Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

W Serlo

Publications and source records attributed to W Serlo.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

A new method for the creation and measurement of experimental craniosynostosis.

Craniosynostosis is described as a condition in which the premature closure of one or more cranial sutures is exposed as a skull deformity alone or accompanied by neurological disturbances. According to previous research it seemed possible to create an experimental model for investigating the disease by simply resecting a suture in a newborn rabbit. We resected 16 coronal sutures in 16 newborn rabbits and had the skulls investigated for shape and histology up to 6 months of age. A clear deformity at the cranial vault could be detected. The fused site of the suturectomy later on presented a suture-like structure which was macroscopically distinct from a normal skull suture. The procedure is thus established, first, for investigating procedures for treating craniosynostosis in the growing skull, and, secondly, for studying the pathophysiology of craniosynostosis.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Craniofacial growth in shunt-treated hydrocephalics: a four-year roentgenocephalometric follow-up study.

The craniofacial growth of 24 shunt-treated hydrocephalics aged 5-15 years was evaluated over a 4-year period, by comparing changes in linear and angular cephalometric variables with those of an age- and sex-matched control group. The main findings were increased calvarial thickness, increased cranial base flexure, superior displacement of the sella, and a tendency for the gonial angle to remain more obtuse in the shunt-treated patients. As craniofacial growth in the latter differed only slightly from that observed in the controls, the deviations in facial morphology observed in a previous cross-sectional study of shunt-treated hydrocephalics can be taken to represent a long-term effect of the shunt treatment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Polylactide and polyglycolic acid-reinforced coralline hydroxy-apatite for the reconstruction of cranial bone defects in the rabbit.

The possibility of using coralline hydroxy-apatite in combination with polylactide and polyglcycolic acid instead of a bone graft in the skull region is examinated. Coralline hydroxy-apatite blocks strengthened with a membrane made of a combination of polylactide and polyglycolic acid were inserted into bony defects created in 12 rabbit skulls. The blocks were observed during a follow-up of 12 months. They became fixed to the surrounding bone and no adverse effects or harmful reactions in the nearby tissues could be detected.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

ENG findings of shunt-treated hydrocephalus in children.

Thirty-eight hydrocephalic children (mean age 11.5 years; range 5.1-17.9) were examined on average 7.9 years after initial shunting. The etiology of the hydrocephalus was divided into 5 groups: perinatal intraventricular hemorrhage 14, congenital obstructive hydrocephalus 14, central nervous system infections 4, intracranial cysts 3, and intracranial anomalies 3 children. Electronystagmographic (ENG) examination included recording of spontaneous and positional nystagmus, the pendular eye tracking test, saccadic eye movements, optokinetic and caloric reactions. Only 5 children (13%) had a normal ENG. Thirty-one children (82%) had ENG pathology of the central type and 12 (44%) of the 27 successfully studied had pathological caloric reactions. Ten children (26%) had a combination of both central and vestibular pathology. There was no statistical difference between the boys and the girls or between different etiological groups. The high prevalence of vestibular pathology among these hydrocephalic children may be relevant to their impaired motor performance, because only 7 (18%) of the children studied exhibited normal motor performance in the neurological tests.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

[Hydrocephalus].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts↗
PubMed1991

Social outcome of handicapped children as adults.

The social status of 52 disabled young adults (29 men, 23 women) was reviewed at the age of 19 to 25 years, and compared with that of 209 age-matched controls. 40 had successfully completed elementary school and 10 had completed high-school. 28 had gone on to basic further education and 11 had progressed to more advanced levels. 35 per cent of the study group and 11 per cent of the controls had had no further education. Half of the study group were receiving disability benefit and 12 had no occupation outside the home. There was little difference in present employment status between groups, but the study group had experienced twice as much unemployment as controls. Leaving the parents' home and sexual experience were delayed among the study group. The results indicate the need for more practical support for these adolescents and their parents.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1991

Head posture and dentofacial morphology in subjects treated for scoliosis.

Head posture and dentofacial status of sixteen females and six males 12 to 34 years of age, who had been treated for scoliosis with a Boston-brace in their teens was investigated clinically and radiologically. When compared to an age and sex-matched sample the main findings were an increased craniocervical angle, particularly in frontal view; rotated orbital, maxillary and mandibular planes, a midline shift of the lower dental arch and a flattened atlas dorsal arch combined with an elongation of the dens axis. There was also a high prevalence of lateral malocclusions and developmentally missing premolars among the scoliotic patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Functions and complications of shunts in different etiologies of childhood hydrocephalus.

Shunt function and complications in different etiologies of childhood hydrocephalus were studied in a series of 306 patients involving 1102 shunt operations. Shunts in patients with hydrocephalus caused by neoplasms proved to be most prone to shunt complications. The patency time for shunts in these patients was significantly shorter than for shunts in other patient categories [Standard number of deviations (SND) 5.9; P less than 0.001, Meyer-Kaplan life table analysis]. When the two main groups of infantile hydrocephalus-congenital obstructive hydrocephalus and hydrocephalus caused by perinatal intracerebral hemorrhage-were compared, the latter group proved to be significantly more prone to shunt infections (P less than 0.01), with an infection rate of 17.8% compared with 8.9% for the former group. The importance of this fact is stressed by the observation that these patients appear to constitute an increasing percentage of hydrocephalic patients. According to the present study, patients with congenital intracranial cysts and hydrocephalus are less prone to shunt complications, i.e., the infection rate is 6.8%, which is significantly less than that of patients with other types of hydrocephalus (P less than 0.01; chi-square test).

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1990

Epilepsy in hydrocephalic children.

Epilepsy and epileptogenic activity in EEGs were studied in 168 shunt treated hydrocephalic (HC) children, the mean age at first operation 1.62 years (SD 1.87). 80 patients (47.6%) suffered from epileptic seizures during the follow-up period (mean 8.9 years). The epileptic seizures appeared before the initial shunting, and after the first shunt implantation in 43 (25.6%). There was no correlation between epilepsy and the aetiology of HC, number of shunt revisions, or shunt infections. Sixteen patients suffered from seizures during the neonatal period. Generalized spike and wave activity (SWA) was seen in EEG in eight out of these, and only one was seizure-free at the end of the follow-up period. All eight patients with epileptic seizures during the neonatal period without generalized SWA in EEG were seizure-free, however. SWA was seen in the first EEG prior to shunting in 75/168 patients (44.6%). All those patients who did not receive prophylactic medication, developed epileptic seizures, whereas 68.1% of those who received prophylactic anticonvulsive medication remained free of seizures. Partial epilepsy after shunting manifested itself in 15 patients, but this did not correlate with the side of the shunt or with the side of the SWA in the EEG. Slit ventricles (SLV) developed in 75 patients during the follow-up period, while the ventricles remained normal or dilated in 66 cases (27 patients had no CT follow-up). Epilepsy manifested itself in 8 out of these 141 patients (2 SLV, 6 non-SLV) during the first postoperative year, and in 29 patients in the SLV group and one in the non-SLV group at some time after the first postoperative year.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts↗
PubMed1989

The incidence and management of the slit ventricle syndrome.

The incidence of slit ventricles of shunt treated hydrocephalic children was evaluated in a follow up study of 141 patients. Slit like ventricles on computer tomography was seen in 75 patients (53%). 52 patients (37%) suffered from clinical symptoms corresponding with overdrainage of cerebrospinal fluid. Those 52 patients with the "Slit Ventricle Syndrome" (SLVS) were treated by changing the valve to one with a higher opening pressure and/or adding an antisiphon device (ASD) to the shunt. 22 patients, initially treated by changing the opening pressure of the valve, needed the ASD later. Altogether 74 episodes of the SLVS were treated. The ASD proved reliable for the management of the SLVS. Normalization of ventricular size occurred in 54% of patients. whereas only in 15% treated without the ASD. Reduction of paroxysmal activity on EEG was seen in 70% of patients treated with the ASD, whereas only in 23% of patients treated without the ASD. Clinical relief of symptoms occurred in every patient, and ventricular catheter obstructions could be avoided, even if the ventricular size remained slit-like on CT.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Craniofacial morphology in untreated shunt-treated hydrocephalic children.

Craniofacial morphology was studied in 45 shunt-treated hydrocephalic children and 7 untreated hydrocephalic patients. A sample of 74 normal children from northern Finland were used as controls. Following shunt treatment the sella turcica became shallow and J-shaped. The cranial base angles changed markedly during shunt treatment. The cranial base angles were more obtuse in untreated patients than in control subjects, whereas the opposite was the case in shunt treated patients. The Nasion-Sella-Basion angle was 143.4 degrees in untreated hydrocephalic patients, 132.6 degrees in normal subjects and 127.9 in shunt-treated hydrocephalics. The changes in cranial base angles appeared to be progressive during a two-year follow-up period.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Audiological findings of shunt-treated hydrocephalus in children.

47 hydrocephalic children (mean age 10.4 years) were examined on average 7.9 years after initial shunting. The etiology of hydrocephalus was classified into 5 groups as follows: perinatal intraventricular hemorrhage 19, congenital obstructive hydrocephalus 15, intracranial cysts 5, severe intracranial anomalies 4 and central nervous system infections 4 children. Audiological examination included pure-tone audiometry, tympanometry, registration of stapedius reflex thresholds and adaptation. A sensorineural high-frequency hearing loss was found in 18 (38%) of 47 examined shunt-treated hydrocephalic children, and 11 of the losses could be classified as the retrocochlear type. The differences of the mean hearing thresholds between the etiological groups of childhood hydrocephalus were minimal.

Acoustic Impedance Tests↗
PubMed1989

Head posture and dentofacial asymmetries in surgically treated muscular torticollis patients.

Muscular torticollis is a medically well-known condition that is usually diagnosed in early childhood and in which early surgical intervention is recommended to prevent the development of facial asymmetries. The purpose of this study is to examine head posture and possible dentofacial asymmetries in patients who have undergone surgical treatment for muscular torticollis in early childhood. Natural head position roentgenograms were taken in frontal projection, a clinical examination of oral status was performed, and dental casts were made. Marked craniofacial and dental asymmetries were observed, combined with a deviant head posture, in spite of surgical treatment for muscular torticollis earlier in childhood.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Electroencephalographic findings and epilepsy in the slit ventricle syndrome of shunt-treated hydrocephalic children.

Overdrainage of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and collapse of the ventricles, slit ventricles (SLV), can cause clinical symptoms and result in the slit ventricle syndrome (SLVS). The EEG changes and the frequency and type of epilepsy in patients with SLV was analysed from a material of 113 shunt-treated hydrocephalic children. During the follow-up time (mean 8.9 years), 63 patients (56%) had developed SLV. The age at initial shunting was significantly lower (1.2 years) in patients who developed SLV than for those who did not (2.7 years). After initial shunting generalized spike and sharp wave activity (SWA) developed more frequently in patients who developed SLV (81%) than in those who did not (54%). Severe generalized SWA developed almost entirely in patients in the SLV group. This severe generalized SWA disappeared from the EEG in patients after treatment of the SLVS. Epileptic seizures appeared after initial shunting in 44% of patients in the SLV group but in only 6% of the non-SLV group. Treatment of the SLVS decreased the frequency of epilepsy to a level corresponding with the non-SLV group. Repeated EEG evaluation of shunt-treated hydrocephalic children is a valuable aid in follow-up. If EEG abnormality appears after initial shunting, especially SWA, shunt malfunction and overdrainage of the CSF should be suspected.

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1987

Valvography in the assessment of hydrocephalus shunt function in children.

Assessment of hydrocephalus shunt dysfunction, especially when partial, causes severe differential diagnostic problems. Ordinary computer assisted tomography gives only indirect information about shunt dynamics and the estimation of intraventricular pressure is vague. In a series of 50 valvographies, this examination proved to be especially valuable in the diagnosis of partial obstruction of the distal catheter. Valvography is also superior to other forms of examination in the localization of x-ray negative catheter types. In the slit ventricle syndrome valvography will reveal the position and function of ventricular catheters, which by other means would be impossible preoperatively.

Catheterization↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The changing panorama of shunt complications. Twenty-five years' experience.

The distribution of shunt complications is analyzed in a series of 226 children and infants out of a total of 978 shunt operations performed between the years 1965 and 1989. The rate of shunt infections and obstructions has decreased significantly during the last ten years while the rate of CSF overdrainage complications has increased. A policy of active, elective shunt revisions has led to a reduction in the total rate of shunt revisions required. As only minor changes in the shunts available and used have taken place during the period converted, it is concluded that the main reason for the changing panorama of shunt revisions lies in improved neuroimaging and a better knowledge of complying with shunt complications.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts↗