A Review of Neuroendoscopy and Potential Applications in Veterinary Medicine

Abstract

The endoscope was first developed over 200 yr ago. Endoscopy has since been applied to many disciplines of medicine. Its application to the nervous system was initially slow and not widely accepted and mainly involved the biopsy of tumors and the treatment of hydrocephalus. Several reasons for neuroendoscopy's limited use include inadequate endoscope technology, high skill level required, the advent of the surgical microscope, and the development of other treatments such as ventricular shunting. Over the past 50 yr, improvements in optical glass lenses, fiber optics, and electrical circuitry has led to better equipment and a revival of neuroendoscopy. Neuroendoscopy is now used in many diseases in human medicine including hydrocephalus, neoplasia, and intracranial cysts. This review presents the history of neuroendoscopy, the equipment and technology used, and the possible translation of techniques currently used in human medicine to veterinary medicine.

Canine brain tumours: a model for the human disease?

“…Thus, in terms of infectability and transfectability, J3T cells seem to be closer to human glioma than the 9L rodent gliosarcoma. Cytotoxicity of selection antibiotics such as G418, puromycin and hygromycin on J3T cells essentially resemble cytotoxicity seen with other established glioma lines . J3T cells have been efficiently transduced by high‐capacity adenoviral vectors (HC‐Ads) expressing murine cytomegalovirus (mCMV)‐driven herpes simplex virus‐1 thymidine kinase (HSV1‐TK), which induced 90% reduction in cell viability in the presence of ganciclovir .…”

“…In addition to endoscopy's use in performing or assisting with neurosurgical therapies, safe endoscopically assisted intracranial tumour biopsy techniques have been reported in dogs . Stereotactic biopsy has been reported using several systems including those compatible with both computerized tomography and MRI with various head‐frames or frameless techniques on both living patients and cadavers and has been found to be feasible, although many systems require modifications for use in canine or feline patients .…”