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Background: During glioma surgery "maximal safe resection" must be the main goal. Intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) associated with awake craniotomy (AC) is a valuable tool to achieve this objective. In this article, AC with a "nextdoor" iMRI concept is described in a stepwise protocol. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 18 patients submitted to AC using iMRI; a stepwise protocol is also discussed. Results: The mean age was 41.7 years. Hemiparesis, aphasia, and seizures were the main initial symptoms of the patients. Sixtysix percent of the tumors were located in the left hemisphere. All tumors were near or within eloquent areas. Fiftythree percent of the cases were glioblastomas multiforme and 47% of the patients had low grade gliomas. The mean surgical time and iMRI time were 4 h 4 min and 30 min, respectively. New resection was performed in 33% after iMRI. Extent of resection (EOR) higher than 95% was possible in 66.7% of the patients. The main reason of EOR lower than 95% was positive mapping of eloquent areas (6 patients). Eighty percent of the patients experienced improvement of their deficits immediately after the surgery or had a stable clinical status whereas 20% had neurological deterioration, however, all of them improved after 30 days. Conclusion: AC associated with "nextdoor" iMRI is a complex procedure, but if performed using a meticulous technique, it may improve the overall tumor resection and safety of the patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: During glioma surgery "maximal safe resection" must be the main goal. Intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) associated with awake craniotomy (AC) is a valuable tool to achieve this objective. In this article, AC with a "next-door" iMRI concept is described in a stepwise protocol., Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 18 patients submitted to AC using iMRI; a stepwise protocol is also discussed., Results: The mean age was 41.7 years. Hemiparesis, aphasia, and seizures were the main initial symptoms of the patients. Sixty-six percent of the tumors were located in the left hemisphere. All tumors were near or within eloquent areas. Fifty-three percent of the cases were glioblastomas multiforme and 47% of the patients had low grade gliomas. The mean surgical time and iMRI time were 4 h 4 min and 30 min, respectively. New resection was performed in 33% after iMRI. Extent of resection (EOR) higher than 95% was possible in 66.7% of the patients. The main reason of EOR lower than 95% was positive mapping of eloquent areas (6 patients). Eighty percent of the patients experienced improvement of their deficits immediately after the surgery or had a stable clinical status whereas 20% had neurological deterioration, however, all of them improved after 30 days., Conclusion: AC associated with "next-door" iMRI is a complex procedure, but if performed using a meticulous technique, it may improve the overall tumor resection and safety of the patients., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest.

Background: Dissecting giant pseudoaneurysm of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) is a rare lesion often presenting challenges to neurosurgical teams dealing with this specific pathology. Giant pseudoaneurysm originating from a dissecting distal segment of the MCA treated with aneurysm trapping under motor and sensitive evoked potential monitoring with a successful outcome is presented in the article followed by a brief discussion on the subject., Case Description: A case of a previously healthy young female patient admitted at the emergency room of Santa Paula Hospital with a history of a sudden headache and syncope, dysphasia, and Grade 4 right hemiparesis due to a large brain hemorrhage secondary to a 25 mm ruptured pseudoaneurysm originated from a distal left MCA dissecting segment is described. Because the patient risked neurological worsening, aneurysm was treated with parent and efferent vessel trapping technique and no changes on the sensitive and motor evoked potential (MEP) from baseline informed on this decision. Hemorrhage was completely drained after aneurysm was secured., Conclusion: Neurophysiological sensitive and MEP monitoring, on this specific case was a valuable tool and informed on the decision of trapping of this large vascular lesion.