Nutrition and the neurosurgical patient

1984 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Gadisseux ◽  
John D. Ward ◽  
Harold F. Young ◽  
Donald P. Becker

✓ There has been a rapid expansion of knowledge in the field of nutrition and metabolism with regard to the general surgical patient. However, only recently has there been greater appreciation of the benefits of adequate nutrition and appropriate metabolic care of the neurosurgical patient. In this review, the authors attempt to outline 1) the metabolic response to stress in general, and how it applies to the neurosurgical patient; 2) how best to provide adequate nutritional support for the neurosurgical patient; 3) the effects of nutrition on neurotransmitters; and 4) the effect of diet and nutrition on patients with malignant brain tumors.

2002 ◽  
Vol 97 ◽  
pp. 542-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Levivier ◽  
David Wikler ◽  
Nicolas Massager ◽  
Philippe David ◽  
Daniel Devriendt ◽  
...  

Object. The authors review their experience with the clinical development and routine use of positron emission tomography (PET) during stereotactic procedures, including the use of PET-guided gamma knife radiosurgery (GKS). Methods. Techniques have been developed for the routine use of stereotactic PET, and accumulated experience using PET-guided stereotactic procedures over the past 10 years includes more than 150 stereotactic biopsies, 43 neuronavigation procedures, and 34 cases treated with GKS. Positron emission tomography—guided GKS was performed in 24 patients with primary brain tumors (four pilocytic astrocytomas, five low-grade astrocytomas or oligodendrogliomas, seven anaplastic astrocytomas or ependymomas, five glioblastomas, and three neurocytomas), five patients with metastases (single or multiple lesions), and five patients with pituitary adenomas. Conclusions. Data obtained with PET scanning can be integrated with GKS treatment planning, enabling access to metabolic information with high spatial accuracy. Positron emission tomography data can be successfully combined with magnetic resonance imaging data to provide specific information for defining the target volume for the radiosurgical treatment in patients with recurrent brain tumors, such as glioma, metastasis, and pituitary adenoma. This approach is particularly useful for optimizing target selection for infiltrating or ill-defined brain lesions. The use of PET scanning contributed data in 31 cases (93%) and information that was specifically utilized to adapt the target volume in 25 cases (74%). It would seem that the integration of PET data into GKS treatment planning may represent an important step toward further developments in radiosurgery: this approach provides additional information that may open new perspectives for the optimization of the treatment of brain tumors.


2002 ◽  
Vol 97 ◽  
pp. 484-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toru Serizawa ◽  
Junichi Ono ◽  
Toshihiko Iichi ◽  
Shinji Matsuda ◽  
Makoto Sato ◽  
...  

Object. The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the effectiveness of gamma knife radiosurgery (GKS) for the treatment of metastatic brain tumors from lung cancer, with particular reference to small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) compared with non-SCLC (NSCLC). Methods. Two hundred forty-five consecutive patients meeting the following five criteria were evaluated in this study: 1) no prior brain tumor treatment; 2) 25 or fewer lesions; 3) a maximum of three tumors with a diameter of 20 mm or larger; 4) no surgically inaccessible tumor 30 mm or greater in diameter; and 5) more than 3 months of life expectancy. According to the same treatment protocol, large tumors (≥ 30 mm) were surgically removed and the other small lesions (< 30 mm) were treated with GKS. New lesions were treated with repeated GKS. Chemotherapy was administered, according to the primary physician's protocol, as aggressively as possible. Progression-free, overall, neurological, qualitative, and new lesion—free survival were calculated with the Kaplan—Meier method and were compared in the SCLC and NSCLC groups by using the log-rank test. The poor prognostic factors for each type of survival were also analyzed with the Cox proportional hazard model. Conclusions. Tumor control rate at 1 year was 94.5% in the SCLC group and 98% in the NSCLC group. The median survival time was 9.1 months in the SCLC group and 8.6 months in the NSCLC group. The 1-year survival rates in the SCLC group were 86.5% for neurological survival and 68.9% for qualitative survival; those in the NSCLC group were 87.9% for neurological and 78.9% for qualitative survival. The estimated median interval to emergence of a new lesion was 6.9 months in the SCLC group and 9.8 months in the NSCLC group. There was no significant difference between the two groups for any type of survival; this finding was verified by multivariate analysis. The results of this study suggest that GKS appears to be as effective in treating brain metastases from SCLC as for those from NSCLC.


2005 ◽  
Vol 102 (Special_Supplement) ◽  
pp. 180-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
György T. Szeifert ◽  
Isabelle Salmon ◽  
Sandrine Rorive ◽  
Nicolas Massager ◽  
Daniel Devriendt ◽  
...  

Object. The aim of this study was to analyze the cellular immune response and histopathological changes in secondary brain tumors after gamma knife surgery (GKS). Methods. Two hundred ten patients with cerebral metastases underwent GKS. Seven patients underwent subsequent craniotomy for tumor removal between 1 and 33 months after GKS. Four of these patients had one tumor, two patients had two tumors, and one patient had three. Histological and immunohistochemical investigations were performed. In addition to routine H & E and Mallory trichrome staining, immunohistochemical reactions were conducted to characterize the phenotypic nature of the cell population contributing to the tissue immune response to neoplastic deposits after radiosurgery. Light microscopy revealed an intensive lymphocytic infiltration in the parenchyma and stroma of tumor samples obtained in patients in whom surgery was performed over 6 months after GKS. Contrary to this, extensive areas of tissue necrosis with either an absent or scanty lymphoid population were observed in the poorly controlled neoplastic specimens obtained in cases in which surgery was undertaken in patients less than 6 months after GKS. Immunohistochemical characterization demonstrated the predominance of CD3-positive T cells in the lymphoid infiltration. Conclusions. Histopathological findings of the present study are consistent with a cellular immune response of natural killer cells against metastatic brain tumors, presumably stimulated by the ionizing energy of focused radiation.


1993 ◽  
Vol 79 (5) ◽  
pp. 729-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Barba ◽  
Joseph Hardin ◽  
Jasodhara Ray ◽  
Fred H. Gage

✓ Gene therapy has many potential applications in central nervous system (CNS) disorders, including the selective killing of tumor cells in the brain. A rat brain tumor model was used to test the herpes simplex virus (HSV)-thymidine kinase (TK) gene for its ability to selectively kill C6 and 9L tumor cells in the brain following systemic administration of the nucleoside analog ganciclovir. The HSV-TK gene was introduced in vitro into tumor cells (C6-TK and 9L-TK), then these modified tumor cells were evaluated for their sensitivity to cell killing by ganciclovir. In a dose-response assay, both C6-TK and 9L-TK cells were 100 times more sensitive to killing by ganciclovir (median lethal dose: C6-TK, 0.1 µg ganciclovir/ml; C6, 5.0 µg ganciclovir/ml) than unmodified wild-type tumor cells or cultured fibroblasts. In vivo studies confirmed the ability of intraperitoneal ganciclovir administration to kill established brain tumors in rats as quantified by both stereological assessment of brain tumor volumes and studies of animal survival over 90 days. Rats with brain tumors established by intracerebral injection of wild-type or HSV-TK modified tumor cells or by a combination of wild-type and HSV-TK-modified cells were studied with and without ganciclovir treatments. Stereological methods determined that ganciclovir treatment eliminated tumors composed of HSV-TK-modified cells while control tumors grew as expected (p < 0.001). In survival studies, all 10 rats with 9L-TK tumors treated with ganciclovir survived 90 days while all untreated rats died within 25 days. Curiously, tumors composed of combinations of 9L and 9L-TK cells could be eliminated by ganciclovir treatments even when only one-half of the tumor cells carried the HSV-TK gene. While not completely understood, this additional tumor cell killing appears to be both tumor selective and local in nature. It is concluded that HSV-TK gene therapy with ganciclovir treatment does selectively kill tumor cells in the brain and has many potential applications in CNS disorders, including the treatment of cancer.


1999 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leif Østergaard ◽  
Fred H. Hochberg ◽  
James D. Rabinov ◽  
A. Gregory Sorensen ◽  
Michael Lev ◽  
...  

Object. In this study the authors assessed the early changes in brain tumor physiology associated with glucocorticoid administration. Glucocorticoids have a dramatic effect on symptoms in patients with brain tumors over a time scale ranging from minutes to a few hours. Previous studies have indicated that glucocorticoids may act either by decreasing cerebral blood volume (CBV) or blood-tumor barrier (BTB) permeability and thereby the degree of vasogenic edema.Methods. Using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, the authors examined the acute changes in CBV, cerebral blood flow (CBF), and BTB permeability to gadolinium-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid after administration of dexamethasone in six patients with brain tumors. In patients with acute decreases in BTB permeability after dexamethasone administration, changes in the degree of edema were assessed using the apparent diffusion coefficient of water.Conclusions. Dexamethasone was found to cause a dramatic decrease in BTB permeability and regional CBV but no significant changes in CBF or the degree of edema. The authors found that MR imaging provides a powerful tool for investigating the pathophysiological changes associated with the clinical effects of glucocorticoids.


1971 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatsuya Kobayashi ◽  
Louis Bakay ◽  
Joseph C. Lee

✓ The deposition of Hg203-chlormerodrin was studied in intracranial tumors in mice induced by implantation of 20-methyl cholanthrene by tissue assay, as well as light microscopic and electron microscopic autoradiography. The investigations were carried out in astrocytomas, glioblastomas, and meningeal tumors. The chlormerodrin content of the tumors exceeded that of normal brain with a significant tumor/brain ratio ranging from 5.8 to 22.5. It was found that the chlormerodrin molecule becomes rapidly incorporated in the tumor cells, with a preference for that portion of the cytoplasm associated with the vacuolar system.


1996 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
pp. 1056-1065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Zünkeler ◽  
Richard E. Carson ◽  
Jeff Olson ◽  
Ronald G. Blasberg ◽  
Hetty Devroom ◽  
...  

✓ Hyperosmolar blood-brain barrier disruption (HBBBD), produced by infusion of mannitol into the cerebral arteries, has been used in the treatment of brain tumors to increase drug delivery to tumor and adjacent brain. However, the efficacy of HBBBD in brain tumor therapy has been controversial. The goal of this study was to measure changes in vascular permeability after HBBBD in patients with malignant brain tumors. The permeability (K1) of tumor and normal brain blood vessels was measured using rubidium-82 and positron emission tomography before and repeatedly at 8- to 15-minute intervals after HBBBD. Eighteen studies were performed in 13 patients, eight with glioblastoma multiforme and five with anaplastic astrocytoma. The HBBBD increased K1 in all patients. Baseline K1 values were 2.1 ± 1.4 and 34.1 ± 22.1 µl/minute/ml (± standard deviation) for brain and tumor, respectively. The peak absolute increases in K1 following HBBBD were 20.8 ± 11.7 and 19.7 ± 10.7 µl/minute/ml for brain and tumor, corresponding to percentage increases of approximately 1000% in brain and approximately 60% in tumor. The halftimes for return of K1 to near baseline for brain and tumor were 8.1 ± 3.8 and 4.2 ± 1.2 minutes, respectively. Simulations of the effects of HBBBD made using a very simple model with intraarterial methotrexate, which is exemplary of drugs with low permeability, indicate that 1) total exposure of the brain and tumor to methotrexate, as measured by the methotrexate concentration-time integral (or area under the curve), would increase with decreasing infusion duration and would be enhanced by 130% to 200% and by 7% to 16%, respectively, compared to intraarterial infusion of methotrexate alone; and 2) exposure time at concentrations above 1 µM, the minimal concentration required for the effects of methotrexate, would not be enhanced in tumor and would be enhanced by only 10% in brain. Hyperosmolar blood-brain barrier disruption transiently increases delivery of water-soluble compounds to normal brain and brain tumors. Most of the enhancement of exposure results from trapping the drug within the blood-brain barrier, an effect of the very transient alteration of the blood-brain barrier by HBBBD. Delivery is most effective when a drug is administered within 5 to 10 minutes after disruption. However, the increased exposure and exposure time that occur with methotrexate, the permeability of which is among the lowest of the agents currently used clinically, are limited and the disproportionate increase in brain exposure, compared to tumor exposure, may alter the therapeutic index of many drugs.


2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 1012-1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin A. Proescholdt ◽  
Marsha J. Merrill ◽  
Barbara Ikejiri ◽  
Stuart Walbridge ◽  
Aytac Akbasak ◽  
...  

Object. Immunotherapy for glioblastoma has been uniformly ineffective. The immunological environment of the brain, with its low expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules and limited access for inflammatory cells and humoral immune effectors due to the blood—brain barrier (BBB), may contribute to the failure of immunotherapy. The authors hypothesize that brain tumors are protected from immune surveillance by an intact BBB at early stages of development. To investigate the immunological characteristics of early tumor growth, the authors compared the host response to a glioma implanted into the brain and into subcutaneous tissue. Methods. Samples of tumors growing in the brain or subcutaneously in rats were obtained for 7 consecutive days and were examined immunohistochemically for MHC Class I & II molecules, and for CD4 and CD8 lymphocyte markers. Additionally, B7-1 costimulatory molecule expression and lymphocyte-specific apoptosis were examined. Conclusions. On Days 3 and 4 after implantation, brain tumors displayed significantly lower MHC Class II expression and lymphocytic infiltration (p < 0.05). After Day 5, however, no differences were detected. The MHC Class II expressing cells within the brain tumors appeared to be infiltrating microglia. Minimal B7-1 expression combined with lymphocyte-specific apoptosis were detected in both brain and subcutaneous tumors. Low MHC Class II expression and low lymphocytic infiltration at early time points indicate the importance of the immunologically privileged status of the brain during early tumor growth. These characteristics disappeared at later time points, possibly because the increasing perturbation of the BBB alters the specific immunological environment of the brain. The lack of B7-1 expression combined with lymphocyte apoptosis indicates clonal anergy of glioma-infiltrating lymphocytes regardless of implantation site.


1994 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 601-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chifumi Kitanaka ◽  
Masao Matsutani ◽  
Shigeo Sora ◽  
Sachiko Kitanaka ◽  
Ayako Tanae ◽  
...  

✓ Although precocious puberty is common in boys with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)-secreting brain tumors, it is extremely rare in girls. The authors describe a 6-year-old girl with an hCG-secreting suprasellar immature teratoma who presented with diabetes insipidus, increased intracranial pressure, and precocious puberty. On admission, breast budding was observed. The serum hCG level was 1230 mIU/ml. Both luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) remained below detectable levels, even after gonadotropin-releasing hormone stimulation. Serum estrogen and androgen were moderately elevated. After chemotherapy, breast budding disappeared with normalization of serum hCG. It has been believed that hCG does not produce precocious puberty in girls in the absence of FSH, and this has been used as an explanation for the rarity of precocious puberty in girls with hCG-secreting brain tumors. However, it has also been reported that hCG has not only LH activity but also intrinsic, although weak, FSH-like activity. In the present case, this FSH-like activity was considered to have played a role in the development of precocious puberty. It is speculated that a very high level of serum hCG can produce precocious puberty in girls. The rarity of intracranial germ-cell tumors with a high potential of hCG secretion may be one of the reasons why hCG-induced precocious puberty is uncommon in girls.


1984 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip H. Gutin ◽  
Theodore L. Phillips ◽  
William M. Wara ◽  
Steven A. Leibel ◽  
Yoshio Hosobuchi ◽  
...  

✓ Thirty-seven patients harboring recurrent malignant primary or metastatic brain tumors were treated by 40 implantations of high-activity iodine-125 (125I) sources. All patients had been treated with irradiation and most had been treated with chemotherapeutic agents, primarily nitrosoureas. Implantations were performed using computerized tomography (CT)-directed stereotaxy; 125I sources were held in one or more afterloaded catheters that were removed after the desired dose (minimum tumor dose of 3000 to 12,000 rads) had been delivered. Patients were followed with sequential neurological examinations and CT scans. Results of 34 implantation procedures were evaluable: 18 produced documented tumor regression (response) for 4 to 13+ months; five, performed in deteriorating patients, resulted in disease stability for 4 to 12 months. The overall response rate was 68%. In 11 patients, implantation did not halt clinical deterioration. At exploratory craniotomy 5 to 12 months after implantation, focal radiation necrosis was documented in two patients whose tumor had responded initially and then progressed, and in three patients whose disease had progressed initially (four glioblastomas, one anaplastic astrocytoma); histologically identifiable tumor was documented in two of these patients. All improved after resection of the focal necrotic mass and are still alive 10, 15, 19, 24, and 25 months after the initial implantation procedure; only one patient has evidence of tumor regrowth. The median follow-up period after implantation for the malignant glioma (anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma multiforme) group is 9 months, with 48% of patients still surviving. While direct comparison with the results of chemotherapy is difficult, results obtained in this patient group with interstitial brachytherapy are probably superior to results obtained with chemotherapy.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document