A case of palatal myoclonus associated with cerebral cysticercosis is reported. The patient, a 54-year-old man, presented with clicking sound in the left ear for 2 years duration. Cerebral cysticercosis was con-firmed by pathologic diagnosis and CSF specific IgG antibody test. The brain CT disclosed multiple intraparenchymal punctate calcifications including left dentate nucleus. All of these findings indicate that one of the basic pathophysiologic mechanisms of palatal myoconus is the defect of ipsilateral dentate nucleus and this lesion can be evoked by the cysticercosis.
Brain ; Cerebellar Nuclei ; Cysticercosis* ; Diagnosis ; Ear ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Middle Aged ; Myoclonus*

The clinical course of nine cases of myasthenia gravis in the young age group was reviewed. All patients included in the study were under the age of 17 years and had more than 2 year follow-up. There were 5 males and 4 females, with onset of symptoms between 1 7/12 and 13 years (mean:5.8 years). All patients were initially presented with ptosis and 5 cases out of 9 cases were presented with diplopia concomittantly. Previous infection history was noted in 2 cases out of 9 cases. Ocular type was predominate (78%) and in 4 cases out of 9 cases of ocular type, complete remission was eventually developed. In the remaining 3 cases, 2 cases were improved and one case remained unchanged. In generalized type, one case was improved and one case became worse. All of these findings indicate that childhood myasthenia gravis has good prognosis and special attentions are needed for the proper treatment.
Attention ; Diplopia ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Myasthenia Gravis* ; Prognosis

A case of diabetic proximal motor neuropathy presented with left brachial paralysis is reported. In a 52-year-old male patient, the initial manifestation was the weakness of the predominantly proximal part of left upper limb, which progressed to the lower limb of the same side. There complications gave the opportunity to recognize and treat diabetes mellitus more promptly. The weakness recovered after one month with diabetic control but recurred mainly in the same lower limb and eventually achieved good functional result three months after.
Diabetes Mellitus ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Paralysis* ; Upper Extremity

A case of acute intermittent porphyria associated with intermittent attacks of spinal myoclonus in the neck and both shoulders is reported. The patient, a 19-year-old male had also presented with attacks of intermittent left arm monoparesis and passed port-wine clored urine that was responsible for positive Watson-Schwartz reaction, about 5 weeks after taking medication including haloperidol, phenobarbital, trihexyphenidyl hydrochloride and clonazepam for the treatment of myoclonus and concomitantly complained abdominal pain and mental symptoms with the recurrence of left arm monoparesis. Each attacks of spinal myoclonus and monoparesis recovered completely.
Abdominal Pain ; Arm ; Clonazepam ; Haloperidol ; Humans ; Male ; Myoclonus* ; Neck ; Paresis ; Phenobarbital ; Porphyria, Acute Intermittent* ; Recurrence ; Shoulder ; Trihexyphenidyl ; Young Adult

A retrospective study was performed to provide the clinical and radiological grounds for decision-making as to whether the next cerebral angiography is to be followed when no aneurysm is revealed on the first procedure in patients with spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage. Thc clinical courses of 22 patients who showed no aneurysm on their first angiogram(unproven group) were compared with those of 19 patients of the similar clinical status whose aneurgsm(s) was/were proven but not operated(non-operated group). The results were: 1)The incidences of vasospasm, hydrocephalus, electrolyte disturbances, infections, and gastrointestinal bleeding were similar between the groups; 2)Rebleeding was Iess frequent in thc unproven group(p<.05); 3) Neurological outcomes were also significantly beffer in the unproven group(p<.018; 4) The distributions of blood clots in the subarachnoid space were less predictive of aneurysmal site in the unproven group. Considering thc better prognosis and the nonspecific CT findings of the unproven group, our results suggest that when no aneurysm is demonstrated on the first angiogram, the repeated angiography may not be necessary.
Aneurysm* ; Angiography ; Cerebral Angiography ; Dronabinol ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Incidence ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ; Subarachnoid Space

To develop a survival prediction model and to use it as a therapeutic guideline a series of 66 cases with ganglio-thalamic hemorrhage accompanying intraventricular hemorrhage were analyzed retrospectively. They were classified into the benign and fatal groups according to their final outcomes. Fourteen indices obtained from the initial CT scans were final outcomes. Fourteen indices obtained from the initial CT scans were subjected to multivariate discriminant analysis. The resultant discriminant function(Z) included the amount of hematoma in the parenchyme(AH), bicaudate cerebroventricular index(BCCI) maximum fourth ventricular width(FVW), and third cerebroventricular ratio(TCR) in an order of decreasing discriminating power and was as follows: Z = -3.2639 + 0.3508 X 10(-1) X AH + 6.8816 X BCCI + 0.1139 X FVW-5.7794 X TCR. This function predicted survivability with accuracy of 84.9% when it was applied to the original subjects. The conclusion is that AH, BCCI, FVW, and TCR are the potent predictors of the survival of patients with ganglio-thalamic hemorrhage accompanying intraventricular hemorrhage.
Hematoma ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed*

To evaluate the role of serum lipids in the patients with cerebral thrombosis, lipid parameters were compared with a sex- and age - matched healthy control. The cerebral thrombosis group included 61 males (mean age, 61.0) and 32 females (mean age, 66.3). Total cholesterol and total/HDL-cholesterol ratio in the male and female patients were significantly higher than in the control(p<0.001). But triglyceride showed difference only in the male patient group (p<0.05). All parameters did not show any difference between the lacunar and cortical infarctions. The finding in this study support the idea that high serum total cholesterol, low serum HDL-cholesterol and high total / HDL-cholesterol ratio are risk factors for cerebral thrombosis.
Cholesterol ; Female ; Humans ; Infarction ; Intracranial Thrombosis* ; Male ; Risk Factors ; Triglycerides

No abstract available.
Carotid Artery, Internal*

We administered local injections of botulinum A toxin to 15 patients wlth medically intratrable cervical dystonia Thirteen of the patients (87%) improved substantially (global effect >or=3 ; fiom -l = aggravated to +5 = markedly improved, fully functional, very happy with the results), with a mean total dose of 75.9 units. Of the 8 patients who reported pain, 7 (88%) had almost complete re!ief of pain. Only 6 of 15 (40%) patients had mild to moderate complications. More muscles had been injected in rotatocollis (mean, 5.2) than in laterocollis (mean, 3.0) (p<0.05). The global effects in rotatocollis (mean, 3.4) and laterocollis (mean, 3.3) were significantly better than anterocollis (mean, 1.5) (p<0.05). We conclude that botulinum A toxin is also effective in low doses when given in due consideration of the cervical muscle contraction patterns.
Botulinum Toxins, Type A* ; Humans ; Muscle Contraction ; Muscles ; Torticollis*

We present three neuropathologically-verified and two clinically-probable cases of Creutfeldt Jakob disease. All five had nonspecific prodromal complaints or symptoms prior to overt neurological signs and showed striking progressive neurologic deterioration, especially cognitive decline and cerebellar dysfunction. Myoclonic involuntary movements and complete decapitated states followed in one or two months. The characteristic even pathognomonic in proper clinical settings, features of electroencephalography, magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography and pathologic findings are presented.
Cerebellar Diseases ; Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome* ; Dyskinesias ; Electroencephalography ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Strikes, Employee