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Introduction. A transorbital intracranial injury with a foreign body can be a very complex and controversial therapeutic problem. The orbit's content is susceptible to penetrating trauma, and neurovascular skull base structures are at high risk from injury. There are some traditional cranial surgical approaches, and more recently reported different endoscopic approaches for treating this kind of injury. Case report. We present a case of a 30-year-old male who had an accident at work when a piece of wood hit him in his head and entered through the medial aspect of his left orbit with skull base and cavernous sinus injury. Rapid and complete radiological and clinical assessments were performed, and the patient was treated in a minimally invasive manner. The foreign body was manually extracted with an endoscopic and endovascular team ready to treat adverse events. No postoperative complications were reported, and visual acuity increased at one month follow up. Conclusion. Penetrating wounds of the orbit represent a challenge that requires a multidisciplinary assessment and well-organized management. Combined endoscopic minimally invasive approaches should be considered during the treatment of this kind of injury.

Introduction. Dural arteriovenous fistulas represent pathological acquired bonds between the meningeal blood vessels (arteries) and drainage veins associated to them. These fistulas can vary in clinical presentations, from being asymptomatic to causing serious neurological deficits, depending mostly on the localization and size. Only one fourth of dural fistulas present themselves with intracranial bleeding. This hemorrhage is most frequently localized in subarachnoid space, occasionally intracerebrally, and seldom beneath the dura mater, ie subdurally. Case report. We presented a rare case of a patient with spontaneous acute subdural hematoma. After the initial treatment and consequent imaging methods, a diagnosis of a dural arteriovenous fistula was established. After the craniotomy for hematoma evacuation, the patient underwent an uneventful endovascular treatment. Despite the rarity of non-traumatic acute subdural hematoma caused by dural arteriovenous fistula, one should not overlook the possible pathogenesis and etiology in patients with spontaneous acute subdural hematoma. Even with the absence of the symptoms and signs of subdural bleeding, dural arteriovenous fistula, as a cause of it, should not be immediately ruled out. Conclusion. Despite the rarity of non-traumatic acute subdural hematoma being caused by dural arteriovenous fistulas, one should not immediately overlook the possible pathogenesis and etiology. Cautious approach is needed when treating such diseases even in the absence of typical symptoms.

Background/Aim. At the moment there are few scoring systems for malignant astrocytoma but they are not widely accepted. The aim of this study was to evaluate malignant astrocytoma score (MAS) on a new group of patients with malignant astrocytoma, to compare MAS with other prognostic tools and to describe the use of MAS in everyday practice in neurooncology. Methods. The study was performed on 124 patients with supratentorial malignant astrocytoma grade III or IV. They were operated on and subsequently irradiated with 50-60 Gy. Results. The mean age of the patients was 57.3 years. The mean Karnofski performance status (KPS) of the functional inpairment was 54. The removal of the tumor > 90% was done in 59.7% of patients. The mean survival was 9.1 months, and 27.4% of patients had a 12-month survival. The area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of the MAS for predicting 6-, 12- and 18-month survival was 0.754, 0.783 and 0.882, respectively. We compared the MAS with the two mostly cited scoring systems. The AUC for the same prediction for medical research council (MRC) was 0.601, 0.693, 0.772 respectively. For the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) the AUC was 0.732, 0.765, 0.827, respectively. Conclusion. MAS represents a useful scoring system for determining illness severity and prognosis in patients with malignant supratentorial astrocytoma. It can be helpful in comparing single patients or groups of patients, as well as results of different treatments and in controlling the quality of hospital treatment and so on.

Introduction. A gunshot head injury, characterized by a huge intensity of mechanical force, in addition to the direct tissue damage at the location of direct impact, may cause a skull and skull base fracture, distant from the the point of direct impact, which could be further complicated by creating a communication between endocranium and nasal/paranasal cavities. Such cases pose a great diagnostic and therapeutic challenge for every clinician. Case report. The patient is presented with the history of a perforating gunshot head injury six years ago, with recurrent attacks of meningoencephalitis subsequently, without rhinorrhea. By using high resolution CT scans, previous traumatic skull injury was verified and a fissure in the frontoethmoidal region, far from the point of direct impact, was detected. The patient underwent transnasal endoscopic surgery, in order to seal the communication on skull basis. The patient did not suffer from meningoencephalitis during the next two years. Conclusion. In the cases with late occurrence of posttraumatic meningoencephalitis with no signs of rhinorrhea, a possibility of an existing communication between intracranial and nasal cavities should be considered, as well. By applying modern diagnostic and therapeutic procedures such communication should be precisely located and sealed.

Introduction. Arachnoid cysts are congenital fluid-filled compartments within the cerebrospinal fluid cisterns and major cerebral fissure, between two layers of the arachnoid membrane. They can develop anywhere within the subarachnoid space, most frequently located within the Sylvian fissure in the middle fossa. In young patients with the arachnoid cyst and history od head trauma chronic subdural hemathoma is present up to 4.6%. Case report. This is a case report of a 21 year old male, with left temporal lobe arachnoid cyst. Three months after minor head injury the patient was admitted to our clinic with chronic subdural hematoma compressing the surrounding tissue. The scull burr-hole trepanation was performed and the hematoma was drained. The control CT scan showed a reduced size of the chronic subdural hematoma with the smaller subdural collection of the fresh blood. Three weeks after the intervention the new CT scan showed the recurrence of the chronic subdural hematoma. The second trepanation was performed and the hematoma was drained. After the second operation, the patient was with no neurological disorders and subjective complaints. Three months after the second intervention, the control CT scan visualized only the arachnoid cyst in the temporal lobe, without the presence of the subdural hematoma. Conclusion. We conclude that a chronic subdural hematoma and reccurrent chronic subdural hematoma in patients with the arachnoid cyst in the fossa media should be drained by applying the method of burr-hole trepanation. In the patient with no subjective complaints and neurological disorders, the operative treatment of the arachnoid cyst is not considered necessary.