M al-Fehaily | Search PubMed

PubMed1996

Trigeminal neuralgia related to cerebellopontine angle tumors.

A review of 30 cases with cerebellopontine angle tumors was carried out to identify patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) at presentation and to compare them with patients without TN. The study shows that dermoid tumors and the presence of tumor at the apex of petrous bone on CT are associated with a significantly higher incidence of TN, while the incidence did not appear to be influenced by age, sex, or size of tumor. In all patients but one (with medulloblastoma) that had surgery, there the TN disappeared following total or subtotal excision of the tumor, providing the trigeminal nerve was well decompressed. Patients with TN should be investigated carefully by CT or MRI irrespective of their age or the absence of neurological signs.

Adult↗

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Persistent or recurrent primary hyperparathyroidism.

More than 95% of patients with Primary Hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) are treated successfully at the initial operation when the operation is done by an experienced surgeon, but the success rate is considerably lower when done by an unexperienced surgeon. The approach to patients with persistent and recurrent PHPT is to confirm the diagnosis and to use precise localization procedures done by expert radiologists. Reexploration after one or more previously failed parathyroid operations is unfortunately associated with a higher morbidity and a lower success rate. Improved pre- and intraoperative testing during the last decade has improved the results of reoperation and allowed more focused approaches. Preoperatively, we recommend a combination of sestamibi scanning, ultrasound, and MRI scanning. Highly selective venous sampling for iPTH is recommended for patients with recurrent or persistent PHPT when the non-invasive studies are negative, equivocal, or discordant. Several factors such as age of the patient, severity of symptoms, comorbidity, and the results of localization studies, should all be considered in the management of these patients although we believe that reoperation is indicated for most of these patients. Today successful reoperations can be done in more than 90% of patients with a relatively low morbidity rate.

Algorithms↗