In the last years, new techniques of neuroimages and histopathological methods have been added to the management of cerebral mass lesions in patients with AIDS. Stereotactic biopsy is necessary when after 14 days of empirical treatment for Toxoplasma gondii encephalitis there is no clinical or neuroradiologic improvement. We report a woman with AIDS who developed a single focal brain lesion on ...

Thirty patients with low-grade (WHO Grade II) astrocytomas involving the insula, who had undergone stereotactic biopsy followed by radiotherapy, were followed up to evaluate the outcome with regard to control of seizures, memory and language function, Karnofsky Performance scale and regression in tumor volume. Patients were followed up for a mean of 27.8 months, during which time they showed im...

Introduction: Alveolar hydatid disease is a lethal parasitic disease of human caused by the larval stage of echinococcosis multilocularis. Human beings are accidental intermediate hosts. Brain involvement is rare. The clinical, radiological and pathological findings in a case of multi-located alveolar hydatid disease are presented and the literature reviewed. Case presentation: The patient pres...

PURPOSE Molecular studies of breast lesions have been constrained by difficulties in procuring adequate tissues for analyses. Standard procedures are restricted to larger, palpable masses or the use of paraffin-embedded materials, precluding facile procurement of fresh specimens of early lesions. We describe a study to determine the yield and characteristics of sorted cell populations retrieved...

Image-guided procedures, such as computed tomography (CT)-guided stereotactic and ultrasound-guided methods, can assist neurosurgeons in localizing the relevant pathology. The characteristics of image-guided procedures are important for their appropriate use, especially in brain biopsy. This study reviewed the results of various image-guided brain biopsies to ascertain the advantages and disadv...

The natural history of 70 patients affected by low-grade astrocytomas was recorded after the histological diagnosis was obtained by serial stereotactic biopsy. Forty-three percent of these patients died within 3 years. The value of cell kinetics assessment at the time of stereotactic biopsy was investigated, and the labeling index percent may be considered the most accurate prognostic factor in...

BACKGROUND Although frameless stereotactic needle biopsy is an accepted procedure for the diagnosis of intracranial lesions, findings are nondiagnostic in 2-15% of patients and no recommendations yet exist to guide subsequent care. After reviewing the postoperative course after nondiagnostic biopsy of 28 patients, we developed a paradigm to guide management in the future. METHODS In reviewing...