Percutaneous vertebroplasty has been deferred due to potential complications from urinary tract infections (UTIs). Our aim was to help sort out the types of treatment needed for percutaneous vertebroplasty patients and the length delay for performing the procedure. We searched for information regarding the ramifications of infection from the literature and devised a plan of treatment for the various infectious problems that may occur in patients undergoing percutaneous vertebroplasty. We devised a plan of action for the screening, testing, diagnosis and treatment of patients with a potential UTI who are presenting for a percutaneous vertebroplasty.

Meningiomas rarely occur in the pineal region, but they can reach huge diameters. We presented the case of a patient with a very large meningioma of the pineal region (6x5x4 cm). The tumor, developed from the falcotentorial junction, was totally removed via an occipital interhemispheric transtentorial approach with minimal postoperative neurological deficits. The postoperative course was complicated with an acute internal hydrocephalus that needed temporary placement of an external ventricular drainage. The supratentorial surgical corridors allow for increased exposure and are best suited for falcotentorial meningiomas.

In adults, cerebral metastases are the most common intracranial tumors, and their incidence has been rising in the last decades. The median interval between the diagnosis of the primary cancer and the detection of brain metastasis is relatively short, generally around one or two years. This study made a selection of six cases with a more than five years delay until the diagnosis of a cerebral metastases, from over 246 patients with brain metastases, admitted in our department, between 2006- 2010. All six patients underwent surgery for their primary neoplasm, prior to neurosurgical diagnosis and treatment. We found 6 patients, having renal, breast or lung cancer, in which the delay between diagnosis of the primary tumor and that of the brain metastases started from 5 years and reached even 18 years. In all cases, this delay was longer than the median interval found in the most neurosurgical series. Very probably the immune system plays a major role in controlling recurrences and new metastases in the nervous system

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