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Chondromas usually affect the small bones of hand and feet and account for only 0.5% of all intracranial tumors. We present a case of a giant, supratentorial meningeal chondroma in a 19-year old male patient and discuss the preoperative diagnostic findings as well as the appropriate treatment options. A 19-old male presented with headache, new onset of focal seizures and paresis of left upper extremity. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large right parietal tumor in the precentral region with local mass effect. The patient underwent right parietal craniotomy and gross total resection of the tumor. The histopathological report revealed a chondroma. Intradural supratentorial chondromas are extremely rare. As with other slow growing intracranial masses, they often reach a relatively large size before generating symptoms. Maximal surgical resection is the treatment of choice and if this is achieved no adjuvant therapy is necessary.

The present study evaluates the incidence of early and late seizures after head injury in patients under 18 years old. Factors correlating with a high risk of developing posttraumatic seizures were identified. Such risk factors were the severity of the head trauma and a Glasgow Coma Scale of 3-8. In contrast to many studies, we observed that the incidence of posttraumatic seizures was significantly higher in patients older than 12 years old (12-16 and 12-18). Most of the late seizures were paroxysmal electroencephalography (EEG) discharges diagnosed on a snapshot-EEG during the follow-up examination of the patients without clinical symptoms. We suppose that EEG-examination in head injured children is important to identify patients with epileptic potentials without clinical symptoms. Epileptic patterns of the EEG could worsen the diagnosis and clinical outcome of the children in accordance to studies performed in the adult population.

Intervertebral fusion through an anterior approach with polymethylacrylate is a wellestablished neurosurgical technique in the treatment of cervical spine degeneration. However, questions still remain concerning the post-surgical outcome. Factors influencing surgical outcome that could help to predict which patients need further post-surgical treatment and what to expect after surgery are the subject of numerous studies. In the present study, we retrospectively collected data from patients who had undergone intervertebral fusion and defined which pre-operative factors could influence the surgical outcome. Between 1993 and 1997, 379 patients were surgically treated with the ventral fusion technique in our hospital. In 2006, we sent a questionnaire to the patients and 164 responses were received. We identified pre-operative presence of severe pain, hypesthesia, palsy and gait disturbance as negative predictive factors, whereas age, body mass index, pre-operative physical strain and the cervical segment involved did not seem to influence prognosis. In conclusion, identifying preoperative factors which influence prognosis after intervetebral fusion will help predict postoperative outcome.

The aim of this study was to present the data of a large cohort of patients with spontaneous supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), who were treated in our department and give a current overview considering special clinical characteristics, performed therapy and different predictive factors for morbidity and mortality. We reviewed the data of all patients with spontaneous ICH, who were treated in our department in a time span of 11 years through an analysis of our prospective database. Patients with spontaneous supratentorial ICH were included in the study. Patients with hemorrhage associated to vascular malformation or to cerebral ischemic stroke were excluded. The clinical performance at time of admission and discharge were scored using the Glasgow coma scale (GCS) and the Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) respectively. The patients’ cohort was divided into surgically and conservatively treated groups. Statistical analysis [Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and ?²-test] was done for various parameters to analyze their impact on morbidity and mortality. In total, we analyzed the data of 817 patients (364 female and 453 male). Two hundred and sixty-nine patients (32%) were treated conservatively and 556 patients (68%) underwent surgical procedures, i.e. cerebrospinal fluid drainage in 110 (19.8%), craniotomy in 338 (60.7%) and application of both methods in 108 patients (19.4%). Total mortality rate was estimated with 23.5%. GCS

We present a case of a child suffering of hydranencephaly. The interesting fact in the case is that there were no embryological examinations during pregnancy and therefore could the anomaly, which would have been easily avoided by regular visits to the obstetrician, not be diagnosed timely. Education of mothers is always necessary irrespective on how developed a country is and how good the medical treatment and diagnostic tools are. Every pregnant woman needs to be well educated in matters of pregnancy monitoring.

A rare case of a posttraumatic extensive ganglion cyst of the anterolateral thigh with connection to the knee joint is presented. A 54- year-old man presented a palpable mass in the anterolateral region of his right thigh with a 15 months existing sense of fullness and tightness. He had an accident with his bicycle 21 months ago. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed showing a cyst inside the quadriceps femoris muscle between vastus lateralis and intermedius with connection to recessus suprapatellaris and knee joint. In addition MRI detected a traumatic lesion in the quadriceps femoris tendon in the near of the knee joint. The ganglion cyst was 18 cm long and was excised completely. Intraope - ratively, the knee joint connection was confirmed and excised as well. The ganglion cyst was filled with a gelatinous and viscous fluid.

In the present case we report about an encephalomeningocele in an adult female. Since the cause of this medical entity is a congenital fusion defect of the neural tube of the cranial base, most of the encephaloceles occurs in children leading to facial disfigurement. In the rare cases described in adults, rhinorrhea is usually present. Here we present a case of temporobasal encephalomeningocele in a 72-year-old female patient suffering from headaches in the last 4-5 years. No rhinorrhea or other significant neurological symptoms were noticed. No congenital cause was apparent. After diagnostic steps including brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), cranial computed tomography (CT) and MR cisternography, an encephalomeningocele was diagnosed. Through a pterional approach this was completely removed. The only symptom the patient complaint about, headache, was eliminated after surgery.