ABSTRACT. Objective. Pediatric victims of blunt trauma have developmental and anatomic characteristics that can make it difficult to assess their risk of cervical spine injury (CSI). Previous reports, all retrospective in nature, have not identified any cases of CSI in either children or adults in the absence of neck pain, neurologic symptoms, distracting injury, or altered mental status. The objective of this study was to examine the incidence and spectrum of spine injury in patients who are younger than 18 years and to evaluate the efficacy of the National Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Study (NEXUS) decision instrument for obtaining cervical spine radiography in pediatric trauma victims.Methods. We performed a prospective, multicenter study to evaluate pediatric blunt trauma victims. All patients who presented to participating emergency departments underwent clinical evaluation before radiographic imaging. The presence or absence of the following criteria was noted: midline cervical tenderness, altered level of alertness, evidence of intoxication, neurologic abnormality, and presence of painful distracting injury. Presence or absence of each individual criterion was documented for each patient before radiographic imaging, unless the patient was judged to be too unstable to complete the clinical evaluation before radiographs. The decision to radiograph a patient was entirely at the physician's discretion and not driven by the NEXUS questionnaire. The presence or absence of CSI was based on the final interpretation of all radiographic studies. Data on all patients who were younger than 18 years were sequestered from the main database for separate analysis.Results. There were 3065 patients (9.0% of all NEXUS patients) who were younger than 18 years in this cohort, 30 of whom (0.98%) sustained a CSI. Included in the study were 88 children who were younger than 2, 817 who were between 2 and 8, and 2160 who were 8 to 17. Fractures of the lower cervical vertebrae (C5-C7) accounted for 45.9% of pediatric CSIs. No case of spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormality was reported in any child in this study, although 22 cases were reported in adults. Only 4 of the 30 injured children were younger than 9 years, and none was younger than 2 years. Tenderness and distracting injury were the 2 most common abnormalities noted in patients with and without CSI. The decision rule correctly identified all pediatric CSI victims (sensitivity: 100.0%; 95% confidence interval: 87.8%-100.0%) and correctly designated 603 patients as low risk for CSI (negative predictive value: 100.0%; 95% confidence interval: 99.4%-100.0%).Conclusions. The lower cervical spine is the most common site of CSI in children, and fractures are the most common type of injury. CSI is rare among patients aged 8 years or younger. The NEXUS decision instrument performed well in children, and its use could reduce pediatric cervical spine imaging by nearly 20%. However, the small number of infants and toddlers in the study suggests caution in applying t...

Object This study investigated the differences in effectiveness and morbidity between endoscopically assisted wide-vertex strip craniectomy with barrel-stave osteotomies and postoperative helmet therapy versus open calvarial vault reconstruction without helmet therapy for sagittal craniosynostosis. Methods Between 2003 and 2010, the authors prospectively observed 89 children less than 12 months old who were surgically treated for a diagnosis of isolated sagittal synostosis. The endoscopic procedure was offered starting in 2006. The data associated with length of stay, blood loss, transfusion rates, operating times, and cephalic indices were reviewed. Results There were 47 endoscopically treated patients with a mean age at surgery of 3.6 months and 42 patients with open-vault reconstruction whose mean age at surgery was 6.8 months. The mean follow-up time was 13 months for endoscopic versus 25 months for open procedures. The mean operating time for the endoscopic procedure was 88 minutes, versus 179 minutes for the open surgery. The mean blood loss was 29 ml for endoscopic versus 218 ml for open procedures. Three endoscopically treated cases (6.4%) underwent transfusion, whereas all patients with open procedures underwent transfusion, with a mean of 1.6 transfusions per patient. The mean length of stay was 1.2 days for endoscopic and 3.9 days for open procedures. Of endoscopically treated patients completing helmet therapy, the mean duration for helmet therapy was 8.7 months. The mean pre- and postoperative cephalic indices for endoscopic procedures were 68% and 76% at 13 months postoperatively, versus 68% and 77% at 25 months postoperatively for open surgery. Conclusions Endoscopically assisted strip craniectomy offers a safe and effective treatment for sagittal craniosynostosis that is comparable in outcome to calvarial vault reconstruction, with no increase in morbidity and a shorter length of stay.

One of the most intriguing recent discoveries concerning brain function is that intrinsic neuronal activity manifests as spontaneous fluctuations of the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI signal. These BOLD fluctuations exhibit temporal synchrony within widely distributed brain regions known as resting-state networks. Resting-state networks are present in the waking state, during sleep, and under general anesthesia, suggesting that spontaneous neuronal activity plays a fundamental role in brain function. Despite its ubiquitous presence, the physiological role of correlated, spontaneous neuronal activity remains poorly understood. One hypothesis is that this activity is critical for the development of synaptic connections and maintenance of synaptic homeostasis. We had a unique opportunity to test this hypothesis in a 5-y-old boy with severe epileptic encephalopathy. The child developed marked neurologic dysfunction in association with a seizure disorder, resulting in a 1-y period of behavioral regression and progressive loss of developmental milestones. His EEG showed a markedly abnormal pattern of high-amplitude, disorganized slow activity with frequent generalized and multifocal epileptiform discharges. Resting-state functional connectivity MRI showed reduced BOLD fluctuations and a pervasive lack of normal connectivity. The child underwent successful corpus callosotomy surgery for treatment of drop seizures. Postoperatively, the patient's behavior returned to baseline, and he resumed development of new skills. The waking EEG revealed a normal background, and functional connectivity MRI demonstrated restoration of functional connectivity architecture. These results provide evidence that intrinsic, coherent neuronal signaling may be essential to the development and maintenance of the brain's functional organization.developmental neuroimaging | epilepsy

This article presents a modification to the existing classification scales of intracranial dural arteriovenous fistulas based on newly published research regarding the relationship of clinical symptoms and outcome. The 2 commonly used scales, the Borden-Shucart and Cognard scales, rely entirely on angiographic features for categorization. The most critical anatomical feature is the identification of cortical venous drainage (CVD; Borden-Shucart Types II and III and Cognard Types IIb, IIa + b, III, IV, and V), as this feature identifies lesions at high risk for future hemorrhage or ischemic neurological injury. Yet recent data has emerged indicating that within these high-risk groups, most of the risk for future injury is in the subgroup presenting with intracerebral hemorrhage or nonhemorrhagic neurological deficits. The authors have defined this subgroup as symptomatic CVD. Patients who present incidentally or with symptoms of pulsatile tinnitus or ophthalmological phenomena have a less aggressive clinical course. The authors have defined this subgroup as asymptomatic CVD. Based on recent data the annual rate of intracerebral hemorrhage is 7.4–7.6% for patients with symptomatic CVD compared with 1.4–1.5% for those with asymptomatic CVD. The addition of asymptomatic CVD or symptomatic CVD as modifiers to the Borden-Shucart and Cognard systems improves their accuracy for risk stratification of patients with high-grade dural arteriovenous fistulas.

Context-Although stroke centers are widely accepted and supported, little is known about their impact on patient outcomes.Objective-To examine the association between admission to stroke centers for an acute ischemic stroke and mortality.Design, Setting, and Participants-Observational study using data from the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System. We compared mortality for patients admitted with acute ischemic stroke (n=30,947) between 2005 and 2006 at designated stroke centers and non-designated hospitals using differential distance to hospitals as an instrumental variable to adjust for potential pre-hospital selection bias. Patients were followed for mortality for 1 year after the index hospitalization through 2007. To assess whether our findings were specific to stroke, we also compared mortality for patients admitted with gastrointestinal hemorrhage (n=39,409) or acute myocardial infarction (n=40,024) at designated stroke centers and nondesignated hospitals.Main Outcome Measure-Thirty-day all-cause mortality.Correspondence: Ying Xian, MD, PhD; Duke Clinical Research Institute, 2400 Pratt Street, Durham, NC 27705; Tel: (585) Fax: (919) 668-7058; ying.xian@duke.edu. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS Dr Xian had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Previous Presentation:This study was presented in part at the 2010 American Heart Association Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Conference, Washington, DC, May 20, 2010 Role of the Sponsor: The funding organization had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or preparation of the manuscript. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the AHA and AHRQ.Disclaimer: This study used a linked SPARCS-SSADMF database. The interpretation and reporting of these data are the sole responsibility of the authors. Results-Among 30,947 patients with acute ischemic stroke, 15,297 (49.4%) were admitted to designated stroke centers. Using the instrumental variable analysis, admission to designated stroke centers was associated with greater use of thrombolytic therapy (4.8% vs. 1.7%; adjusted difference 2.2%, 95% CI, 1.6% to 2.8%; P<0.001) and lower 30-day all-cause mortality (10.1% vs. 12.5%; adjusted mortality difference: −2.5%, 95% CI, −3.6% to −1.4%; P<0.001). Differences in mortality also were observed at all time points, including at 1-day, 7-day, and 1-year follow-up. Moreover, the outcome differences were specific to stroke, as stroke centers and non-stroke centers had similar 30-day all-cause mortality rates among those with acute myocardial infarction (adjusted mortality difference: +0.3%, 95% CI, −0.5% to 1.0%; P=0.50) and/or gastrointestinal hemorrhage (adjusted mortality difference: +0.1%, 95% CI, −0.9% to 1.1%; P=0.83). NIH Public AccessConclusions-Admission to a designated stroke center for acute isc...