Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25661242›Full record

ArticleHuman pathology2015

Brain biopsy in neurologic decline of unknown etiology.

Shino Magaki, Tracie Gardner, Negar Khanlou, William H Yong, Noriko Salamon, Harry V Vinters

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Human pathology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.8field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  11. Detection of misfolded protein aggregates from a clinical perspective.Journal of clinical and translational research · 2016
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Shino MagakiSection of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1732, USA. Electronic address: smagaki@mednet.ucla.edu.
Tracie GardnerSection of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1732, USA.
Negar KhanlouSection of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1732, USA.
William H YongSection of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1732, USA.
Noriko SalamonDepartment of Radiological Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1732, USA.
Harry V VintersSection of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1732, USA; Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1732, USA; Brain Research Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1732, USA.
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center · USUCLA Medical Center · USLos Angeles Medical Center · USUniversity of California, Los Angeles · US

Funding

UCLA ALZHEIMERS DISEASE RESEARCH CENTERP50AG016570 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI GRILL, JOSHUA · 1999 to 2014
$25.9M
NIA NIH HHS P50 AG016570
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Brain biopsies have an uncertain role in the diagnosis of patients with dementia or neurologic decline of unknown etiology. They are often performed only after an exhaustive panel of less invasive tests and procedures have failed to provide a definitive diagnosis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of brain biopsies in this patient group through the retrospective analysis of 53 brain biopsies performed for neurologic disease of unknown etiology at a single tertiary care institution between December 2001 and December 2011. Patients with known nonlymphomatous neoplasms thought to be associated with the neurologic symptoms or with immunodeficiency were excluded from the study. Furthermore, the clinical presentation, imaging and laboratory tests were compared between diagnostic groups to identify factors more likely to yield a diagnosis. Sixty percent of the biopsies were diagnostic (32 of 53), with the most common histologic diagnosis of central nervous system lymphoma in 14 of 53 patients (26% of total) followed by infarct in four subjects (7.5%). A few patients were found to have rare and unsuspected diseases such as lymphomatosis cerebri, neurosarcoidosis and neuroaxonal leukodystrophy. Complications from biopsy were uncommon and included hemorrhage and infection with abscess formation at the biopsy site. These results suggest that brain biopsies may be useful in difficult cases in which less invasive measures have been unable to yield a definitive diagnosis.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overBiopsyBrainCentral Nervous System DiseasesCentral Nervous System NeoplasmsDementiaFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesAlzheimer’s diseaseBrain biopsyCentral nervous system lymphomaDementiaVasculitis

Identifiers

PMID25661242
PMCPMC4380782
OpenAlexW2057696172

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.