OBJECTIVEThe utility of telemedicine (TM) in neurosurgery is underexplored, with most of the studies relating to teletrauma or telestroke programs. In this study, the authors evaluate the cost-effectiveness of TM consultations for follow-up care of a large population of patients who underwent neurosurgical procedures.METHODSA decision-analytical model was used to assess the cost-effectiveness of TM for elective post–neurosurgical care patients from a predominantly nonurban cohort in West Bengal, India. The model compared TM care via a nodal center in West Bengal to routine, in-person, per-episode care at the provider site in Bangalore, India. Cost and effectiveness data relating to 1200 patients were collected for a 52-month period. The effectiveness of TM care was calculated using efficiency in terms of the percentage of successful TM consultations, as well as patient-perceived utility values for overall experience of the type of health care access that they received. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) analysis was done using the 4-quadrant charting of the cost-effectiveness plane. One-way sensitivity and tornado analyses were performed to identify thresholds where the care strategy would change.RESULTSThe overall utility for the 3 TM scenarios was found to be higher (89%) than for the utility of routine care (80%). TM was found to be more cost-effective (Indian rupee [INR] 2630 per patient) compared to routine care (INR 6848 per patient). The TM strategy “dominates” that of routine care by being more effective and less expensive (ICER value of -39,400 INR/unit of effectiveness). Sensitivity analysis revealed that cost-effectiveness of TM was most sensitive to changes in the number of TM patients, utility and success rate of TM, and travel distance to the TM center.CONCLUSIONSTM care dominates the in-person care strategy by providing more effective and less expensive follow-up care for a remote post–neurosurgical care population in India. In the authors’ setting, this benefit of TM is sustainable even if half the TM consultations turn out to be unsuccessful. The viability of TM as a cost-effective care protocol is attributed to a combination of factors, like an adequate patient volume utilizing TM, patient utility, success rate of TM, and the patient travel distance.

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The authors provide a simple, accurate and reproducible method of estimating foramen magnum area in the pediatric Chiari I group. The irregular shape of the foramen magnum is accentuated by developmental bony and soft tissue anomalies at the cranio-vertebral junction in Chiari malformation. Consequently, an individualized cross-sectional assessment of the foramen magnum in relation to the hindbrain tissue in the same plane is required to study the initiation and propagation of the Chiari I symptomatology.

The co-occurrence of two or more brain tumors with different histological features is rare. The authors report three rare cases of intracranial tumors associated with pituitary adenomas. Two of the pituitary tumors were functioning adenomas: a prolactinoma and a thyrotropin secreting adenoma. Two of the associated intracranial neoplasms were gliomas and one was a meningioma. Radiological and clinical examination for syndromal association was negative in all cases. We briefly discuss the presentation and treatment options of these cases and review the 19 previous publications in the literature of pituitary tumors occurring in association with other neoplasms and explore the possible links underlying these co-occurring neoplasms. Our three cases represent 0.86% of all pituitary tumors operated at our institute over a 9-year period.

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