombotic drugs. CSDH progressed as symptomatic in 21 out of 458 cases (4.6%), with no significant difference between with and without anti-thrombotic drugs. Pre-traumatic conditioning with anti-thrombotic drugs and its continuation after trauma did not affect the incidence of formation or symptomatic progression of CSDH. This finding suggests that discontinuing and/or counteracting anti-thrombotic drugs may be unnecessary in patients with mild head trauma.

An optimal treatment strategy for subcortical hematomas caused by dural arteriovenous fistulae (dAVF) is important because of the high rebleeding rate. However, it is very difficult to diagnose that on admission. Therefore, an early sensitive predictive marker for subcortical hemorrhage caused by dAVF is necessary, especially during the first contact on admission. S-shaped dilated vessels around the hematoma (bold-S sign) on computed tomography angiography (CTA) performed during admission could be one such marker. Herein, we evaluated the characteristics of these vessels. Among 273 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage between April 2012 and March 2020, 67 patients with subcortical hematomas who underwent CTA on admission without arteriovenous malformations were included. The patients in the dAVF group (n = 7) showed fewer disturbances in consciousness, milder neurological deficits, and more frequent seizures than patients without dAVF (without dAVF group, n = 60). All patients in the dAVF group had dilated S-shaped vessels (2.59 ± 0.27 mm) around the hematomas, and only 20% of the patients in the without dAVF group had these vessels (1.69 ± 0.22 mm). The ratio of the ipsilateral S-shaped/contralateral largest vessels was 1.80 ± 0.29 in the dAVF group and 1.07 ± 0.16 in the group without dAVF. We called the dilated S-shaped vessels the "bold-S sign," with a cutoff ratio of 1.5. Bold-S sign findings are novel and help in diagnosing subcortical hematomas caused by dAVF on admission.

The influence of aneurysm size on the outcomes of endovascular management (EM) for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhages (aSAH) is poorly understood. To evaluate the outcomes of EM for ruptured large cerebral aneurysms, we retrospectively analyzed the medical records of patients with aSAH that were treated with coiling between 2013 and 2020 and compared the differences in outcomes depending on aneurysm size. A total of 469 patients with aSAH were included; 73 patients had aneurysms measuring ≥10 mm in diameter (group L), and 396 had aneurysms measuring <10 mm in diameter (group S). The median age; the percentage of patients that were classified as World Federation of Neurological Surgeons grade 1, 2, or 3; and the frequency of intracerebral hemorrhages differed significantly between group L and group S (p = 0.0105, p = 0.0075, and p = 0.0458, respectively). There were no significant differences in the frequencies of periprocedural hemorrhagic or ischemic events. Conversely, rebleeding after the initial treatment was significantly more common in group L than in group S (6.8% vs. 2.0%; p = 0.0372). The frequency of a modified Rankin Scale score of 0-2 at discharge was significantly lower (p = 0.0012) and the mortality rate was significantly higher (p = 0.0023) in group L than in group S. After propensity-score matching, there were no significant differences in complications and outcomes between the two groups. Rebleeding was more common in large aneurysm cases. However, propensity-score matching indicated that the outcomes of EM for aSAH may not be affected markedly by aneurysm size.

Serum soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) is a practical tumor marker that is elevated in hematogenous tumors. The purpose of this study was to determine the usefulness of serum sIL-2R for differentiating among malignant brain tumors, including primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) and secondary central nervous system lymphoma (SCNSL). This study retrospectively investigated the sIL-2R levels in 130 patients with various types of malignant brain tumors, including PCNSL patients (n = 48) and SCNSL (n = 8); metastatic brain tumors (MTs, n = 16); and glioblastoma (GBM, n = 58). The median sIL-2R level (U/mL) of the PCNSL, SCNSL, MTs, and GBM groups were 489.7, 1024.8, 413.3, and 332.7 respectively. The sIL-2R level was significantly higher in the SCNSL group than in the PCNSL or other groups. The area under the ROC curve generated from the sIL-2R level was 0.826 (sensitivity: 0.875, specificity: 0.667, cutoff value: 521 U/mL) for differentiating SCNSL from PCNSL and 0.685 (sensitivity: 0.667, specificity: 0.707, cutoff value: 342 U/mL) for differentiating PCNSL from GBM. Measurement of sIL-2R level was convenient and useful to differentiate between SCNSL and PCSNL, both of which demand different treatment strategies.

We compared the treatment satisfaction of patients who had undergone surgery for tarsal tunnel syndrome (TTS) and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). We enrolled 44 patients in this study; 23 were operated for CTS and 21 for TTS. All patients had received surgery under a microscope and under local anesthesia. Using the numerical rating scale (NRS) for numbness/pain (range 0-10) we compared their preoperative outcome expectations with their satisfaction with our treatment 6 months after the operation. We also recorded their pre- and postoperative EuroQol 5-dimension 5-level (EQ-5D-5L) scale for their health-related quality of life (QOL). The subjective assessment of their QOL showed that it was significantly lower in TTS- than CTS patients both pre- and postoperatively. Six months after the operation, the NRS for symptoms and the (EQ-5D-5L) scale for the QOL were significantly improved in TTS- and CTS patients; however, these scores were significantly better after CTS- than TTS surgery. Also, the postoperative NRS was significantly lower in the CTS- than the TTS patients. Our comparison of the patients' expected- and actual surgical outcome showed that the result was better than expected after CTS- and TTS surgery; in CTS patients the difference was significant. Overall, CTS- were more satisfied than TTS patients with the treatment outcome. Satisfaction with the treatment was greater after CTS- than TTS surgery. TTS- experienced less symptom relief than CTS patients although the actual- exceeded the expected outcome in patients operated for TTS.

To improve the success of mechanical thrombectomy, three-dimensional turbo spin-echo (3D-TSE) sequences on T2WI can be employed to estimate the vascular structure of the posterior circulation. In addition to the short imaging time of 3D-TSE T2WI (33 sec), it can visualize the outer diameter of the main cerebral artery, including the occluded vessels. However, to date, the efficacy of mechanical thrombectomy in the posterior circulation remains unclear, and safer and more efficient mechanical thrombectomy procedures are required. Assessment of the anatomical variations in the posterior circulation using 3D-TSE T2WI is valuable for access decisions, device selection, and safe device guidance and retrieval techniques to the target vessel. Herein, we present representative cases of basilar artery and posterior cerebral artery occlusions in our institute and describe the utility of preoperative 3D-TSE T2WI in these patients.