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Background Neural tube defects are a large health burden for East African countries. Health strategies in the prevention of this disease include nutritional prophylaxis, prenatal diagnosis, and availability of early neonatal neurosurgery. The main objective of this study is to describe our experience in the early surgical management of neural tube defects in the Zanzibar archipelago. Methods From December 2016 to December 2017, we prospectively collected data on all patients admitted with the diagnosis of myelomeningocele. We collected variables regarding demographics, maternal health, preoperative imaging, surgical procedures, and complications at follow-up. Results We collected data on 19 patients. Mean age was 9.8 ± 18.7 days. Of these patients, 52.6% were male and 47.3% were female; 47.3% patients were from Unguja, 42.0% from Pemba, and 5.2% from mainland Tanzania; 68.4% of all mothers were found to have undergone prenatal ultrasonography and 89.5% of all patients received surgery. Surgical wound infection was present in 29.4% of all surgical patients and 52.9% developed secondary hydrocephalus. Conclusions Neural tube defects are a prevailing condition in East Africa. We believe that more health initiatives should address its prevention, mainly through maternal nutrition. On the basis of our findings, we consider early neonatal neurosurgery as the most important factor in reducing immediate morbidity and mortality.

Background: Because nearly 23,000 more neurosurgeons are needed globally to address 5 million essential neurosurgical cases that go untreated each year, there is an increasing interest in task-shifting and task-sharing (TS/S), delegating neurosurgical tasks to nonspecialists, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This global survey aimed to provide a cross-sectional understanding of the prevalence and structure of current neurosurgical TS/S practices in LMICs. Methods: The survey was distributed to a convenience sample of individuals providing neurosurgical care in LMICs with a Web-based survey link via electronic mailing lists of continental societies and various neurosurgical groups, conference announcements, e-mailing lists, and social media platforms. Country-level data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results: The survey yielded 127 responses from 47 LMICs; 20 countries (42.6%) reported ongoing TS/S. Most TS/S procedures involved emergency interventions, the top 3 being burr holes, craniotomy for hematoma evacuation, and external ventricular drain. Most (65.0%) believed that their Ministry of Health does not endorse TS/S (24.0% unsure), and only 11% believed that TS/S training was structured. There were few opportunities for TS/S providers to continue medical education (11.6%) or maintenance of certification (9.4%, or receive remuneration (4.2%). Conclusions: TS/S is ongoing in many LMICs without substantial structure or oversight, which is concerning for patient safety. These data invite future clinical outcomes studies to assess effectiveness and discussions on policy recommendations such as standardized curricula, certification protocols, specialist oversight, and referral networks to increase the level of TS/S care and to continue to increase the specialist workforce. Key words: Capacity, Global health, Global neurosurgery, LMIC, Task-sharing, Task-shifting, Workforce

OBJECTIVEThe objective of this study was to describe the experience of a volunteering neurosurgeon during an 18-week stay at the Neurosurgery Education and Development (NED) Institute and to report the general situation regarding the development of neurosurgery in Zanzibar, identifying the challenges and opportunities and explaining the NED Foundation’s model for safe practice and sustainability.METHODSThe NED Foundation deployed the volunteer neurosurgeon coordinator (NC) for an 18-week stay at the NED Institute at the Mnazi Mmoja Hospital, Stonetown, Zanzibar. The main roles of the NC were as follows: management of patients, reinforcement of weekly academic activities, coordination of international surgical camps, and identification of opportunities for improvement. The improvement opportunities were categorized as clinical, administrative, and sociocultural and were based on observations made by the NC as well as on interviews with local doctors, administrators, and government officials.RESULTSDuring the 18-week period, the NC visited 460 patients and performed 85 surgical procedures. Four surgical camps were coordinated on-site. Academic activities were conducted weekly. The most significant challenges encountered were an intense workload, deficient infrastructure, lack of self-confidence among local physicians, deficiencies in technical support and repairs of broken equipment, and lack of guidelines. Through a series of interviews, the sociocultural factors influencing the NED Foundation’s intervention were determined. Factors identified for success were the activity of neurosurgical societies in East Africa; structured pan-African neurosurgical training; the support of the Foundation for International Education in Neurological Surgery (FIENS) and the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA); motivated personnel; and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar’s willingness to collaborate with the NED Foundation.CONCLUSIONSInternational collaboration programs should balance local challenges and opportunities in order to effectively promote the development of neurosurgery in East Africa. Support and endorsement should be sought to harness shared resources and experience. Determining the caregiving and educational objectives within the logistic, administrative, social, and cultural framework of the target hospital is paramount to success.

Background Pediatric hydrocephalus is a health burden for East African countries, with an estimated incidence of 6000 new cases per year. The objective of this study is to describe the epidemiology and surgical outcomes of patients treated for pediatric hydrocephalus in the single neurosurgical center of Zanzibar. Methods From December 2016 to December 2017, we prospectively collected data on all patients admitted with the diagnosis of hydrocephalus. Information was gathered regarding demographics, maternal health, preoperative imaging, surgical procedures, and postsurgical complications. Results We collected data on 63 patients. Average age was 203 days, and gender was 49.2% female and 50.8% male. All mothers of patients attended an antenatal clinic for routine screening during pregnancy. Folic acid prophylaxis was used by 9.5% of the mothers during pregnancy. At the first visit, 46.0% of patients presented with signs of infection, 20.6% with congenital abnormalities, and 20.6% with seizures. Regarding etiology of hydrocephalus, 22.2% of all cases were uncertain; 20.6% were associated with neural tube defects; 39.7% were postinfectious hydrocephalus; 3.2% were aqueduct stenosis; 4.8% were associated with brain tumor; and 9.6% were malformative. We performed 7 endoscopic third ventriculostomies and placed 40 ventriculoperitoneal shunts. The complication rate at follow-up was 12.5%. Conclusions It seems that hydrocephalus in Zanzibar has similar causes, progression, and complication rates to previous reports from other African hospitals. Further studies of postinfectious hydrocephalus need to be conducted because recent findings suggest that it is a potentially preventable cause of the disease.

In the last 10 years, considerable work has been done to promote and improve neurosurgical care in East Africa with the development of national training programs, expansion of hospitals and creation of new institutions, and the foundation of epidemiologic and cost-effectiveness research. Many of the results have been accomplished through collaboration with partners from abroad. This article is the third in a series of articles that seek to provide readers with an understanding of the development of neurosurgery in East Africa (Foundations), the challenges that arise in providing neurosurgical care in developing countries (Challenges), and an overview of traditional and novel approaches to overcoming these challenges to improve healthcare in the region (Innovations). In this article, we describe the ongoing programs active in East Africa and their current priorities, and we outline lessons learned and what is required to create self-sustained neurosurgical service.

Background Upon returning home to Nigeria from postresidency fellowship training in skull base surgery, using expertise gained overseas, we applied appropriate treatment to various skull base pathologies. This is an audit of our initial experience. Methods This is a prospective, descriptive survey of all the skull base pathologies operated on during 30 months. Clinical-demographic data, surgical procedures, and the postoperative outcome are presented statistically. Simple inferential statistics was performed for associations deemed significant at P ≤ 0.05. Results Fifty-one individuals (27 men and 24 women, mean age 32 years) were operated on for skull base pathologies. Clinical presentation had a mean symptom duration of 22 months and a poor clinical status in more than 60% of the patients. Congenital, infective, traumatic, and neoplastic lesions were encountered, including craniofacial malignancies operated on jointly with other craniofacial surgeons. Other intracranial neurosurgical pathologies like jugular foramen and brain stem tumors, and meningiomas of various skull base corridors, including the cavernous sinus and the foramen magnum, were encountered. Our skull base dissections were craniofacial in 23.5% of cases, anterolateral in 33.3%, midbasal in 15.7%, and posterior fossa in 27.5% of patients. Surgery was successful in 86.3%. The patients' status improved on hospital discharge in 70.6% of cases. The postoperative outcome was significantly worse ( P = 0.03) in those patients with postbasal lesions with poor clinical performance index preoperatively. Conclusions In spite of the many inherent challenges of a typical developing country health system, there are great prospects for skull base surgical practice in Nigerian neurological surgery. •Peer-Review Report

The frequency of radiologically demonstrable subclavian or innominate artery stenosis is approximately up to 17%. Of these, 2.5% have angiographic flow reversal in vertebral artery. Only 5.3% of those with angiographic steal have neurologic symptoms [3]. Treatment is indicated only in this small percentage of symptomatic patients. The symptoms are induced by exercise or exertion using the arm ipsilateral to stenosis. We describe a case with concurrent right vertebral artery (VA) pseudoaneurysm and left subclavian artery (SCA) stenosis, where the pattern of symptoms was suggestive of embolic etiology rather than exercise induced. An unusual presentation of SCA stenosis is highlighted, that resolved with endovascular intervention. The management in the presence of concurrent VA pseudoaneurysm is briefly discussed.

Hydrocephalus, a disease frequently associated with poverty, becomes even more challenging to treat in developing regions because of lack of neurosurgical manpower, inadequately equipped public health care facilities, meager resource allocations, high rates of neonatal infection, difficulty of accessibility to hospitals able to treat hydrocephalus, and high complication rates in patients who are able to access and receive shunting procedures. Definitive treatment of hydrocephalus that avoids shunting procedures and long-term shunt dependence is a safer option. In environments such as Sub-Saharan Africa (and, indeed, in other similar resource-challenged regions), neuroendoscopic ventriculostomy (NEV), in appropriately selected patients can overcome the problems associated with shunting, including long-term shunt dependence. A novel approach promoted by volunteer neurosurgical teams from the Neurosurgery Education Development (NED) Foundation is described, and its important role in successfully providing NEV at hospitals in regional sites away from main tertiary referral hospitals is outlined. Using a single portable neuroendoscopy equipment system and a versatile free-hand, single operator neuroendoscope, an easily mobile outreach model has been successfully used to perform 187 procedures in 19 hospital sites around six countries and on two continents. Neuroendoscopy is not just a priority surgical tool for East Africa; it represents a best practices philosophy of what is possible within a highly sophisticated surgical speciality like neurosurgery in developing countries. It offers an opportunity to highlight the importance of tertiary care specialties like neurosurgery in this region, to develop closer relationships between African neurosurgeons and to convince medical students, general residents, and nurses that "world-class neurosurgery" can be possible in a developing region.

Bidens pilosa L. var. radiata (BPR), B. pilosa L. var. pilosa (BPP), and B. pilosa L. var. minor (BPM) are common variants of a plant often used as a folk remedy for diabetes in Taiwan. However, the three variants are often misidentified and little is known about their relative anti-diabetic efficacy and chemical composition. In this paper, we have first developed a method based on GC-MS and cluster analysis with visualization to assist in rapidly determining the taxonomy of these three Bidens variants. GC-MS was used to determine the chemical compositions of supercritical extracts, and differences and similarities in the variants were determined by hierarchical cluster analysis. Next, the HPLC profiles of the methanol crude extracts in the Bidens plants and evaluated anti-diabetic effects of methanol crude extracts were compared, as well as three polyacetylenic compounds of the Bidens plants using db/db mice. Single-dose and long-term experiments showed that the BPR extract had higher glucose-lowering and insulin-releasing activities than extracts from the other two variants, and that cytopiloyne was the most effective pure compound among the three polyacetylenic compounds. BPR extract and cytopiloyne also significantly reduced the percentage of the glycosylated hemoglobin A1c in db/db mice. Besides, both animal studies and HPLC analysis demonstrated a good correlation between anti-diabetic efficacy of the Bidens extracts and the particular polyacetylenes present.

OBJECT A shortage of neurosurgeons and a lack of knowledge of neuroendoscopic management of hydrocephalus limits modern care in sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, a mobile teaching project for endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) procedures and a subsequent program to develop neurosurgery as a permanent specialty in Kenya and Zanzibar were created and sponsored by the Neurosurgery Education and Development (NED) Foundation and the Foundation for International Education in Neurological Surgery. The objective of this work was to evaluate the results of surgical training and medical care in both projects from 2006 to 2013. METHODS Two portable neuroendoscopy systems were purchased and a total of 38 ETV workshops were organized in 21 hospitals in 7 different countries. Additionally, 49 medical expeditions were dispatched to the Coast General Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya, and to the Mnazi Moja Hospital in Zanzibar. RESULTS From the first project, a total of 376 infants with hydrocephalus received surgery. Six-month follow-up was achieved in 22%. In those who received follow-up, ETV efficacy was 51%. The best success rates were achieved with patients 1 year of age or older with aqueductal stenosis (73%). The main causes of hydrocephalus were infection (56%) and spina bifida (23%). The mobile education program interacted with 72 local surgeons and 122 nurses who were trained in ETV procedures. The second project involved 49 volunteer neurosurgeons who performed a total of 360 nonhydrocephalus neurosurgical operations since 2009. Furthermore, an agreement with the local government was signed to create the Mnazi Mmoja NED Institute in Zanzibar. CONCLUSIONS Mobile endoscopic treatment of hydrocephalus in East Africa results in reasonable success rates and has also led to major developments in medicine, particularly in the development of neurosurgery specialty care sites.

The spectrum of disk pathology can be adequately treated with a microsurgical approach. The technique of microlumbar diskectomy is described in detail.

Forty-five end-to-side microvascular anastomoses were completed in rat carotid arteries of 0.7-0.8 mm diameter (anastomosing the distal end of the left common carotid to the side of the right common carotid). For comparison both 10-0 and 11-0 sutures were utilized in different anastomotic techniques: interrupted, direct-continuous, and diagonal-continuous sutures, plus total mural thickness vs. partial mural thickness (piercing only the adventitia and outer media, excluding the intima). Anastomoses were evaluated for patency and scanning electron microscopic appearance after 10 to 12 weeks. The results indicate complete patency in all anastomoses. Ultrastructural observations revealed nearly normal intimal appearance in the partial medial technique and only minimal evidence of intimal injury in the other techniques. It is concluded that 100% patency can be obtained regardless of suture size or anastomotic technique. The most important factor in anastomotic patency is the operator's technical skill.

A rare case of meningioma associated with both intratumoral and peritumoral abscess formation occurred in a 38-year-old man presenting with signs and symptoms of elevated intracranial pressure, intracranial infection, and right temporal pole mass lesion. The mass lesion was totally removed, revealing a meningioma. Group B streptococcus and peptostreptococcus were cultured from both the tumor and peritumoral white matter. Hematogenous spread of the organisms related to recent dental work was the likely mechanism.

Background Hydrocephalus, largely a disease of poverty in many developing regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, becomes even more challenging to treat because of lack of trained neurosurgical personnel, inadequately equipped public health care facilities, meager resource allocation, high rates of neonatal infection, difficulty of access to tertiary care hospitals able to treat hydrocephalus, and high complication rates in patients who are able to access and receive shunting procedures. Furthermore, conventional methods of training of neurosurgeons and nursing staff to become proficient in neuroendoscopic procedures involve a lengthy period of training, often at specialized centers in Western or local Western-style institutions. Methods The novel approach promoted by volunteer neurosurgical teams from Neurosurgery Education Development Foundation is described, and its potential role in successfully providing neuroendoscopic ventriculostomy at hospitals in regional sites away from main referral tertiary hospitals is outlined. The impact on the training of local neurosurgical specialists and residents in training as well as nursing staff is highlighted. Results With the use of a single portable neuroendoscopy system and a versatile free-hand, single-operator neuroendoscope, this outreach, mobile, and readily portable model has been successfully used to perform more than 250 procedures in 21 different hospital sites around seven different countries in two continents. The local courses have imparted hands-on training to 62 neurosurgeons and trainee residents and a further 110 operating room nurses at these 21 institutions. Conclusions Neuroendoscopy is not only a priority surgical tool for East Africa. It offers a medical philosophy as an application that serves as an art and a science dedicated to the development of a complex surgical specialty: neurosurgery.

Plants provide a rich source of lead compounds for a variety of diseases. A novel approach combining phytochemistry and chemotaxis assays was developed and used to identify and study the mechanisms of action of the active compounds in F. japonica, a medicinal herb traditionally used to treat inflammation. Based on a bioactivity-guided purification strategy, two anthranoids, emodin and physcion, were identified from F. japonica. Spectroscopic techniques were used to characterize its crude extract, fractions and phytochemicals. The crude extract, chloroform fraction, and anthranoids of F. japonica significantly inhibited CXCR4-mediated chemotaxis. Mechanistic studies showed that emodin and physcion inhibited chemotaxis via inactivating the MEK/ERK pathway. Moreover, the crude extract and emodin could prevent or treat type 1 diabetes in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice. This study illustrates the applicability of a combinational approach for the study of anti-inflammatory medicine and shows the potential of F. japonica and its anthranoids for anti-inflammatory therapy.

In order to study the role of hemodynamic factors on the healing and native morphology of endothelium in vivo, turbulent arterial flow was created using a loop bypass model, with and without occlusion in the recipient vessel. In this model, several different patterns of turbulent arterial blood flow resulted. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to evaluate endothelial morphology in the area of the anastomoses at 3 and 14 days post-operatively. Morphological changes in the native endothelium along the recipient vessel correlated well with the direction of blood flow and predicted patterns of turbulence. The morphology of the native endothelium was altered to reflect the direction and pattern (laminar versus turbulent) of blood flow by 3 days post-operatively. Based on endothelial morphology, very narrow zones of separation could be demonstrated between areas of laminar and turbulent blood flow. The degree of reendothelialization across the suture itself was greatly variable at 3 days and there seemed to be no relationship to the location of turbulent flow.

Twenty-four experimental aneurysms were created in rat carotid arteries using the venous pouch technique. Four to twelve weeks later, these aneurysms were totally obliterated by the external application of Nd:YAG laser. The aneurysmal dome and neck were both exposed to the laser using low amplitude (1-2 W) at continuous or repeat intervals (0.3 sec on/0.1 sec off). Small aneurysms were easily obliterated without external signs of necrosis, whereas aneurysms larger than 2 mm required complete coagulation resulting in a charcoal-like appearance. At varying intervals (30 min, 7 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks), the obliterated aneurysms were harvested and evaluated using the scanning electron microscope and standard histological techniques. The results indicate that the effects of the laser on the aneurysm and parent vessel are similar to those encountered following the application of bipolar coagulation with massive coagulation necrosis of the aneurysmal neck and dome. Notably, however, the extension of this process onto the parent vessel involving especially the endothelium surrounding the aneurysm orifice (commonly seen with bipolar coagulation) is minimal following laser coagulation. There appears to be a protective effect on the parent vessel endothelium by blood flow through the vessel. On this basis, it appears that the laser may be an alternative method of aneurysmal coagulation; the use of laser entails less manipulation of the aneurysm. The Nd:YAG laser may be a useful adjunct in the surgical obliteration of clinical cerebral artery aneurysms, especially small ones.

✓ Watertight closure of the dura following transsphenoidal operations for pituitary adenoma or hypophysectomy and following transclival operations for paraclival tumors has been technically very difficult. This is true both immediately after the initial approach and later for the treatment of delayed cerebrospinal fluid leakage. An innovative practical technique and special suture-tying instruments and needle designed by the principal author for this purpose have greatly facilitated this procedure. This technique has been applied to both direct dural closure and dural patching with watertight dural closure. The technique is also widely applicable for closing (or suturing) the dura following any procedure through a small opening, such as the dural tears occasionally encountered during lumbar or cervical discectomy, or tacking the tentorium during a craniotomy. The technique and suture-tying instruments are described in detail.

Background: The arcuate foramen is an important osseous anomaly of the first cervical vertebra (the atlas) that must be taken into consideration during placement of lateral mass screws into the atlas. Methods: The prevalence of this anomaly in our patient population was determined through a retrospective review of 464 lateral radiographs of the neck. The anatomy of the arcuate foramen was identified in a study of cadavers. Results: Seventy-two arcuate foramina, complete or incomplete, were identified on the 464 lateral radiographs of the neck; thus, the prevalence was 15.5% in our patient population. Conclusions: Although the arcuate foramen is a common anomaly, it is often not recognized. Proper identification of this anomaly on preoperative lateral radiographs should alert the surgeon to avoid using the ponticulus posticus as a starting point for a lateral mass screw in order to not injure the vertebral artery. Level of Evidence: Diagnostic Level IV. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

A new method for producing experimental arterial aneurysms in rats is described. The aneurysms created by this technique resemble the intracranial aneurysms seen clinically in their gross and histologic appearance. The two types of aneurysms are also similar in the skill and techniques required for their microscopic dissection. Using this model, microsurgical techniques for the obliteration of aneurysms can be rehearsed and refined in the laboratory before they are applied clinically.

A patient with von Willebrand's disease having aortic valve replacement was managed with cryoprecipitate infusions and monitoring of factor VIII levels. This disorder is associated with low factor VIII levels and abnormal platelet function. There may be no history of bleeding, as the severity of the bleeding tendency varies greatly and fluctuates temporally. The partial thromboplastin time is frequently prolonged, but more detailed studies are necessary to establish a diagnosis (bleeding time, platelet adhesiveness to glass beads and ristocetin, von Willebrand's antigen, ristocetin-von Willebrand's factor, and factor VIII clotting activity). Elevation of factor VIII levels to 50 to 100% of normal allows adequate clotting and is best accomplished with cryoprecipitate or fresh frozen plasma rather than commercial concentrates of factor VIII, whose activity is unpredictable.

One hundred thirty-two experimental rat carotid artery aneurysms were produced using a variety of methods, in order to determine which of these approaches should be employed in the development of a satisfactory laboratory model. The gross appearance and pathomorphology of aneurysms created by vein pouch and partial arteriotomy methods most closely resembled those features reported in clinical intracranial aneurysms.

Mural vascular repair following experimental and clinical aneurysm obliteration was studied using the scanning electron microscope and standard histological techniques. Two of the more frequently utilized clinical obliteration techniques, clipping and coagulation, were examined. A chronological description of the mural reparative process reveals that clipping is superior to coagulation in most instances, that coagulation results in satisfactory obliteration of the aneurysmal orifice only in very selected circumstances, and that a combination of coagulation and clipping may be the best overall obliteration technique.

We report on a boy with myelomeningocele and a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt, who presented with progressive ureteropelvic junction obstruction and an enlarging right upper quadrant mass. Exploration revealed a large pseudocyst around the distal portion of the shunt, causing obstruction of an unsuspected retrocaval ureter. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of an upper urinary tract complication due to a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt as well as the first case of a retrocaval ureter associated with myelomeningocele.

Vascular prostheses of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene were tested as microvascular synthetic substitutes in a carotid bypass model in rats. Poor patency rates (28%) were obtained with this material when compared with the rates obtained in homologous arterial grafts (100%). It is concluded that expanded polytetrafluoroethylene is unacceptable for use as a 1 mm vascular conduit.

A case of hemangioendothelioma encountered in the lumbar region of a child is presented. Clinically, the tumor could not be differentiated from a dermoid cyst. This lesion must be included in the differential diagnosis of benign lumbar tumors.

A new, simple, and atraumatic technique for prevention of tension at the site of an anastomosis during end-to-end vascular anastomoses without using an approximator clamp is described.

✓ An atraumatic technique for exposing the posterior wall during an end-to-side anastomosis is described.