AIm: Pituitary abscess is a disorder characterized with central nervous system (CNS) infection, mass effect, and endocrine dysfunction. These abscesses generally occur due to hematogenous spread in conditions such as paranasal sinusitis, sepsis, and where the blood brain barrier breaks down. This paper aims to discuss four cases of preoperatively diagnosed pituitary abscess in the light of the literature. Results: All the patients showed fever, systemic signs of toxemia and endocrine dysfunction at the time of diagnosis. In these cases, a preoperative diagnosis of the disease was made thanks to characteristic MRI findings. The four cases were operated by the transnasal transsphenoidal approach and histopathological and microbiological studies were performed for surgical specimens.ConClusIon: Pituitary abscesses are rare disorders responsible for a high mortality risk. Mortality and morbidity can be reduced by early surgical drainage and appropriate antibiotic treatments. Additionally, these cases should be closely followed-up in terms of pituitary insufficiency, surgical complications and infection.

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We report our experience with and long-term results of 37 patients with tentorial meningiomas who underwent surgery between 1972 and 1993. The average age was 43 years, and the mean duration of symptoms was 36 months. Headache (83.8%) and extremity or gait ataxia (35.1%) were the most common complaints. On neurological examination, signs of elevated intracranial pressure and cerebellar deficits (51.4%) were the most common findings, followed by third nerve involvement (35.1%). Computed tomography, angiography, and, in recent years, magnetic resonance imaging were used as diagnostic tools and for planning the surgical procedure. According to the primary site of attachment, the tentorial meningiomas were divided into three subgroups: medial, lateral, and falcotentorial. The lateral and medial tumors, with mainly supratentorial development, were approached from above by using a temporal, temporooccipital, or parietooccipital craniotomy. For tumors developing mainly in the posterior cranial fossa, suboccipital craniectomy was performed. In six patients who showed medial tentorial and petrous apex attachment, a combined subtemporal transpetrosal and retromastoid approach was performed. In 31 patients, the tumors were totally removed, and, in 6 patients, only subtotal excision could be done. Seven patients had postoperative complications, but only one of them died of severe brain edema. Our mortality rate was 2.7%. In this article, appropriate preoperative studies, surgical techniques, and surgical results are discussed.

Background:Uncertainty still exists regarding the treatment of the patients presenting with gunshot wounds to the spine. Neurological insults, cerebrospinal fluid fistula, infection, lead or copper toxicity, migration of bullets, and spinal instability are included among the common challenging issues.Case Description:An 18-year-old woman was admitted with low back pain following a gunshot injury five days ago. She was neurologically intact. Radiological examinations showed that a bullet was settled in L4-5 disc space. The bullet was removed with a unilateral L4-5 partial hemilaminectomy and discectomy from the left side. The second case was of a 29-year-old man admitted with radiating leg pain on the right side following a gunshot injury from his left side of lower back four months ago. He had only positive straight leg raising test. Radiological studies showed two bullets, one was in the psoas muscle on the left side and the other was in spinal canal that had caused a burst fracture of the L5 vertebra. Following L5 laminectomy and bilateral L5-S1 facetectomy, the bullet was removed from the spinal canal and L5-S1 transpedicular posterior stabilization was performed. The postoperative period of both patients was unremarkable.Conclusion:Bullet settling into the lumbar spinal canal without causing neurological deficit may require surgical intervention. Removal of bullets provided not only pain relief in both the cases but also prevented future complications such as migration of the bullets, plumbism, and neuropathic pain and instability.

AIM: Hypertension, hypervolemia and hemodilution therapy is a common approach to cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid haemorrhage. This study is designed to see the difference of moderate or aggressive hypervolemia supported with induced hypertension in symptomatic vasospasm detected with transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD) measurements. MATeRIAL and MeTHods:Fifty eight patients who had aneurysm clipping and were admitted to the neurointensive care unit were treated with normovolemia and induced hypertension (n=35) or hypervolemia supported with induced hypertension (n=23) targeting a mean arterial pressure of 110-130 mm Hg and central venous pressure of 8-12 mm Hg. Daily TCD, fluid intake, fluid balance and haemodynamic values were recorded for 14 days.ResULTs: There were no differences detected in mean arterial pressure, central venous pressure, hematocrit values, fluid balance and middle cerebral artery flow velocities between the two groups through 14 days (p>0.05). Hyponatremia, pulmonary edema and cerebral ischemia were observed as complications. CoNCLUsIoN:Hypervolemia adds no benefit compared to normovolemia in the treatment of vasospasm occurred as a result of subarachnoid hemorrhage. Induced hypertension establishes the haemodynamic augmentation to prevent and treat vasospasm. BULGULAR:On dört gün boyunca takip edilen ortalama arter basıncı, santral venöz basınç, hematokrit değerleri, sıvı dengesi ve orta serebral arter akım hızlarında iki grup arasında fark yoktu. Komplikasyon olarak hiponatremi, pulmoner ödem ve serebral iskemi kaydedildi. soNUÇ: Subaraknoid kanama sonucu ortaya çıkan vasospasmın tedavisinde normovolemi ile karşılaştırıldığında hipervolemi ek bir yarar sunmamaktadır. Hipertansiyon vasospasmı önlemek ve tedavi etmek için gereken hemodinamik desteği sağlamaktadır.