1/6. Minor head injury as cause and co-factor in the aetiology of stroke in childhood: a report of eight cases.BACKGROUND: Traumatic stroke usually occurs after dissection of large extracranial or intracranial vessels, leading to disseminated cerebral embolism. Stretching and distorting forces in cerebral intraparenchymal end arteries can cause intimal lesions followed by an occluding thrombus. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the importance of traumatic endothelial lesions in intraparenchymal end arteries after minor head injuries. methods: The cases of eight children are reported. They were aged between two and seven years (mean 6.2 years), and they developed significant neurological deficits at 15 minutes to 72 hours (mean 16.3 hours) after minor head injuries. RESULTS: The the patients all had hemiparesis combined with other signs, including central facial paralysis, dysphasia, dysphagia, and extrapyramidal signs. Computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging showed cerebral infarctions affecting branches of the middle cerebral artery (n = 3), anterior cerebral artery (n = 1), posterior cerebral artery (n = 1), and basilar artery (n = 3). These lesions affected the basal ganglia, the internal capsule, and the brain stem. Neither heart disease nor dissections of large vessels were present. Two children had prothrombotic risk factors (an increase in lipoprotein (a) and a factor v Leiden mutation). The follow up period was between three months and 13 years (mean 3.9 years). Outcome was classified according to the glasgow outcome scale as moderate disability (n = 4), severe disability (n = 2), non-disabling sequelae (n = 1), and total recovery (n = 1). CONCLUSIONS: Minor head injuries can be cause and co-factor in the aetiology of stroke. The frequency of this may be underestimated, and detailed medical history of the days before stroke manifestation may identify more traumatic events, especially in the group of so called "idiopathic" strokes.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/6. Blunt basal head trauma: aspects of unconsciousness.Two cases of street violence directed to the skull base level and transverse to the cervical axis are described. No skeletal damage. The violence resulted in the so-called "traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage", an often used, unspecified forensic "diagnosis"; it was here revealed to be due to rupture of the wall of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (p.i.c.a). However, this was only one of the possible explanations for the acute symptoms of unconsciousness (concussion) and almost immediate death. The careful examination of these two cases and of a series of control cases revealed that at the trauma, stress and strain may have occurred to arterial branches serving as feeding perforant vessels to the medulla oblongata; in these cases they were coursing directly from the p.i.c.a. region.--The type of direct impact has often been regarded as mild! However, its location suboccipitally as in these cases can become dangerous. The resulting direct or indirect deficit of brain stem functions are discussed in these cases as well as "concussion-related symptoms" resulting after other types of head and neck injury.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.5keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/6. Delayed traumatic intracerebral hematomas after surgical decompression.Delayed traumatic intracerebral hematomas found after an initially unrevealing computerized tomographic scan have been reported occasionally. Such hemorrhage may occur in an area of brain contusion with cerebral vessel injury. Four cases of intracerebral hematoma appearing after evacuation of a different traumatic intracranial mass lesion are reported. This suggests that an intracranial mass lesion may tamponade cerebral venous oozing in an area of brain contusion and delay the accumulation of intracerebral blood, accounting for the late discovery of a parenchymal hematoma. (neurosurgery, 5: 653--655, 1979).- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.5keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/6. Clinicopathological study of acute subdural haematoma in the chronic healing stage. Clinical, histological and ultrastructural comparisons with chronic subdural haematoma.Seven cases of acute subdural haematoma in the chronic healing stage, were studied clinicopathologically. Operation was not performed until 17-30 days after major trauma, and revealed subdural granulation tissue of irregular thickness, but no visible inner membranes. Although this capsule contained blood pigment and numerous macrophages, new haemorrhagic foci or eosinophilic infiltrations were extremely rare. Capsular vessels generally had thick vascular walls, distinct basement membranes and tight endothelial junctions. Perivascular blood substance was presumably not secondary haemorrhage from these vessels, but residue from the acute subdural haematoma itself. The possibility of transition from this haematoma to chronic subdural haematoma is discussed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/6. Relationship between intracranial hypertension and ultrasonic patterns of the common carotid artery and the internal jugular vein.The Doppler technique has only been used in neurological practice to evidence local vessel pathology such as occlusion or stenosis. Both common carotid artery and internal jugular vein flows can change not only because of pathological processes of the vessels but also because of impedance of their distribution territory. In this report we analyze the relationship between flow velocity, one of the parameters of blood flow, and intracranial impedance variations which occur in cerebral concussion, tumors and acute vascular cerebral pathology. During our observations we noticed that the diastolic wave of the velocity curve of the common carotid artery is a very important signal of the flow variations in the internal carotid artery and, in turn, of variations in cerebral flow. We studied the behaviour of the common carotid artery velocity curve in our patients both during clinical disease development and during the action of mannitol in the acute phases of the disease. We found that the ultrasonic patterns during antiedema action were similar to the ones obtained during the recovery period. We were able to note some differences and some similarities of the curve morphology in relation to generalized or focal causes of cerebral edema. This may be very important considering that at present no non-invasive and therefore repeatable technique is available for monitoring cerebral blood flow in intracranial hypertension.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/6. Unilateral morbus Purtscher with poor visual outcome.Two cases are presented, one with a pure cranial compression injury, the other mainly with chest trauma. Both patients noted immediate unilateral blindness. Vision did not improve in either within four months. fluorescein angiography was performed and showed arteriolar as well as venous damage, with occlusion of arterioles and venules. As the impact in morbus Purtscher is usually very brief, reflux cannot explain the fundus changes. More likely a pressure wave is the cause of vessel damage with subsequent infiltration of blood, or plasma, into the wall of the vessel and obliteration of the lumen; it is also a cause of rupture of capillaries and hemorrhage. In traumatic asphyxia, on the contrary, a sustained force leads to reflux of blood and massive congestion with subsequent vessel damage and diapedesis. The prognosis in morbus Purtscher is often poor.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1.5keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |