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Introduction: Intensive research is dedicated to the development of novel biomaterials and medical devices to be used as grafts in reconstructive surgery, with the purpose of enhancing their therapeutic effectiveness, safety, and durability. A variety of biomaterials, from autologous bone to polymethylmetacrylate, polyether ether ketone, titanium, and calcium-based ceramics are used in cranioplasty. Porous hydroxyapatite (PHA) is reported as a possible material for bone reconstruction, with good signs of biocompatibility, osteoconductive and osteointegrative properties. In the present paper we studied the possible antibacterial properties of PHA in a laboratory test in order to provide a possible overview of the occurrence of post-operative infections in PHA cranioplasty., Method: The test method has been designed to evaluate the potential antimicrobial activity of specimens under dynamic contact conditions to overcome difficulties in ensuring contact of inoculum to the specimen surface. The test was conducted using Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538 as a bacterial strain., Results: Two experimental sets were performed to evaluate the antimicrobial properties of the specimens against two different Staphylococcus aureus concentrations. The first preliminary test (a) verified the antibacterial property at 0, 1, 2, and 4 h of contact time; the second confirmatory test (b) was repeated to verify the antibacterial property at 0, 4, 8 h. In the first experiment, after the first hour of contact, the bacterial inoculum was reduced by 7.96% compared to "inoculum only," which increased to 26.11% at the second hour, and up to 52.33% after 4 h. In the second experiment, the confirmation test showed that bacterial growth reaches maximum inhibition after 4 h of contact. At 4 h, there was a higher bacterial reduction of 72.93%, which decreased at 8 h (36.45%)., Conclusion: Analyzing the growth trend of viable microorganisms under Dynamic Contact Conditions it can be seen that PHA cranioplasty appears to inhibit exponential growth by inducing bacterial stasis in the early hours of contact, reaching a maximum reduction within 4 h, in this adopted experimental condition., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Petroclival meningiomas are challenging tumors. Several skull base approaches have been proposed in the last decades, with variable rates of postoperative morbidity and extent of resection., Methods: We herein reported the step-by-step microsurgical resection of a large petroclival meningioma through an extended retrosigmoid approach. Detailed surgical technique has been accompanied by a 2D operative video., Conclusion: The extended retrosigmoid approach allowed for a safe gross total resection of the tumor, as confirmed by the postoperative MRI. The patient did not experience any new postoperative deficit, despite a transient diplopia, and was discharged on postoperative day 7., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.)

In neurosurgery, cranioplasty (CP) stands as a pivotal surgical intervention, particularly following head trauma or various neurosurgical interventions. This study scrutinizes the intricacies of CP, emphasizing its prevalence and associated complications, with a specific focus on custom-made porous hydroxyapatite (PHA) implants. The investigation spans 687 patients (with 80 patients of pediatric age, less than 14 years old) across 26 neurosurgical centers in five European countries. Methodologically, this study delves into patient characteristics, complications, and infection data through a comprehensive post-marketing on-site surveillance approach. Notably, infections emerged as the primary complication, affecting 41 patients (6% of implants) with a clear distinction in onset patterns between pediatric (with more infections, 10% versus 5.4% in adults and an earlier onset of complications) and adult populations. Out of these 41 cases, cranioplasty explantation was required in 30 patients, 4.4% of the total population. Furthermore, bifrontal decompression correlated with a significantly elevated infection risk as compared to unilateral decompression (12.5% versus 5.1%) which remains after the examination of possible confounding factors. These findings provide substantial insights into the complexities of CP, suggesting the necessity for tailored strategies in pediatric and adult cases and cautioning against bifrontal decompressions. Despite acknowledging limitations and calling for prospective studies with long term follow-up, this research advances our understanding of the use of PHA CP, guiding clinical decision-making and emphasizing the importance of customized approaches for diverse patient cohorts.

Background: Cranioplasty is a surgical intervention aiming to re-establish the integrity of skull defects. Autologous bone and different heterologous materials are used for this purpose, with various reported related complications. The aim of the study was to evaluate the complication rate in a multicentric cohort of patients underwent porous hydroxyapatite (PHA) cranioplasty implantation and to assess the validity of company post-market clinical analysis., Methods: Authors analyzed a company-based register of 6279 PHA cranioplasty implanted all over the world. In these adult patients only self-reported complications were available. We then obtained the data of adult patients treated with custom-made porous HA prostheses (CustomBone Service) in 20 institutions from different European countries through an on-site interview with the physicians in charge of the patients (N.=494). The endpoints were the incidence of adverse events and of related implant removal., Results: The groups of patients had similar demographics characteristics. The average follow-up was 26.7 months. A significantly higher number of complications was recorded in the group of patients underwent on-site interview. Thirty-nine complications were reported (7.89%) with an explantation rate of 4.25% (21 cases) in the series, compared to the data reported from the Company (complications rate of 3.3% and explantation rate of 3.1%). The most common complications were infection (4.86%), hematomas (1.22%), fractures (1.01%), mobilization (0.4%) and scar retraction (0.4%)., Conclusions: Our data confirm that porous HA cranioplasty is at least as effective as other heterologous materials to repair cranial defects. Another interesting finding is that self-reporting complications by surgeons does not give a precise picture of the real rate of complications of the devices. These data in future studies need to be re-confirmed with on-site interviews.

Introduction: Cranial reconstruction (CR) is a neurosurgical procedure performed to restore the cranial vault after a decompressive craniectomy. There are contrasting reports from the literature about the complications related to the use of heterologous materials for CR in the pediatric population. In this study, the authors try to better define such a rate of adverse events for autologous and heterologous materials., Materials and Methods: A systematic review of articles published up to December 2021 was performed. Studies were included if they reported the specific use of cranioplasty materials following craniectomy in patients younger than 18 years of age and had a minimum follow-up of at least 1 year., Results: A total of 20 studies were selected. A total of 544 cases were included, of which 422 (77.6%) were with heterologous materials and 122 (22.4%) with autologous bone. The mean average age was 9.5 years. Polyetheretherketone and polymethylmethacrylate reported 29% and 33.3%, respectively, of complications, but only 3% and 5.6% of surgical revision. PHA reported a rate of 11.9%. Titanium reported 9.2% of complications and 4.1% of surgical revisions. Porous polyethylene had a complication rate of 36.4% and a revision rate of 0%., Conclusion: There is still no perfect material for CR. It seems that heterologous materials are superior to autologous bone for CR in children, and we may consider, whenever economic conditions will allow it, to use alloplastic material as first-line in small children., (© 2022 S. Karger AG, Basel.)