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High-grade gliomas are aggressive tumors that require multimodal management and gross total resection is considered to be the first crucial step of treatment. Because of their infiltrative nature, intraoperative differentiation of neoplastic tissue from normal parenchyma can be challenging. For these reasons, in the recent years, neurosurgeons have increasingly performed this surgery under the guidance of tissue fluorescence. Sodium fluoresceine and 5-aminolevulinic acid represent the 2 main compounds that allow real-time identification of residual malignant tissue and have been associated with improved gross total resection and radiological outcomes. Though presenting different profiles of sensitivity and specificity and further investigations concerning cost-effectiveness are need, Sodium fluoresceine, 5-aminolevulinic acid and new phluorophores, such as Indocyanine green, represent some of the most important tools in the neurosurgeon's hands to achieve gross total resection.

Background: Gliomas are the most common malignant primary brain tumors. Assessment of the tumor volume represents a crucial point in preoperative and postoperative evaluation., Objective: To compare pre- and postoperative tumor volumes obtained with an automated, semi-automatic, and manual segmentation tool. Mean processing time of each segmentation techniques was measured., Methods: Manual segmentation was performed on preoperative and postoperative magnetic resonance images with the open-source software Horos (Horos Project). "SmartBrush," a tool of the IPlan Cranial software (Brainlab, Feldkirchen, Germany), was used to carry out the semi-automatic segmentation. The open-source BraTumIA software (NeuroImaging Tools and Resources Collaboratory) was employed for the automated segmentation. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess volumetric comparison. Subsequently deviation/range and average discrepancy were determined. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to assess statistical significance., Results: A total of 58 patients with a newly diagnosed high-grade glioma were enrolled. The comparison of the volumes calculated with Horos and IPlan showed a strong agreement both on preoperative and postoperative images (respectively: "enhancing" ρ = 0.99-0.78, "fluid-attenuated inversion recovery" ρ = 0.97-0.92, and "total tumor volume" ρ = 0.98-0.95). Agreement between BraTumIA and the other 2 techniques appeared to be strong for preoperative images, but showed a higher disagreement on postoperative images. Mean time expenditure for tumor segmentation was 27 min with manual segmentation, 17 min with semi-automated, and 8 min with automated software., Conclusion: The considered segmentation tools showed high agreement in preoperative volumetric assessment. Both manual and semi-automated software appear adequate for the postoperative quantification of residual volume. The evaluated automated software is not yet reliable. Automated software considerably reduces the time expenditure., (Copyright © 2020 by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.)

Hypnosis could extend the time of Intraoperative Neuropsychological Testing and Brain Mapping in Awake Surgery. A clinical validation for the Hypnosis aided AS (HAs) is still ongoing and further evidences are required. The objective of the present study is to compare two homogeneous cohorts of patients undergoing AS, the first with the aid of the hypnosis and the second according to a standard AS (SAs) protocols. The clinical, radiological and surgical data of two comparable procedures cohorts were retrospectively examined for the present study. All surgeries in Group A were performed with a HAs protocol. Procedures belonging to Group B were performed with a SAs protocol. Endpoints: to compare 1. Incidence of complications in the immediate postoperative period, 2. Clinical and neurological status in the immediate postoperative period and 30 days after surgery, 3. Duration of surgical interventions, 4. Extent of Resection (EOR). The final cohort is composed of 15 procedures; 6 belonging to Group A and 9 to Group B. The different methods outline statistically comparable results from the clinical (Neurological outcomes) both in the postoperative period and one month after surgery and from the surgical point of view (comparable EOR). The incidence of complications is comparable either. The duration of the procedures was significantly longer in HAs group. Hypnosis is a promising approach to increasing the duration of intraoperative "testability" of patients at the price of a longer operative time. A specific professional is needed to induce hypnosis in the difficult intraoperative setting., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The first step of glioma treatment is surgery. Extent of resection (EOR) improves patient survival if surgery does not negatively impair a patient's neurological status. However, how surgery affects the patient's quality of life (QOL) has been less studied, especially as regards cognitive aspects. In our study, we retrospectively analyzed our cases with awake surgery. In all patients, surgical excision was stopped when active functions were intraoperatively identified. A neuropsychological assessment was performed both before and after surgery (5 days and 1 month after). Writing, motor speech, comprehension, expression, reading, pragmatics, attention, memory, problem solving and visuoperceptive functions were evaluated and scored with the NOMS scale. We found no differences in the median values of writing and motor speech, while there was a difference in the following variables: comprehension, expression, reading, pragmatics, attention, memory, problem solving and visuoperceptive functions. Moreover, the Dunn test did not show any difference between preoperative evaluation and evaluation performed 30 days after surgery regarding comprehension, expression, reading, pragmatics, attention, problem solving and visuoperceptive functions. However, there was a difference between preoperative and postoperative evaluation for memory. This retrospective study shows that awake surgery could be a reasonable possibility to preserve a patient's QOL achieving an EOR >82% of the Total Tumor Volume (Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) hyperintense region in low-grade gliomas and enhancing nodules plus FLAIR hyperintense region in high-grade gliomas). In this series memory was the only aspect that had an impairment after surgery without a complete recovery at one month after surgery., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Prognostic factors for high-grade gliomas include patient age, IDH1 mutation, MGMT methylation, and Ki67 value. We assessed the predictive role of topographic location of gliomas for their biological signatures. Collecting all neuroradiological and histological data of patients with histologically proven HGG, we performed a retrospective monocentric study. A predictive value of frontal location for a lower Ki67 value (especially in the left hemisphere) and mutation of IDH1 (especially in the right hemisphere) was found. Temporal location was predictive for IDH1 wild-type. Involvement of the parietal lobe was found to be predictive of methylated MGMT, while insular lobe involvement predicted an unmethylated MGMT. There was no statistically significant difference of IDH1 mutation and MGMT methylation between left and right sides.

Background:  Pressure on economic resources now requires a careful rationalization of services. For adult patients with supratentorial gliomas, there is no consensus on the real need for care in a postoperative neurocritical intensive care unit (NICU) and on the timing of a postsurgical computed tomography (CT) scan. In this retrospective nonrandomized study, we assessed if and when there is a real need for NICU and if an early CT scan could be justified in the absence of neurologic worsening., Methods:  Of 264 patients, 21 were admitted to the NICU after the procedure as planned before the surgery for their clinical features (Karnofsky performance status < 70, American Society of Anesthesiologists score > 2, or Charlson Comorbidity Index > 5)., Results:  The mean stay in the NICU was 19.7 hours. One of these patients had developed a postoperative hematoma that was subsequently removed, and died afterward. The other 243 patients were followed clinically after the procedure: 219 underwent a cerebral CT scan 24 hours after the procedure and were discharged in good condition. The other 24 patients had a cerebral CT scan within 24 hours after the procedure. The early CT showed the presence of a local edema in five cases and a hematoma surgically treated with a subsequent admission to the NICU in two cases., Conclusion:  Considering our data, we suggest that NICU should not always be used after craniotomy for supratentorial gliomas. Clinical observation was sufficient to predict early postoperative complications. A CT scan before 24 hours after surgery is not recommended in the absence of clinical worsening., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)