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The main treatment modalities are surgery, embolization and radiotherapy.
Treatment for Nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (JNA) is primarily surgical. The tumor is primarily excised by external or endoscopic approach. Medical treatment and radiation therapy are only of historical interest.
External approaches:
- transpalatine approach
- transpalatine + sublabial (Sardana's) Approach
- infratemporal Approach
- nasal endoscopic Approach
- transmaxillary Approach
Endoscopic approach is an excellent tool in primary and recurrent JNA, it allows visualisation and precise removal of the lesion. Preoperative embolisation of tumour may be of some use in reducing intraoperative bleeding.
Direct visualization is not common.
Determination of treatment options depends on certain factors, some of which affect internal organs and others that affect personal appearance. When determining treatment, oncologists consider the initial location the tumor, the likelihood of body function deterioration, the effect on appearance, and the patient's potential response to chemotherapy and radiation. Surgery is the least successful of the treatment options; the tumor cannot be completely removed because it develops within the cells. Chemotherapy follows surgery to shrink or eliminate the remaining cancer cells.
Stem cell research under clinical trial shows promise to replace lost cells.
The aggressiveness of this cancer requires the response of a large team of specialists, possibly including a pediatric surgeon, oncologist, hematologist, specialty nurse, and rehabilitation specialists. Social workers and psychologists aid recovery by building a system of emotional support. Treatment is harsh on the body and may result in side effects including mood swings, learning difficulties, memory loss, physical deformations or restrictions, and potential risk of secondary cancers.
There is no known cure for FMD. However, treatment focuses on relieving symptoms associated with it. Medical management is the most common form of treatment. The best approach to medically managing these patients is constantly being reevaluated as more information is learned about the disease.
Pediatric FMD medical and surgical treatments or interventions are available. Treatment is determined by factors such as age and disease location but routinely involve controlling hypertension, re-establishing vascular flow, clot prevention, and improving lifestyle such as diet, exercise and smoking cessation.
Medical therapy for pediatric population may involve the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE inhibitors) and/or angiotensin II receptor blockers, multiple anti-hypertensive medications, diuretics, calcium channel blockers, and beta-blockers. Prevention of thrombosis of affected arteries may be taken through administration of an antiplatelet medication such as aspirin.
Percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA) remains the gold standard for renal-artery FMD. This treatment is useful when hypertension is difficult to control; patient is intolerant to the anti-hypertensive medications, non-complainant to medication regime and patient loss of renal volume due to ischemia. PTRA can also aide in preventing a lifelong dependency on a medication for such a young patient. According to Meyers, “effective PTRAs result in cured or controlled blood pressure, which is often signified by reductions in plasma renin activity and angiotensin II levels, and when compared with surgery, percutaneous balloon angioplasty is less costly, able to be performed on an outpatient basis, results in lower morbidity, and the use of stenting is not primarily necessary.” However, there is a subset of the pediatric population that are resistant to PTRA. Adverse events may include, “recurrent stenosis, arterial occlusion with renal loss, and arterial rupture with extravasations and pseudo aneurysm formation and may require surgical intervention.
Treatment and survival is determined, to a great extent, by whether or not a cancer remains localized or spreads to other locations in the body. If the cancer metastasizes to other tissues or organs it usually dramatically increases a patient's likelihood of death. Some cancers—such as some forms of leukemia, a cancer of the blood, or malignancies in the brain—can kill without spreading at all.
Once a cancer has metastasized it may still be treated with radiosurgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, biological therapy, hormone therapy, surgery, or a combination of these interventions ("multimodal therapy"). The choice of treatment depends on a large number of factors, including the type of primary cancer, the size and location of the metastases, the patient's age and general health, and the types of treatments used previously. In patients diagnosed with CUP it is often still possible to treat the disease even when the primary tumor cannot be located.
Current treatments are rarely able to cure metastatic cancer though some tumors, such as testicular cancer and thyroid cancer, are usually curable.
Palliative care, care aimed at improving the quality of life of people with major illness, has been recommended as part of management programs for metastasis.
An antiplatelet, such as aspirin, is started for secondary prevention of stroke after most TIAs. An exception is TIAs due to blood clots originating from the heart, in which case anticoagulants are generally recommended. After TIA or minor stroke, aspirin therapy has been shown to reduce the short-term risk of recurrent stroke by 60-70%, and the long-term risk of stroke by 13%.
The typical therapy may include aspirin alone, a combination of aspirin plus extended-release dipyridamole, or clopidogrel alone. Clopidogrel and aspirin have similar efficacies and side effect profiles. Clopidogrel is more expensive and has a slightly decreased risk of GI bleed. There is some evidence that giving both aspirin and clopidogrel within 24 hours of a TIA or minor stroke is more effective than aspirin alone. Another antiplatelet, ticlopidine, is rarely used due to increased side effects.
Anticoagulants may be started if the TIA is thought to be attributable to atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal heart rhythm that may cause the formation of blood clots that can travel to the brain, resulting in TIAs or ischemic strokes. Atrial fibrillation increases stroke risk by five times, is thought to cause 10-12% of all ischemic strokes in the US. Anticoagulant therapy can decrease the relative risk of ischemic stroke in those with atrial fibrillation by 67% Warfarin is a common anticoagulant used, but direct acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs), such as apixaban, have been shown to be equally effective while also conferring a lower risk of bleeding. Generally, anticoagulants and antiplatelets are not used in combination, as they result in increased bleeding risk without a decrease in stroke risk. However, combined antiplatelet and anticoagulant therapy may be warranted if the patient has symptomatic coronary artery disease in addition to atrial fibrillation.
Sometimes, myocardial infarction (“heart attack”) may lead to the formation of a blood clot in one of the chambers of the heart. If this is thought to be the cause of the TIA, people may be temporarily treated with warfarin or other anticoagulant to decrease the risk of future stroke.
The goal of treatment is to prevent the development or continuation of neurologic deficits. Treatments include observation, anticoagulation, stent implantation and carotid artery ligation.
CUP is a term that refers to many different cancers. For that reason, treatment depends on where the cancer is found, the microscopic appearance of the cancer cells, the biochemical characterization of the cells, and the patient’s age and overall physical condition. In women, who present with axillary lymph node involvement, treatment is offered along the lines of breast cancer. In patients, who have neck lymph node involvement, then treatment is offered along the lines of head and neck cancer. If inguinal lymph nodes are involved, then treatment may be offered along the lines of genitourinary cancer.
If the site of origin is unknown or undiscovered, then the histology of the tumor (e.g., adenocarcinoma, squamous cell or mesenchymal) can usually be identified, and a probable origin may be assumed. When this is possible, then treatment is based on the type of cell and probable origin. Based on histological subtype, combination chemotherapy may be selected. A combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel is often used. Advances techniques such as FISH and tissue of origin testing may also be employed. Germ cell tumors often carry abnormality of chromosome 12, which if identified, directs treatment for metastatic germ cell tumors.
No method is standard for all forms of CUP, but chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, and surgery may be used alone or in combination to treat patients who have CUP. Even when the cancer is unlikely to be cured, treatment may help the patient live longer or improve the patient’s quality of life. Radiation may be used to shrink a variety of local tumors. However, the potential side effects of the treatment must be considered along with the potential benefits.
In CUP to secondary neck nodes, surgery followed by external beam radiotherapy is sufficient.
For CUP with an unfavorable prognosis, treatment with taxanes may provide a slight survival benefit. The uncertainties and ambiguity inherent in a CUP diagnosis may cause additional stress for the patient.
Treatment is focused on reducing stroke episodes and damage from a distending artery. Four treatment modalities have been reported in the treatment of vertebral artery dissection. The two main treatments involve medication: anticoagulation (using heparin and warfarin) and antiplatelet drugs (usually aspirin). More rarely, thrombolysis (medication that dissolves blood clots) may be administered, and occasionally obstruction may be treated with angioplasty and stenting. No randomized controlled trials have been performed to compare the different treatment modalities. Surgery is only used in exceptional cases.
Identifying and treatment the underlying malignancy constitutes an uptime approach. Topical 5-fluorouracil may occasionally be help, as may oral retinoids, topical steroids, vitamin A acid, urea, salicylic acid, podophyllotoxin, and cryodestruction employing liquid.
One approach used for treatment is embolization. A six-vessel angiogram is employed to determine the vascular supply to the fistula. Detachable coils, liquid embolic agents like NBCA, and onyx, or combinations of both are injected into the blood vessel to occlude the DAVF. Preoperative embolization can also be used to supplement surgery.
There are several interventions that are often used to help prevent the recurrence of a watershed stroke; namely, nutritional interventions, as well as antiplatelet, anticoagulant, and statin drug use. Nutritional interventions, including increased consumption of certain amino acids, antioxidants, B-group vitamins, and zinc, have been shown to increase the recovery of neurocognitive function after a stroke. Antiplatelet drugs, such as aspirin, as well as anticoagulants, are used to help prevent blood clots and therefore embolisms, which can cause watershed strokes. Statin drugs are also used to control hyperlipidemia, another risk factor for watershed stroke.
From analysis of the existing small treatment trials of cervical artery dissection (carotid and vertebral) it appears that aspirin and anticoagulation (heparin followed by warfarin) are equally effective in reducing the risk of further stroke or death. Anticoagulation is regarded as more powerful than antiplatelet therapy, but anticoagulants may increase the size of the hematoma and worsen obstruction of the affected artery. Anticoagulation may be relatively unsafe if a large stroke has already occurred, as hemorrhagic transformation is relatively common, and if the dissection extends into V4 (carrying a risk of subarachnoid hemorrhage). Anticoagulation may be appropriate if there is rapid blood flow (through a severely narrowed vessel) on transcranial doppler despite the use of aspirin, if there is a completely occluded vessel, if there are recurrent stroke-like episodes, or if free-floating blood clot is visible on scans. Warfarin is typically continued for 3–6 months, as during this time the flow through the artery usually improves, and most strokes happen within the first 6 months after the development of the dissection. Some regard 3 months as sufficient.
Professional guidelines in the UK recommend that patients with VA dissection should be enrolled in a clinical trial comparing aspirin and anticoagulation if possible. American guidelines state that the benefit of anticoagulation is not currently established.
Treatments of cancer in cats usually consists of diagnosis and observation of the tumor to determine its type and size, the development of a treatment plan, the associated goals on the part of the treatment methods, and the regular evaluation of the overall health of the pet.
Improvement usually parallels that of the cancer, whether surgical or chemotherapeutic. Generalization of the associated visceral malignancy may worsen the eruption.
In last decade, similar to myocardial infarction treatment, thrombolytic drugs were introduced in the therapy of cerebral infarction. The use of intravenous rtPA therapy can be advocated in patients who arrive to stroke unit and can be fully evaluated within 3 h of the onset.
If cerebral infarction is caused by a thrombus occluding blood flow to an artery supplying the brain, definitive therapy is aimed at removing the blockage by breaking the clot down (thrombolysis), or by removing it mechanically (thrombectomy). The more rapidly blood flow is restored to the brain, the fewer brain cells die. In increasing numbers of primary stroke centers, pharmacologic thrombolysis with the drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), is used to dissolve the clot and unblock the artery.
Another intervention for acute cerebral ischaemia is removal of the offending thrombus directly. This is accomplished by inserting a catheter into the femoral artery, directing it into the cerebral circulation, and deploying a corkscrew-like device to ensnare the clot, which is then withdrawn from the body. Mechanical embolectomy devices have been demonstrated effective at restoring blood flow in patients who were unable to receive thrombolytic drugs or for whom the drugs were ineffective, though no differences have been found between newer and older versions of the devices. The devices have only been tested on patients treated with mechanical clot embolectomy within eight hours of the onset of symptoms.
Angioplasty and stenting have begun to be looked at as possible viable options in treatment of acute cerebral ischaemia. In a systematic review of six uncontrolled, single-center trials, involving a total of 300 patients, of intra-cranial stenting in symptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis, the rate of technical success (reduction to stenosis of <50%) ranged from 90-98%, and the rate of major peri-procedural complications ranged from 4-10%. The rates of restenosis and/or stroke following the treatment were also favorable. This data suggests that a large, randomized controlled trial is needed to more completely evaluate the possible therapeutic advantage of this treatment.
If studies show carotid stenosis, and the patient has residual function in the affected side, carotid endarterectomy (surgical removal of the stenosis) may decrease the risk of recurrence if performed rapidly after cerebral infarction. Carotid endarterectomy is also indicated to decrease the risk of cerebral infarction for symptomatic carotid stenosis (>70 to 80% reduction in diameter).
In tissue losses that are not immediately fatal, the best course of action is to make every effort to restore impairments through physical therapy, cognitive therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and exercise.
Endovascular interventions, including surgical revascularization, can increase blood flow in the area of the stroke, thereby decreasing the likelihood that insufficient blood flow to the watershed regions of the brain will result in subsequent strokes. Neuroscientists are currently researching stem cell transplantation therapies to improve recovery of cebreral tissue in affected areas of the brain post-stroke. Should this intervention be proven effective, it will greatly increase the number of neurons in the brain that can recover from a stroke.
Keeping blood pressure below 140/90 mmHg is recommended. Anticoagulation can prevent recurrent ischemic strokes. Among people with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, anticoagulation can reduce stroke by 60% while antiplatelet agents can reduce stroke by 20%. However, a recent meta-analysis suggests harm from anticoagulation started early after an embolic stroke. Stroke prevention treatment for atrial fibrillation is determined according to the CHA2DS2–VASc score. The most widely used anticoagulant to prevent thromboembolic stroke in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation is the oral agent warfarin while a number of newer agents including dabigatran are alternatives which do not require prothrombin time monitoring.
Anticoagulants, when used following stroke, should not be stopped for dental procedures.
If studies show carotid artery stenosis, and the person has a degree of residual function on the affected side, carotid endarterectomy (surgical removal of the stenosis) may decrease the risk of recurrence if performed rapidly after stroke.
DAVFs are also managed surgically. The operative approach varies depending on the location of the lesion.
Stereotactic radiosurgery
Stereotactic radiosurgery is used obliterating DAVFs post-embolization, and is considered an important adjunct. Use of this method, however, is limited to benign DAVFs that have failed other treatments.
Prognosis for nasopharyngeal angiofibroma is favorable. Because these tumors are benign, metastasis to distal sites does not occur. However, these tumors are highly vascularized and grow rapidly. Removal is important in preventing nasal obstruction and recurrent epistaxis. Mortality is not associated with nasopharyngeal angiofibroma.
The natural history of this disorder is not well known. The long term outlook for patients with treated moyamoya seems to be good. While symptoms may seem to improve almost immediately after the in-direct EDAS, EMS, and multiple burr holes surgeries, it will take probably 6–12 months before new vessels can develop to give a sufficient blood supply. With the direct STA-MCA surgery, increased blood supply is immediate.
Once major stroke or bleeding take place, even with treatment, the patient may be left with permanent loss of function so it is very important to treat this condition promptly.
Dr. Michael Scott, MD discusses the success rate for Moyamoya surgery in
Treatment for cerebrovascular disease may include medication, lifestyle changes and/or surgery, depending on the cause.
Examples of medications are:
- antiplatelets (aspirin, clopidogrel)
- blood thinners (heparin, warfarin)
- antihypertensives (ACE inhibitors, beta blockers)
- anti-diabetic medications.
Surgical procedures include:
- endovascular surgery and vascular surgery (for future stroke prevention).
There is no cure for this disease. Drugs such as antiplatelet agents (including aspirin) are usually given to prevent clots, but surgery is usually recommended. Since moyamoya tends to affect only the internal carotid artery and nearby sections of the adjacent anterior and middle cerebral arteries, surgeons can direct other arteries, such as the external carotid artery or the superficial temporal artery to replace its circulation. The arteries are either sewn directly into the brain circulation, or placed on the surface of the brain to reestablish new circulation after a few weeks.
There are many operations that have been developed for the condition, but currently the most favored are the in-direct procedures EDAS, EMS, and multiple burr holes and the direct procedure STA-MCA. Direct superficial temporal artery (STA) to middle cerebral artery (MCA) bypass is considered the treatment of choice, although its efficacy, particularly for hemorrhagic disease, remains uncertain. Multiple burr holes have been used in frontal and parietal lobes with good neovascularisation achieved.
The EDAS (encephaloduroarteriosynangiosis) procedure is a synangiosis procedure that requires dissection of a scalp artery over a course of several centimeters and then making a small temporary opening in the skull directly beneath the artery. The artery is then sutured to a branch of the middle cerebral artery on the surface of the brain and the bone is replaced.
In the EMS (encephalomyosynangiosis) procedure, the temporalis muscle, which is in the temple region of the forehead, is dissected and through an opening in the skull placed onto the surface of the brain.
In the multiple burr holes procedure, multiple small holes (burr holes) are placed in the skull to allow for growth of new vessels into the brain from the scalp.
In the STA-MCA procedure, the scalp artery (superficial temporal artery or STA) is directly sutured to an artery on the surface of the brain (middle cerebral artery or MCA). This procedure is also commonly referred to as an EC-IC (External Carotid-Internal Carotid) bypass.
All of these operations have in common the concept of a blood and oxygen "starved" brain reaching out to grasp and develop new and more efficient means of bringing blood to the brain and bypassing the areas of blockage. The modified direct anastomosis and encephalo-myo-arterio-synangiosis play a role in this improvement by increasing cerebral blood flow (CBF) after the operation. A significant correlation is found between the postoperative effect and the stages of preoperative angiograms. It is crucial for surgery that the anesthesiologist have experience in managing children being treated for moyamoya, as the type of anesthesia they require is very different from the standard anesthetic children get for almost any other type of neurosurgical procedure.
Some of the most up to date treatments for Moyamoya are explained by top rated surgeons at Boston Children's Hospital in Massachusetts in these