1/1456. Transient paralytic attacks of obscure nature: the question of non-convulsive seizure paralysis. Eleven patients with transient paralytic attacks of obscure nature are described. paralysis could involve face or leg alone, face and hand, or face, arm and leg. The duration varied from two minutes to one day. Four patients had brain tumors, six probably had brain infarcts, and one a degenerative process. The differential diagnosis included TIAs, migraine accompaniments, and seizures. In the absence of good evidence for the first two, the cases are discussed from the standpoint of possibly representing nonconvulsive seizure paralysis (ictal paralysis, inhibitory seizure paralysis or somatic inhibitory seizure). Because of the difficulty in defining seizures as well as TIAs and migraine in their atypical variations, a firm conclusion concerning the mechanisms of the spells was not attained. Two cases of the hypertensive amaurosis-seizure syndrome have been added as further examples of ictal deficits. ( info) |
| PURPOSE: To report atypical clinical features of bartonella henselae neuroretinitis treated with combination antibiotics. METHOD: Case report. RESULTS: A 20-year-old man with a positive B. henselae titer developed a unilateral neuroretinitis, a large peripapillary angiomatous lesion, branch artery occlusion with ischemic maculopathy, and vision loss that failed to improve with clindamycin. Treatment with doxycycline and rifampin led to rapid clinical improvement. The severe vision loss in this case is atypical. CONCLUSIONS: Ocular findings associated with B. henselae infection may include retinal angiomatous lesion and branch retinal artery occlusion. doxycycline and rifampin were successful in treating the infection. ( info) |
3/1456. Compound heterozygosity for one novel and one recurrent mutation in a Thai patient with severe protein s deficiency. Homozygous or compound heterozygous protein S (PS) deficiency is a very rare disorder in the anticoagulant system, that can lead to life-threatening thrombotic complications shortly after birth. This report describes the results of the genetic analysis of the PROS 1 genes in a Thai girl patient. She was reported in 1990 as the first case with homozygous PS deficiency and neonatal purpura fulminans. In the present report, we identified the mutations in this patient by direct sequencing of PCR products representing all 15 exons of the PROS 1 gene and their flanking intronic regions. The patient turned out to be compound heterozygous for two null mutations. One allele contained a novel sequence variation, an A-insertion in an A5-tract covering codon 146 and 147, that results in a frameshift and a stop codon (TAA) at position 155. The other allele contained a nonsense mutation in exon 12 by a transition at codon 410 CGA (Arg) to TGA (stop). Cosegregation of PS deficiency with these two genetic defects was observed in her family. ( info) |
4/1456. Henoch-Schonlein purpura: a case report. A case of Henoch-Schonlein purpura with the rare complications of facial and scalp oedema, followed by neurological complications manifesting as focal convulsions with transient conjugate eye deviation and cortical blindness, is described. ( info) |
5/1456. Retinocephalic vascular malformation: case report. A 12-year-old boy who presented with unilateral blindness and exophthalmos was found to have retinocephalic vascular malformations (Bonnet-Dechaumme-Blanc syndrome or Wyburn-Mason syndrome). The ophthalmic, neurological and radiological findings of this rare syndrome are discussed. ( info) |
6/1456. Lessons to be learned: a case study approach--a case of temporal arteritis. A 71-year-old male presented with a history of sudden partial visual loss in the right eye with an inferior visual field defect over the past 3-4 days. He had no history of headache or of facial pain. Clinical examination confirmed that vision on the right side was reduced to 6/18 and on the left to 6/12. The right eye showed a relative afferent pupillary defect. There was no other abnormality of the anterior segment of either eye. The right retina showed a pale swollen optic disc and a provisional diagnosis of anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (AION) was made. An urgent erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was ordered and the patient was asked to return to the eye clinic in one month. However, 16 days later--when it was first recognised that his ESR was elevated to 75 mm in the first hour--the patient was recalled immediately in order to commence systemic steroid treatment; but regrettably, by this time, his right eye had become totally blind. In this case, although the attending doctor made a correct clinical diagnosis on presentation, he failed to act upon the result of the blood test. ( info) |
7/1456. Alternate four-point sweep-through gait--a technique for patients with combined neuromuscular and visual impairments: case reports. This article reports on two patients with combined neuromuscular and visual impairments who used a modification of the classic alternate four-point crutch gait, which allowed them to simultaneously explore the upcoming environment for obstacles or change in terrain while maintaining sufficient support for their lower limbs. The technique should be useful for patients with diabetic neuropathy/retinopathy combinations, multiple sclerosis with optic neuritis, and neurosarcoidosis and in elderly patients with multiple disabilities. ( info) |
8/1456. Bilateral posterior ischemic optic neuropathy after spinal surgery. PURPOSE: To report the association between bilateral posterior ischemic optic neuropathy and spinal surgery. METHOD: Case report. RESULTS: After prone-position spinal surgery of 8 hours' duration, a 68-year-old woman was completely blind in both eyes. Moderate periorbital edema and temporal conjunctival chemosis were present bilaterally. Ophthalmic examination disclosed normal-appearing optic nerve heads, except for bilateral nasal fullness related to bilateral optic nerve drusen, and no retinal edema. Immediate cerebral arteriography, magnetic resonance imaging, and electroretinography were normal. Visual-evoked response was not detectable, and 7 weeks later, severe bilateral optic nerve head pallor developed. CONCLUSIONS: Severe selective hypoperfusion of the retrobulbar optic nerves may occur after spinal surgery. pressure to the periorbital region may be a contributing factor. ( info) |
9/1456. Cerebral polyopia with extrastriate quadrantanopia: report of a case with magnetic resonance documentation of V2/V3 cortical infarction. This is a case report of the occurrence of cerebral diplopia with right-side superior homonymous quadrantanopia in a young woman after chiropractic neck manipulation. magnetic resonance imaging confirmed an infarct in the left inferior V2/V3 (extrastriate) cortex. The characteristics of the diplopia are illustrated with the patient's drawings, and persisting abnormalities in perception are described in the area of the initial field defect after static (computed) visual field testing yielded normal results. ( info) |
10/1456. A multiple sclerosis-like illness in a man harboring the mtDNA 14484 mutation. In most cases of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) the only clinical manifestation is visual loss. A multiple sclerosis-like illness has been infrequently reported in association with LHON. Most patients are women harboring the mtDNA 11778 mutation. We present a young man with clinical and paraclinical evidence of a demyelinating process with profound bilateral visual loss who harbored the mtDNA 14484 mutation associated with LHON. ( info) |