Angiolipomas are benign tumours which usually arise from subcutaneous tissue, particularly in the forearm, but they do occur rarely in the spinal canal. To the best of our knowledge 60 cases of histologically confirmed spinal angiolipoma have been reported in the medical literature. They show a female predominance (1.6:1), and the mean age at presentation is 43 years. They usually arise in the thoracic spine, most cases presenting with slowly progressive signs and symptoms of cord compression. Rarely, massive acute haemorrhage into the tumour may herald its presence. Surgical resection or decompression are the most satisfactory methods of treatment in most patients. We describe three further cases of spinal angiolipoma, and discuss their aetiology, pathogenesis, clinico-pathological features and surgical management.

Neurenteric cysts are uncommon developmental cysts of the central nervous system lined by epithelium of intestinal origin. We describe a cyst in the anterior cranial fossa, which has not been previously reported.

Experience with a consecutive series of 125 computerized tomographic (CT) &e guided stereotaxic neurosurgical procedures, performed using the Brown-RobertpWells (BRW) system is described. Operative objectives included tissue sampling for diagnostic purposes, intra-operative localization of craniotomy flaps and intracerebral lesions, cyst and abscess aspiration and lesion to modulate tremor. A neuropathological diagnosis was possible in %YO of the biopsies, and lesions were precisely localized in all patients undergoing microsurgical stereotaxic craniotomy. Two patients (2.2Y0) undergoing sterrotaxl 'c biopsy died as a result of the procedure and one patient's hemiparesis was permanently worsened (0.8%). In only one of three patients undergoing stereotaxic thalamotomy was tremor abolished. This report confirms that (3 image guided stereotaxic neurosurgery is safe, accurate and versatile. There is, however, a moderate incidence (7.2%) of lesser complications that can occur with this type of surgery. These complications, which are emphasized in this paper, are related to both the site of surgery and the neuropathology. Key w o r k Brown-RobertsWells system, Computerized tooqpnphy, -, stemtaxic.' MD, PhD. FRACS, FRCSE(SN);