A patient presents with a one-year history of intermittent twitching of the right side of the face. During surgery to address the twitching, the nerve indicated by the arrow in the image shown is injured. This injury will most likely cause which of the following neurological deficits?
A. Unilateral Facial Numbness B. Vertigo
C. Dysphagia
D. Sensorineural hearing loss
E. Unilateral Facial Weakness
Correct Answer: Dysphagia
Which of the following characteristics confers the highest risk of hemorrhage for patients harboring dural arteriovenous fistulae?
Answers:
A. Draining into cortical veins
B. No sinus or venous outflow occlusion
C. Draining into the transverse-sigmoid sinuses
D. Venous varix on a draining vein
Correct Answer:
Draining into cortical veins
A 23-year-old woman is evaluated because of Bell palsy. An MR image with contrast of the facial nerve is shown. The arrow corresponds to which of the following segments of the facial nerve?
A. Labyrinthine segment
B. Meatal (canalicular) segment
C. Tympanic segment
D. Mastoid segment
E. Extratemporal segment
Correct Answer: Mastoid segment
During arteriovenous malformation embolization, prior to the administration of the liquid embolic agent ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer, the microcatheter should be flushed with which of the following agents?
Answers:
A. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)
B. Heparin
C. Phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)
D. Lidocaine hydrochloride 1%
E. Dextrose 5% in water (D5W)
DMSO
The carotid sinus reflex is characterized by which of the following?
Answers:
A. Reduced vagal nerve activity following hypotension
B. Vasoconstriction due to acidosis
C. Tachycardia following systemic arterial hypertension
D. Bradycardia following systemic arterial hypertension
E. Hypertension following external manual compression
Correct Answer:
Bradycardia following systemic arterial hypertension
Aortic arch classification is based on the distance from the origin of which of the following arteries to the top of the aortic arch?
A. Right carotid
B. Innominate
C. Left carotid
D. Right vertebral
E. Left vertebral
B. Innominate
A 75-year-old woman is evaluated for complaints of a painful left eye, double vision, and a “buzzing” sound in her head when she goes to sleep. Ophthalmic examination shows the left eye is proptotic and chemotic. Which of the following is the most likely diagnosis?
Answers:
A. Tentorial Dural Arteriovenous Fistula
B. Giant Basilar Tip Aneurysm
C. Tinnitus
D. Carotid-cavernous Fistula
E. Benign Positional Vertigo
D. Carotid-cavernous Fistula
Six months after undergoing removal of a medial sphenoid wing and cavernous sinus wall meningioma, a 67-year-old man complains of persistent dysesthetic pain and numbness along his inferior eyelid, lateral nose, mid face, and upper lip. This was most likely caused by injury to a branch of the nerve that ultimately passes through which of the following openings?
Answers:
A. Superior Orbital Fissure
B. Vidian Canal
C. Foramen Rotundum
D. Foramen Spinosum
E. Foramen Ovale
Correct Answer: Foramen Rotundum
An angiogram and MR image of the brain are shown. Which of the following vessels supplies the posterior circulation in this patient?
A. Fetal posterior communicating artery
B. Persistent hypoglossal artery
C. Persistent otic artery
D. Persistent proatlantal segmental artery
E. Persistent trigeminal artery
B. Persistent hypoglossal artery
Which of the following is likely to provide the most conclusive evidence of the anatomic integrity of the facial nerve in a patient with a facial paralysis following a basilar skull fracture?
Answers:
A. High Quality MRI
B. Surgical Exploration
C. High-resolution CT
D. Schirmir’s test
E. Electroneurography (ENOG)
Electroneurography (ENOG)
Which of the following statements is true regarding Wilbrand’s knee?
A. Compression of Wilbrand’s knee occurs at the posterior chiasm
B. Compression of Wilbrand’s knee causes contralateral central scotoma.
C. A junctional scotoma includes an inferio-nasal defect
D. A junctional scotoma includes a superio-nasal defect
E. Compression of Wilbrand’s knee results in an ipsilateral central scotoma and contralateral temporal defect
E. Compression of Wilbrand’s knee results in an ipsilateral central scotoma and contralateral temporal defect
The cell bodies of the afferent fibers carrying proprioceptive information from the masseter muscle are located in which of the following structures?
Answers:
A. Trigeminal Ganglion
B. Principal Sensory Nucleus of CN V C. Spinal trigeminal nucleus
D. Nucleus Ambiguus
E. Mesencephalic nucleus of CN V
Correct Answer: Mesencephalic nucleus of CN V
Primary auditory sensory neurons are located in which of the following structures?
Answers:
A. Heschl’s gyrus
B. Medial geniculate nucleus
C. Cochlear nucleus
D. Cochlear duct
E. Spiral ganglion
E. Spiral ganglion
A 65-year-old man is evaluated ten hours after the sudden onset of aphasia and right hemiplegia. He has no history of bleeding disorders and takes no medications. A CT scan of the brain shows no hemorrhage; MR angiography shows an abrupt cutoff of the left M1 segment and no diffusion abnormalities. Which of the following is the most appropriate treatment for this patient?
Answers:
A. recombinant alteplase
B. Mechanical Thrombectomy
C. Observation
D. Decompressive Craniectomy
E. External Ventricular Drain
Correct Answer: Mechanical Thrombectomy
The numerical designation associated with a preparation of the liquid embolic agent ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer refers to which of the following characteristics?
Answers:
A. Viscosity in centipoise
B. Polymerization time in seconds C. Osmolality in osmoles per liter D. Concentration as a percentage E. Volume in milliliters
Correct Answer: Viscosity in centipoise
A patient requires dual antiplatelet therapy for a neuroendovascular procedure. However, upon genetic testing, the patient is found to have two nonfunctional copies of the CYP2C19 gene and is classified as a CYP2C19 poor metabolizer. In addition to aspirin, which of the following is the most appropriate drug choice for this patient?
Answers:
A. Ticagrelor
B. Clopidogrel
C. Argatroban
D. Dipyridamole
E. Cilostazol
Correct Answer: Ticagrelor
A 22-year-old woman with moyamoya disease undergoes cerebral angiography. Based on the lateral projection of the left external carotid artery shown, which of the labeled arteries (A–E) would be most appropriate to use for an extracranial/intracranial bypass?
Answers:
A. A
B. B
C. C
D. D
E. E
Correct Answer: D
Discussion:
The Superficial Temporal Artery (D) is the most-studied and traditionally used extracranial donor vessel in an EC-IC Direct Bypass surgery.
A - Facial Artery
B - Internal Maxillary Artery
C - Middle Meningeal Artery
D - Superficial Temporal Artery
E - Occipital Artery
A 45-year-old man is evaluated because of a two-week history of headaches. MR angiography shows a 13-mm smooth left middle cerebral artery aneurysm. Which of the following factors would put this patient at increased risk for future hemorrhage?
Answers:
A. Smoking Status
B. Use of statin drugs
C. Multiple unruptured aneurysms
D. Hypertension
E. Family history of subarachnoid hemorrhage
Correct Answer: Hypertension
Discussion:
The PHASES score was developed to help surgeons decide when to treat unruptured intracranial aneurysms based on an estimated 5-year aneurysm rupture risk using risk factor status and combined data from prospective cohort studies. Predictors were age, hypertension, history of subarachnoid hemorrhage, aneurysm size, aneurysm location, and geographical region. In study populations from North America and European countries other than Finland, the estimated 5-year absolute risk of aneurysm rupture ranged from 0.25% in individuals younger than 70 years without vascular risk factors with a small-sized (<7 mm) internal carotid artery aneurysm, to more than 15% in patients aged 70 years or older with hypertension, a history of subarachnoid haemorrhage, and a giant-sized (>20 mm) posterior circulation aneurysm.
The patient in this question had a large 13mm anterior circulation aneurysm in a patient less than 70 years old. For a patient under 70 with a never-ruptured MCA aneurysm 10.0-19.9mm in size, a patient without hypertension has a 1% predicted risk of ruputure in the next 5 years–or 2% if the patient also has hypertension–and is considered low to very low risk of rupture. In this case, a history of hypertension would put the patient at increased risk of future rupture. The PHASES study concluded that “sex, presence of multiple aneurysms, and smoking status had no added value for the prediction of aneurysm rupture when other risk factors were accounted for.”
References:
Greving JP, Wermer MJ, Brown RD Jr, et al. Development of the PHASES score for prediction of risk of rupture of intracranial aneurysms: a pooled analysis of six prospective cohort studies. Lancet Neurol. 2014 Jan;13(1):59-66.
Foreman PM, Hendrix P, Harrigan MR, Fisher WS 3rd, Vyas NA, Lipsky RH, Walters BC, Tubbs RS, Shoja MM, Griessenauer CJ. PHASES score applied to a prospective cohort of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage patients. J Clin Neurosci. 2018 Jul;53:69-73. doi: 10.1016/j.jocn.2018.04.014. Epub 2018 Apr 20. PMID: 29685416.
During arteriovenous malformation embolization, prior to the administration of the liquid embolic agent n-butyl cyanoacrylate, the microcatheter should be flushed with which of the following agents?
Answers:
A. Ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) B. Heparin
C. Normal saline
D. Dextrose 5% in water (D5W)
E. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)
Correct Answer:
Dextrose 5% in water (D5W)
Which of the following best describes cranial nerves that are contained within the superior orbital fissure?
Answers:
A. Damage to the nerves from superior orbital fissure syndrome (SOFS) can occur from craniofacial trauma and causes a down-and-out eye and blindness.
B. There are eight individual nerves from five cranial nerves which pass through the superior orbital fissure.
C. They pass through the tendinous ring of Zinn to get to the orbit.
D. They are traveling from the cavernous sinus to the apex of the orbit.
E. They are bordered by the greater and lesser wings of the sphenoid as well as the ethmoid bone.
Correct Answer:
They are traveling from the cavernous sinus to the apex of the orbit.
Axons of retinal ganglion cells project to which of the following structures?
Answers:
A. Meyer’s loop
B. Suprachiasmatic nucleus
C. Optic chiasm
D. Lateral geniculate body
E. Optic cortex
Correct Answer: Lateral geniculate body
A 63-year-old woman with breast cancer is evaluated after undergoing MR imaging of the brain; the MR image is shown (Figure 1). Cerebral angiograms from the anteroposterior vertebral view (Figure 2) and lateral vertebral view (Figure 3) are shown. Which of the following treatments provides the lowest risk of procedural-related neurological deficits?
Answers:
A. Radiosurgery
B. Endovascular Embolization
C. Surgical resection after endovascular embolization D. Microsurgery
E. Surgical resection after radiosurgery
Correct Answer:
Correct Answer: Radiosurgery
Which of the following nuclei is associated with the sympathetic nervous system?
Answers:
A. Edinger–Westphal
B. Dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus
C. Inferior salivatory
D. Intermediolateral
E. Suprachiasmatic
Correct Answer: Intermediolateral
Bedside hearing evaluation of a patient shows the following: Test Left Ear Right Ear Weber No lateralization Lateralization Rinne Air conduction > Bone conduction Bone conduction > Air conductionWhich of the following is the most likely diagnosis?
Answers:
A. Left Sensorineural hearing loss
B. Left Conductive hearing loss
C. Bilateral sensorineural hearing loss
D. Right Sensorineural hearing loss
E. Right Conductive hearing loss
Correct Answer:
Correct Answer:
Right Sensorineural hearing loss