Microdiscectomy (MD) is a stan­dard technique for the surgical treatment of lumbar disc herniation (LDH). Uniportal percutaneous full-endoscopic in­terlaminar lumbar discectomy (PELD) is another surgical op­tion that has become popular owing to reports of shorter hos­pitalization and earlier functional recovery. There are very few articles analyzing the total costs of these two techniques. The purpose of this study was to compare total hospital costs among microdiscectomy (MD) and uniportal percutaneous full-endoscopic interlaminar lumbar discectomy (PELD). Forty patients aged between 22-70 years who underwent PELD or MD with different anesthesia techniques were divided into four groups: (i) PELD-local anesthesia (PELD-Local) (n=10), (ii) PELD-general anesthesia (PELD-General) (n=10), (iii) MD-spinal anesthesia (MD-Spinal) (n=10), (iv) MD-general anesthesia (MD-General) (n=10). Health care costs were defined as the sum of direct costs. Data were then analyzed based on anesthetic modality to produce a direct cost evaluation. Direct costs were compared statistically between MD and PELD groups. The sum of total costs was $1,249.50 in the PELD-Local group, $1,741.50 in the PELD-General group, $2,015.60 in the MD-Spinal group, and $2,348.70 in the MD-General group. The sum of total costs was higher in the MD-Spinal and MD-General groups than in the PELD-Local and PELD-General groups. The costs of surgical operation, surgical equipment, anesthesia (anesthetist’s costs), hospital stay, anesthetic drugs and materials, laboratory wor­kup, nur­sing care, and postoperative me­dication diffe­red significantly among the two main groups (PELD-MD) (p<0.01). This study demonstrated that PELD is less costly than MD.

Introduction - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory infection that has rapidly become a global pandemic and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have been developed with great success. In this article, we would like to present a patient who developed Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), which is a serious complication after receiving the inactive SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (CoronaVac). Case report – A 76-year-old male patient presented to the emergency department with nine days of progressive limb weakness. Two weeks prior to admission, he received the second dose of CoronaVac vaccine. Motor examination revealed decreased extremity strength with 3/5 in the lower extremities versus 4/5 in the upper extremities. Deep tendon reflexes were absent in all four extremities. Nerve conduction studies showed predominantly reduced amplitude in both motor and sensory nerves, consistent with AMSAN (acute motor and sensory axonal neuropathy). Conclusion - Clinicians should be aware of the neuro­logical complications or other side effects associated with COVID-19 vaccination so that early treatment can be an option.

[Background – Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive, progressive neuromuscular disorder resulting in a loss of lower motoneurons. Recently, new disease-modifying treatments (two drugs for splicing modification of SMN2 and one for SMN1 gene replacement) have become available. Purpose – The new drugs change the progression of SMA with neonatal and childhood onset. Increasing amount of data are available about the effects of these drugs in adult patients with SMA. In this article, we summarize the available data of new SMA therapies in adult patients. Methods – Members of the Executive Committee of the Hungarian Clinical Neurogenetic Society surveyed the literature for palliative treatments, randomized controlled trials, and retrospective and prospective studies using disease modifying therapies in adult patients with SMA. Patients – We evaluated the outcomes of studies focused on treatments of adult patients mainly with SMA II and III. In this paper, we present our consensus statement in nine points covering palliative care, technical, medical and safety considerations, patient selection, and long-term monitoring of adult patients with SMA. This consensus statement aims to support the most efficient management of adult patients with SMA, and provides information about treatment efficacy and safety to be considered during personalized therapy. It also highlights open questions needed to be answered in future. Using this recommendation in clinical practice can result in optimization of therapy.]

Background and aims – Description of two cases of rare intravascular large B-cell lymphoma and secondary T-cell lymphoma diagnosed postmortem, that manifested clinically as longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM). We discuss causes of diagnostic difficulties, deceptive radiological and histological investigations, and outline diagnostic procedures based on our and previously reported cases. Case reports – Our first case, a 48-year-old female was admitted to the neurological department due to paraparesis. MRI suggested LETM, but the treatments were ineffective. She died after four weeks because of pneumonia and untreatable polyserositis. Pathological examination revealed intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVL). Our second case, a 61-year-old man presented with headache and paraparesis. MRI showed small bitemporal lesions and lesions suggesting LETM. Diagnostic investigations were unsuccessful, including tests for possible lymphoma (CSF flow cytometry and muscle biopsy for suspected IVL). Chest CT showed focal inflammation in a small area of the lung, and adrenal adenoma. Brain biopsy sample from the affected temporal area suggested T-cell mediated lymphocytic (paraneoplastic or viral) meningoencephalitis and excluded diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The symptoms worsened, and the patient died in the sixth week of disease. The pathological examination of the presumed adenoma in the adrenal gland, the pancreatic tail and the lung lesions revealed peripheral T-cell lymphoma, as did the brain and spinal cord lesions. Even at histological examination, the T-cell lymphoma had the misleading appearance of inflammatory condition as did the MRI. Conclusion – Lymphoma can manifest as LETM. In cases of etiologically unclear atypical LETM in patients older than 40 years, a random skin biopsy (with subcutaneous adipose tissue) from the thigh and from the abdomen is strongly recommended as soon as possible. This may detect IVL and provide the possibility of prompt chemotherapy. In case of suspicion of lymphoma, parallel examination of the CSF by flow cytometry is also recommended. If skin biopsy is negative but lymphoma suspicion remains high, biopsy from other sites (bone marrow, lymph nodes or adrenal gland lesion) or from a simultaneously existing cerebral lesion is suggested, to exclude or prove diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, IVL, or a rare T-cell lymphoma.