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Biomedical subjects

B M Stein

Publications and source records attributed to B M Stein.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Evidence for adaptive autoregulatory displacement in hypotensive cortical territories adjacent to arteriovenous malformations. Columbia University AVM Study Project.

We hypothesized that chronic hypotension in normal vascular territories fed by arteriovenous malformation pedicles may reset the lower limit of autoregulation and allow flow to remain constant over a lower pressure range. We studied the effect of increasing systemic mean arterial pressure (SMAP) with phenylephrine on cerebral blood flow using a novel technique. Fourteen patients undergoing 15 procedures were studied before endovascular embolization of arteriovenous malformations under neuroleptic conscious sedation. Mean pressures were transduced via a 1.5-F intracranial microcatheter, which was passed under fluoroscopic guidance into the target feeding artery. The microcatheter was positioned (unwedged) at a point that was relatively hypotensive to systemic pressure but that irrigated normal cortex on angiography; feeding mean arterial pressure (FMAP) and SMAP were recorded. A bolus of 133Xe in saline was injected into the microcatheter, and washout was recorded for 3 minutes by a scintillation detector placed over the vascular territory of the injected pedicle. SMAP was then increased approximately 25 mm Hg by phenylephrine infusion, a second bolus was given, and washout was recorded. After exclusion of the shunt spike, initial slope was calculated. The SMAP (mean +/- standard error) increased from 65 +/- 3 to 89 +/- 2 mm Hg (P < 0.0001), and FMAP increased from 46 +/- 3 to 63 +/- 3 mm Hg (P < 0.0001); cerebral blood flow did not change (40 +/- 2 to 40 +/- 2 ml/100 g per min, P = 0.9199). Dividing the cases on the basis of the baseline FMAP into a "severe" hypotensive group (FMAP = 38 +/- 2; n = 7) and a "moderate" hypotensive group (FMAP = 54 +/- 3; n = 8), cerebral blood flow did not change in either group during phenylephrine challenge. Chronic hypotension does not necessarily result in "vasomotor paralysis" with loss of the ability to vasoconstrict to acute increases in perfusion pressure. Instead, it appears to displace adaptively the lower limit of autoregulation in affected vascular territories by a shift of the autoregulatory curve to the left, conceptually analogous to the adaptive displacement seen with chronic hypertension and its treatment.

Adolescent↗

The influence of hemodynamic and anatomic factors on hemorrhage from cerebral arteriovenous malformations.

The physiological and anatomical aberrations that result in hemorrhage from cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) remain unclear. In an attempt to clarify which conditions may predispose to hemorrhage, we examined clinical and physiological indices on presentation groups of either hemorrhage or nonhemorrhage in a large cohort of patients (n = 449). Variables examined included AVM size, type of venous drainage, transcranial Doppler (TCD) velocities, feeding mean arterial pressure (FMAP), and draining vein pressure. TCD and pressure data were obtained before any treatment. Age (mean +/- standard deviation) at the time of presentation was 33 +/- 13 years and did not differ between groups. Patients with small (< or = 2.5 cm) AVMs presented more frequently with hemorrhage (90%) than did patients with medium (> 2.5 and < or = 5.0 cm; 52%) or large (> 5.0 cm; 50%) AVMs (P = 0.0001). The 48 of 94 AVMs (51%) with deep venous drainage were more likely to have hemorrhage (P = 0.0219) than were those with superficial drainage (24 of 73 [33%]). Deep drainage was a predictor of hemorrhage even in the subgroup of medium and large supratentorial AVMs (P = 0.005). There was no difference in draining vein pressure (n = 18) between groups (21 +/- 10 and 19 +/- 11 mm Hg, respectively; P = 0.7812). FMAP (n = 52) was higher in the hemorrhage than in the nonhemorrhage group (44 +/- 13 versus 34 +/- 10 mm Hg; P = 0.0007) but was only weakly related to the size of the lesion (largest dimension) (y = -0.74x + 40; r = 0.09).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

Arteriovenous malformation draining vein physiology and determinants of transnidal pressure gradients. The Columbia University AVM Study Project.

Arteriovenous malformation (AVM) draining vein pressure (DVP) may have an influence on both the natural history of the disease and treatment outcome. The purposes of this study were to assess the relationship between DVP and other clinical and physiological variables and to characterize the transmission of arterial pressure across the AVM nidus. DVP measurements were carried out during elective AVM resection with isoflurane/nitrous oxide anesthesia with arterial carbon dioxide pressure of approximately 30 mm Hg. The gradient between the right atrium and operative measurement site was noted. Pre-excision feeding mean arterial pressure and DVP were measured with a 26-gauge needle simultaneously with systemic mean arterial pressure and central venous pressure (CVP). DVP was tested with systemic mean arterial pressure increased to approximately 20 mm Hg with phenylephrine or CVP increased with a Valsalva maneuver. Finally, preresection and postresection DVP values were compared. Relative to the site of measurement, DVP was 7 +/- 5 mm Hg at a CVP of -4 +/- 5 mm Hg (n = 45). There was no influence of presentation, presence of deep venous drainage, size, location, or prior embolization on DVP. In 19 patients, DVP decreased (8 +/- 4 to 5 +/- 3; P < 0.05) whereas CVP increased from pre- to postresection (-4 +/- 5 to -2 +/- 5; P < 0.05). For the phenylephrine challenge (n = 11), there was no difference (P = 0.84) between the delta DVP (2 +/- 1 mm Hg) and the delta CVP (2 +/- 3 mm Hg).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Arteriovenous Malformations↗

Characterization of arteriovenous malformation feeding vessels by carbon dioxide reactivity.

PURPOSE: To characterize cerebral hemodynamics in patients immediately before microsurgical resection of moderate to large arteriovenous malformations during isoflurane anesthesia. METHODS: In angiographically defined arteriovenous malformation feeding and nonfeeding arteries, transcranial Doppler studies were performed in 25 surgeries on 22 patients. The mean blood flow velocity and pulsatility index were recorded in the middle, anterior, and posterior cerebral arteries. Transcranial Doppler velocities were measured at end-tidal carbon dioxide tensions (PetCO2) of about 25 and 35 mm Hg. Carbon dioxide reactivity was calculated as percentage mean blood flow velocity change per mm Hg PetCO2 change. RESULTS: Patient demographic and clinical data for the arteriovenous malformation group followed the expected strata of a large arteriovenous malformation population. All patients were neurologically stable before surgery. A total of 43 feeding arteries and 55 nonfeeding arteries were studied. Compared with nonfeeders, feeders exhibited higher mean blood flow velocity (68 +/- 5 vs 31 +/- 3 cm/sec, P < 0.0001) and lower pulsatility index (0.64 +/- 0.03 vs 0.88 +/- 0.04, P < 0.001); anterior and middle cerebral artery velocities at normo- and hypocapnia were significantly higher than posterior cerebral arteries for both feeders and nonfeeders (P < 0.001). Carbon dioxide reactivity was 0.2 +/- 0.2%/mm Hg in feeders and 2.1 +/- 0.2%/mm Hg in nonfeeders, with no significant difference between arteries. In four of eight patients with lesions fed by the anterior circulation (middle cerebral artery with or without anterior cerebral artery feeders), posterior cerebral artery nonfeeders exhibited low reactivity. In 2 of 5 patients with ipsilateral posterior cerebral artery feeders, contralateral posterior cerebral artery nonfeeders exhibited impaired reactivity. CONCLUSIONS: Quantitative transcranial Doppler studies are technically feasible in the operating room or interventional suite during anesthesia. Hemodynamic assessment using physiologic challenges of arteriovenous malformation feeders as well as angiographically uninvolved vessels may be useful as criteria in the assessment of malformations and arteriovenous malformation patients may exhibit abnormal vasoreactivity in distant uninvolved perfusion territories, suggesting a deranged neural control mechanism.

Adolescent↗

Transcranial Doppler changes during staged surgical resection of cerebral arteriovenous malformations: a report of three cases.

The removal of large arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) in stages has been advocated to reduce the risk of perioperative hyperemic complications. In three patients who had a two-stage surgical removal of their large (> 6 cm) frontal AVMs, transcranial Doppler (TCD) was performed 1 day before and 1 day after each surgery. Arteries still feeding the AVM after the first procedure had an increase in mean velocity (MV) and a decrease in the pulsatility index (PI) in the period between the two surgeries. MV reactivity to carbon dioxide before each stage was higher in feeding arteries at the second surgery, suggesting that the total magnitude of the shunt through the AVM was lower in spite of flow recruitment. TCD can be used to monitor the hemodynamic changes after embolization or partial surgery and may be of help in better defining the optimal time for final resection.

Adult↗

Relationship of transcranial Doppler flow velocities and arteriovenous malformation feeding artery pressures.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Feeding mean arterial pressure immediately proximal to the nidus of arteriovenous malformations may influence the frequency of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. This study assessed the usefulness of transcranial Doppler ultrasound velocities as a noninvasive estimate of feeding mean arterial pressure. METHODS: We studied 41 patients undergoing 73 staged treatments of arteriovenous malformations with endovascular embolization, surgery, or both. Before treatment during the awake state, transcranial Doppler mean and peak velocities were recorded in proximal Willisian vessels. During superselective angiography with the patient under conscious sedation or during surgery with the patient under general anesthesia, feeding mean arterial pressure was measured through a 1.5F transfemoral intracranial microcatheter or a 26-g needle by direct puncture. Measurement of insonated artery diameter was possible in 41 embolizations, and a flow velocity index (mL/min) and Reynolds' number were estimated. RESULTS: Mean +/- SEM feeding mean arterial pressure was 38 +/- 2 mm Hg at a systemic mean arterial pressure of 77 +/- 2 mm Hg; mean velocity was 102 +/- 4 cm/s. There was an inverse correlation between feeding mean arterial pressure and parent artery mean velocity (y = -0.74x + 130, r = .35, P = .0025). The best correlation was for the first treatment in each patient (n = 27) using the highest peak velocity obtainable in a Willisian vessel ipsilateral to the arteriovenous malformation (y = -1.61x + 221, r = .62, P = .0005). Flow velocity index (775 +/- 106 mL/min) did not correlate with feeding mean arterial pressure, but there was a weak correlation with Reynolds' number (y = -12x + 1616, r = .27, P = .1283). Mean Reynolds' number was 1257 +/- 119. CONCLUSIONS: Transcranial Doppler mean velocity is correlated with feeding mean arterial pressure but only weakly predictive. Considerations influencing the relation of distal feeding mean arterial pressure to proximal mean velocity might include the influence of other fistulae in the circuit between major inflow and outflow channels as well as turbulent flow at vascular branch points between point of insonation and the nidus, as suggested by Reynolds' number values of more than 400.

Adult↗

Monitoring of intraoperative motor-evoked potentials under conditions of controlled neuromuscular blockade.

Motor-evoked potentials were recorded after electrical spinal cord stimulation in 19 patients undergoing neurosurgical or orthopedic procedures. Anesthesia was maintained with nitrous oxide, opioids, and inhaled anesthetics. Vecuronium was infused sufficient to eliminate 90% of twitch tension. The spinal cord was stimulated using either epidural or subarachnoid electrodes. Compound muscle action potentials were recorded from quadriceps and tibialis anterior muscles. Well-formed, stable motor-evoked potentials were recorded in all but one patient, in whom a preexisting myelopathy was felt to preclude recording. Intraoperative deterioration of motor-evoked potentials occurred in one patient who had a postoperative neurologic deficit. This study demonstrates the feasibility and utility of intraoperative motor tract monitoring using direct spinal cord stimulation. Controlled neuromuscular blockade permits recording of compound muscle action potentials while eliminating patient motor activity that could interfere with surgery.

Action Potentials↗

Pressure autoregulation is intact after arteriovenous malformation resection.

The loss of autoregulatory control of cerebral perfusion to changes in perfusion pressure in tissue remote from an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) has been proposed as the mechanism underlying "normal perfusion pressure breakthrough." This study is the first direct test of this mechanism. Studies were performed during the resection of moderate to large AVMs in 25 patients undergoing 28 procedures under isoflurane anesthesia. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured (xenon-133 method) in the hemisphere adjacent to the nidus before resection after dural exposure (pre), after AVM removal before dural closure at spontaneous systemic blood pressure (post), and, finally, with the mean arterial pressure increased by 20 mm Hg, using phenylephrine (post-BP). AVM resection resulted in a significant enhancement of perfusion in the adjacent hemisphere (30 +/- 2 vs. 25 +/- 1 ml/100g/min, P < 0.01), but no further increase of CBF occurred during increased perfusion pressure (30 +/- 2 ml/100g/min). One patient suffered a postoperative hemorrhage and another developed intraoperative brain swelling during the course of the resection that necessitated staging the procedure. These two patients had the highest increases in CBF, but intact pressure autoregulation. Preserved autoregulation to increased mean arterial pressure after resection does not support a hemodynamic mechanism for the observed increase in CBF from before the resection to after the resection. Pathological events, however, do appear to be related to increases in hemispheric perfusion.

Adolescent↗

Microsurgery for 67 intracranial arteriovenous malformations less than 3 cm in diameter.

The surgical outcome in a series of small arteriovenous malformations (AVM's) that might have been considered optimal for radiosurgery is reviewed. In a total microsurgical series of 360 patients, 67 (19%) underwent resection of AVM's less than 3 cm in largest diameter, regardless of location. Many of these lesions (45%) were in locations that might be considered surgically inaccessible such as the thalamus, brain stem, medial hemisphere, and paraventricular regions. Complete angiographic obliteration of the AVM by microsurgical technique was accomplished in 63 patients (94%) with a surgical morbidity of 1.5% and no operative mortality. Patients with hemispheric AVM's had a cure rate of 100% and no neurological morbidity. Stereotactically guided craniotomy was used in 14 patients (21%) to locate and resect deep or concealed malformations. The results from five major radiosurgery centers treating similar-sized AVM's are analyzed. The authors' surgical results compare favorably with those from radiosurgery centers which, in their opinion, supports the conclusion that microneurosurgery is superior to radiosurgery, except for a small percentage of lesions that are truly inoperable on the basis of inaccessibility.

Adolescent↗

Arteriovenous malformations of the brain stem.

Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the brain stem are, fortunately, rare clinical entities. Prompt diagnosis and anatomic evaluation of patients with brain stem hemorrhages resulting from AVMs have been greatly facilitated by high-resolution CT scanning and particularly MR image scanning. The goal of any treatment is complete occlusion of the malformation with minimal risk to the patient, primarily to prevent rebleeding and further neurologic injury from the AVM.

Brain Stem↗

The treatment of associated intracranial aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations.

Cerebral arterial aneurysm associated with arteriovenous malformation (AVM) has been described with a variable incidence, averaging 10% of AVM cases. The present series includes 39 patients with this association, derived from a total of 400 patients with AVM's evaluated and treated since 1970. The aneurysms are classified into four major groups, each carrying particular therapeutic implications. Optimum treatment of these lesions is based in part on a knowledge of the hemodynamic alterations associated with the AVM's. In most of these cases, the symptomatic lesion was treated first; occasionally, when feasible, both lesions were treated during the same operation. All patients had some form of treatment, either surgical or endovascular, directed to at least one of the two types of lesions. All symptomatic lesions were treated and all ruptured aneurysms were obliterated. There were no deaths in this series.

Adolescent↗

Non-neoplastic pineal cysts.

We identified 53 patients with non-neoplastic cysts of the pineal gland. In contrast to patients with pineal neoplasms, pineal cysts are usually asymptomatic. They infrequently obstruct the aqueduct to cause hydrocephalus or compress the tectum to produce the neuro-ophthalmologic signs of dorsal midbrain dysfunction. Obstructive hydrocephalus was present in only five patients (9.4%); three of them showed clinical signs of Parinaud's syndrome. CT and MRI typically reveal a cystic mass that averages 1.6 cm in anteroposterior (A-P) diameter with calcification at the periphery and faint rim-like contrast enhancement. Sagittal MRI is the most useful diagnostic test because it shows the anatomic relationship of the cyst to the aqueduct. The mass may compress the tectum and distort the proximal aqueduct; occasionally a large cyst may occlude the aqueduct. All patients with obstructive hydrocephalus had cysts greater than 2.0 cm in A-P diameter. Nine patients had suboccipital craniotomy. In all of them, the cysts contained clear fluid and were easily removed. We advocate conservative management with clinical observation of these benign lesions that may be developmental variants of normal pineal gland.

Adolescent↗