-Cysticercosis is an endemic condition in many developing countries. Although it is the most common parasitic disease of the central nervous system, cysticercal involvement of the spinal cord is rare. It may occur as intradural extramedullary, intramedullary, intramedullary associated with intradurale x t r a m e d u l l a ry or as the vertebral presentation. We re p o rt the case of a 53-year-old woman who pre s e n ted with low back pain of acute onset and no other symptoms. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed an intramedullary cyst of the conus medullaris region which, at pathological examination, was diagnosed as a cysticercal cyst. She refused anticysticercal agents and steroids postoperatively. After an eight-year follow-up, the patient performs the activities of her daily living with no difficulties, and annual spinal MRIs show no residual signs of the disease. Clinical, pathofisiological, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of spinal cord intramedullary cysticercosis are discussed.KEY WORDS: conus medullaris, cysticercosis, intramedullary cysticercosis, spinal cord.Cisticercose intramedular simulando tumor do cone medular: relato de caso RESUMO -Cisticercose é uma doença endêmica em vários países em desenvolvimento. Embora seja a doença parasitária mais freqüente do sistema nervoso central, o acometimento medular por cisticercos é raro. Pode o c o rrer nas formas intradural extramedular, intramedular isolada, intramedular em associação com intradural extramedular, além da forma vertebral. Relatamos o caso de mulher de 53 anos de idade que se apresentou com dor lombar de início agudo, sem outros sintomas. Ressonância magnética (RM) identificou imagem cística na região do cone medular que, no estudo histopatológico, foi diagnosticada como cisticerco. A paciente recusou tratamento pós-operatório com anti-helmínticos e corticosteróides. Após oito anos de seguimento, a paciente exerce suas atividades quotidianas sem dificuldades, e estudos de RM a n u a i s não mostram sinais de doença residual. Aspectos clínicos, fisiopatológicos, diagnósticos e terapêuticos da cisticercose intramedular são discutidos.

BACKGROUND The phrenic nerve can be transferred to the musculocutaneous nerve using video-assisted thoracoscopy, aiming at the recovery of elbow flexion in patients with traumatic brachial plexus injuries. There are few scientific papers in the literature that evaluate the results of this operative technique. OBJECTIVE To evaluate biceps strength and pulmonary function after the transfer of the phrenic nerve to the musculocutaneous nerve using video-assisted thoracoscopy. METHODS A retrospective study was carried out in a sample composed of 28 patients who were victims of traumatic injury to the brachial plexus from 2008 to 2013. Muscle strength was graded using the British Medical Research Council (BMRC) scale and pulmonary function through spirometry. Statistical tests, with significance level of 5%, were used. RESULTS In total, 74.1% of the patients had biceps strength greater than or equal to M3. All patients had a decrease in forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in 1 s, with no evidence of recovery over time. CONCLUSION Transferring the phrenic nerve to the musculocutaneous nerve using video-assisted thoracoscopy may lead to an increase in biceps strength to BMRC M3 or greater in most patients. Considering the deterioration in the parameters of spirometry observed in our patients and the future effects of aging in the respiratory system, it is not possible at the moment to guarantee the safety of this operative technique in the long term.

Introduction Schwannomas and neurofibromas are the two most common benign neoplasms of the peripheral nerve sheath, and although they are generally easy to distinguish, in some cases, they can closely resemble one another. Furthermore, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs), another example of peripheral nerve sheath neoplasm, may likewise constitute, due to their morphology and lack of specific immunohistochemical markers, a challenging diagnostic. Objective To bring attention to new and promising biomarkers for schwannomas, neurofibromas and MPNSTs and to outline, based on the recent literature, a immunohistochemical profile for each neoplasm at hand, as well as to emphasize the need for further studies that could help us understand their diagnostic potential and disrupt our dependence of limited and nonspecific biomarkers. Methods An overview of the recent literature published in English on both the classical promising immunohistochemical markers of schwannomas, neurofibromas and MPNSTs was performed. We discarded case reports. Conclusions There is still a lack of specific biomarkers for peripheral nerve tumors. However, plenty of new immunohistochemical markers have been coming to light with presumed higher specificity and more diverse helpful uses than the classical ones. For example, Sox10 is a good biomarker for differentiating schwannomas and neurofibromas from sarcomas, calretinin schwannomas from neurofibromas, TLE1 and HMGA2 MPNSTs from sarcomas, and nestin, EGFR, p16 and Ki-67 MPNSTs from different types of schwannomas and neurofibromas. There is still need for further studies; however, the potential of some of these promising markers, among others, should not be disregarded.

Neurocryptococcosis is a common mycotic central nervous system infection caused by the neurotropic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans 1 . It is most frequently found as the pathological presentation of cryptococcal meningoencephalitis 1 . Other rare forms of central nervous system cryptococcal infections are their solid-granulomatous appearance and abscesses, both being commonly named neurocryptococcomas, because of the mass effect they cause in surrounding tissue and their "tumoral aspect", many times simulating a brain tumor. Alternatively, Nucci et al. 2 described the unique report of a pseudocystic form of neurocryptococcosis. These medical conditions were classically described in immunocompromised hosts, mainly in HIV/AIDS infected patients.However, more recently, such disease has also been found in HIV-negative, immunocompetent individuals 1,3,4 . HIV-negative patients who were diagnosed with neurocryptococcoma had frequently other predisposing conditions to immunologic dysfunction such as sarcoidosis, diabetes, recent use of glucocorticoid or other immunossupresive therapy, as pointed by Gologorsky et al. 4 . CASEA 46 year-old male patient was admitted to the emergency room complaining of about two months of occipital headache, associated with nausea and vomiting in the last two days. Altered mental status had already been detected by his family within the last twelve hours before admittance. On neurological examination there was mild confusion and Glasgow coma scale score was 13. The patient was submitted to a contrast enhanced head computed tomography (CT) scan, which revealed a left cerebellar hemispheric tumor-like lesion with ring-like contrast enhancement, measuring about 2.8 cm on its major diameter. The lesion presented with surrounding edema, which caused fourth [A, B and C]. Complete resection of the lesion by a suboccipital craniectomy is shown in Fig 1D.

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