Imaging of Hemispheric Brain Gangliogliomas

1997 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 563-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.S. Finizio

The group of gangliogliomas (GGI) and ganglioneuromas (GGN) includes tumours composed of nerve cells and glial cells, usually astrocytes. In this sense, they differ from most primary CNS tumours in which only the glial cells show malignant change. The differentiation between GGIs and GGNs is histological: if glial cells predominate, the lesion is called a “ganglioglioma”, when neuronal elements predominate, the term “ganglioneuroma” is used. Nevertheless, these two tumors types should be considered a single entity. Patients of all ages are affected, but the majority of tumours arise in the first two decades of life. The temporal lobe is a favorite site. The clinical history of these slow-growing neoplasms is usually one of long-standing focal epilepsy. The neuroradiological aspects of 13 hemispheric GGIs are described. Calcifications were seen in 5 case. All cases were histologically verified. Three characteristic neuroradiological features were noted: 1) mainly cystic with a solid portion in 6 cases; 2) entirely cystic or with a mural nodule at the wall of the cyst in 3 cases; 3) entirely solid in 4 cases. The neuroradiological diagnosis of GGI is important because radical surgical removal of these lesions is considered the first-line procedure. Surgery is justified by the good prognosis for patients in terms both of survival and quality of residual life, since it is curative or allows pharmacological control of epilepsy even after subtotal removal.

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1962 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 911-926
Author(s):  
Homer S. Swanson ◽  
Joseph C. Barnett

A series of nine cases of intradural spinal lipomas presenting in childhood or infancy are discussed. In all instances, associated congenital defects and a history of insidious neurological deficit were characteristic findings. In seven of the nine cases a subtotal removal of the intradural lipoma was accomplished, with resulting improvement in the neurological condition. In all instances the pathological interpretation of the lesion was that of an adult type of lipoma. Despite the benign connotations of lipoma, total surgical removal of these lipomas occurring intradurally has often been found not feasible and is probably not necessary. The inclusion of lipoma tissue within the substance of the spinal cord and nerve roots renders manipulation and excision extremely hazardous in terms of retaining the integrity of the nervous structures involved. In these instances subtotal surgical removal and decompression have proven beneficial in all instances in this series. Although exaggeration of neurological deficit may occur postoperatively, if the above surgical principles are adhered to, this deficit is not necessarily of a permanent nature.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Montemurro ◽  
Domenico Murrone ◽  
Bruno Romanelli ◽  
Aldo Ierardi

During craniotomy, hemostatic materials such as oxidized cellulose and cotton pads, commonly used to control bleeding, may cause a granulomatous reaction that may produce space-occupying mass lesions termed textiloma (or gossypiboma). We present a 46-year-old female who underwent a right frontotemporal craniotomy and surgical removal of intraparenchymal cerebral hemorrhage, and who developed a textiloma during the postoperative period causing seizures. Granulomatous reactions due to hemostatic agents have been reported experimentally, as well as after cranial and spinal operations. We emphasize that although it is rare, an adverse reaction such as a postoperative textiloma due to hemostatic material and subsequent granuloma formation can result in a false image of rebleeding, tumor recurrence, radiation necrosis, or postoperative abscess, depending on the particular clinical history of each patient.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 336-340
Author(s):  
Yasmin Hamzavi Abedi ◽  
Cristina P. Sison ◽  
Punita Ponda

Background: Serum Peanut-specific-IgE (PN-sIgE) and peanut-component-resolved-diagnostics (CRD) are often ordered simultaneously in the evaluation for peanut allergy. Results often guide the plans for peanut oral challenge. However, the clinical utility of CRD at different total PN-sIgE levels is unclear. A commonly used predefined CRD Ara h2 cutoff value in the literature predicting probability of peanut challenge outcomes is 0.35kUA/L. Objective: To examine the utility of CRD in patients with and without a history of clinical reactivity to peanut (PN). Methods: This was a retrospective chart review of 196 children with PN-sIgE and CRD testing, of which, 98 patients had a clinical history of an IgE-mediated reaction when exposed to PN and 98 did not. The Fisher's exact test was used to assess the relationship between CRD and PN-sIgE at different cutoff levels, McNemar test and Gwet’s approach (AC1 statistic) were used to examine agreement between CRD and PN-sIgE, and logistic regression was used to assess differences in the findings between patients with and without reaction history. Results: Ara h 1, 2, 3, or 9 (ARAH) levels ≤0.35 kUA/L were significantly associated with PN-sIgE levels <2 kUA/L rather than ≥2 kUA/L (p < 0.0001). When the ARAH threshold was increased to 1 kUA/L and 2 kUA/L, these thresholds were still significantly associated with PN-sIgE levels of <2, <5, and <14 kUA/L. These findings were not significantly different in patients with and without a history of clinical reactivity. Conclusion: ARAH values correlated with PN-sIgE. Regardless of clinical history, ARAH levels are unlikely to be below 0.35, 1, or 2 kUA/L if the PN-sIgE level is >2 kUA/L. Thus, if possible, practitioners should consider PN-sIgE rather than automatically ordering CRD with PN-sIgE every time. Laboratory procedures that allow automatically and reflexively adding CRD when the PN-sIgE level is ≤5 kUA/L can be helpful. However, further studies are needed in subjects with challenge-proven PN allergy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 1042-1047
Author(s):  
Khushbu Balsara ◽  
Deepankar Shukla

In a very short period of time, “COVID-19” has seized the consciousness globally by making remarkable changes in our day to day living and has superintended as a public health emergency globally. It has high radar of transmission, affecting an individual at work to frontline workers. The measures and planning for a response plays a key role from drawing up an emergency committee and this follows an equation which broadly deals with epidemiological to clinical history of the patient, management steps from isolation, screening, diagnostic assays for identification and treatment. The application of an organized plan with secure structure aids in better performance, increases efficacy of management and saves time. Also saves time for a health care worker to g through routine levels of channels of administration if already a familiar way of operation is known for such situations. Thus, planning and developing a ‘blueprint of approach’ towards management of patient while facing such situation is a must. This review provides an insight to the measures for detection, response and preparedness of the hospital and health care workers should largely be inclusive of; also highlights the measures to be taken at every step after coming in contact with a positive case of “COVID-19”.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Alexander Quiñones-Ossa ◽  
Yeider A. Durango-Espinosa ◽  
Tariq Janjua ◽  
Luis Rafael Moscote-Salazar ◽  
Amit Agrawal

Abstract Background Disorder of consciousness diagnosis, especially when is classified as persistent vegetative state (without misestimating the other diagnosis classifications), in the intensive care is an important diagnosis to evaluate and treat. Persistent vegetative state diagnosis is a challenge in the daily clinical practice because the diagnosis is made mainly based upon the clinical history and the patient behavior observation. There are some specific criteria for this diagnosis, and this could be very tricky when the physician is not well trained. Main body We made a literature review regarding the persistent vegetative state diagnosis, clinical features, management, prognosis, and daily medical practice challenges while considering the bioethical issues and the family perspective about the patient status. The objective of this overview is to provide updated information regarding this clinical state’s features while considering the current medical literature available. Conclusions Regardless of the currently available guidelines and literature, there is still a lot of what we do not know about the persistent vegetative state. There is a lack of evidence regarding the optimal diagnosis and even more, about how to expect a natural history of this disorder of consciousness. It is important to recall that the patients (despite of their altered mental state diagnosis) should always be treated to avoid some of the intensive care unit long-stance complications.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Massimiliano Esposito ◽  
Angelo Montana ◽  
Aldo Liberto ◽  
Veronica Filetti ◽  
Nunzio Di Nunno ◽  
...  

Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening or fatal clinical emergency characterized by rapid onset, and death may be sudden. The margin of certainty about the diagnosis of anaphylactic death is not well established. The application of immunohistochemical techniques combined with the evaluation of blood tryptase concentrations opened up a new field of investigation into anaphylactic death. The present study investigated eleven autopsy cases of anaphylactic death, carried out between 2005 and 2017, by the Departments of Forensic Pathology of the Universities of Foggia and Catania (Italy). An analysis of the medical records was carried out in all autopsies. Seven autopsies were carried out on males and four on females. Of the eleven cases, one showed a history of asthma, one of food ingestion, two of oral administration of medications, six did not refer any allergy history, and one subject was unknown. All cases (100%) showed pulmonary congestion and edema; 7/11 (64%) of the cases had pharyngeal/laryngeal edema and mucus plugging in the airway; only one case (9%) had a skin reaction that was found during external examination. Serum tryptase concentration was measured in ten cases, and the mean value was 133.5 µg/L ± 177.9. The immunohistochemical examination using an anti-tryptase antibody on samples from the lungs, pharynx/larynx, and skin site of medication injection showed that all cases (100%) were strongly immunopositive for anti-tryptase antibody staining on lung samples; three cases (30%) were strongly immunopositive for anti-tryptase antibody staining on pharyngeal/laryngeal samples; and eight cases (80%) were strongly immunopositive for anti-tryptase antibody staining on skin samples. We conclude that a typical clinical history, blood tryptase level >40 µg/L, and strongly positive anti-tryptase antibody staining in the immunohistochemical investigation may represent reliable parameters in the determination of anaphylactic death with the accuracy needed for forensic purposes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s839-s839 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Solerdelcoll Arimany ◽  
M. Garriga ◽  
E. Parellada

IntroductionDelayed post-hypoxic leukoencephalopathy (DPHL) is an underrecognized syndrome of delayed demyelination, where patients manifest neuropsychiatric symptoms after a period of 2–40 days of apparent recovery from a cerebral hypo-oxygenation episode.ObjectivesWe report a case of a patient who successfully recovered from an overdose of heroin, but then suffered a delayed abrupt neurological deterioration.AimsTo improve assessment and recognition of DPHL.MethodsAn adequate retrospective collection of clinical data and nonsystematic review of the literature was performed.ResultsA 43-year-old male with schizoaffective disorder who attempted suicide with an overdose of heroin, was successfully revived and return to his previously mental status, but 3 weeks after, he abruptly developed progressive cognitive impairment with akinetic mutism and ataxia. He was admitted to our acute psychiatric unit after brain CT and chemistry analyses were unremarkable. Brain MRI showed diffusely symmetric hyperintensity in the white matter (WM), pronominally the periventricular WM, on FLAIR and T2 weighted sequences. At 16 weeks postoverdose, he presented improvement both cognitive and motor symptoms, lasting deficits in frontal-executive functions.DiscussionDPHL is characterized by similar clinical and neuroimaging features regardless of the initial insult. The mean lucid interval coincides with the replacement half-life for myelin related lipids and proteins. Prolonged mild-to-moderate hypo-oxygenation of WM is thought to disrupt myelin turnover. It appears probable that these were responsible for DPHL in our patient rather than a direct toxicity.ConclusionDPHL can be diagnosed when clinical history, laboratory assessments and MRI findings are concordant. DPHL requires extensive support care and carries a relatively good prognosis.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


Author(s):  
Annamaria Biczok ◽  
Philipp Karschnia ◽  
Raffaela Vitalini ◽  
Markus Lenski ◽  
Tobias Greve ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Prognostic markers for meningioma recurrence are needed to guide patient management. Apart from rare hereditary syndromes, the impact of a previous unrelated tumor disease on meningioma recurrence has not been described before. Methods We retrospectively searched our database for patients with meningioma WHO grade I and complete resection provided between 2002 and 2016. Demographical, clinical, pathological, and outcome data were recorded. The following covariates were included in the statistical model: age, sex, clinical history of unrelated tumor disease, and localization (skull base vs. convexity). Particular interest was paid to the patients’ past medical history. The study endpoint was date of tumor recurrence on imaging. Prognostic factors were obtained from multivariate proportional hazards models. Results Out of 976 meningioma patients diagnosed with a meningioma WHO grade I, 416 patients fulfilled our inclusion criteria. We encountered 305 women and 111 men with a median age of 57 years (range: 21–89 years). Forty-six patients suffered from a tumor other than meningioma, and no TERT mutation was detected in these patients. There were no differences between patients with and without a positive oncological history in terms of age, tumor localization, or mitotic cell count. Clinical history of prior tumors other than meningioma showed the strongest association with meningioma recurrence (p = 0.004, HR = 3.113, CI = 1.431–6.771) both on uni- and multivariate analysis. Conclusion Past medical history of tumors other than meningioma might be associated with an increased risk of meningioma recurrence. A detailed pre-surgical history might help to identify patients at risk for early recurrence.


Author(s):  
Lagan Paul ◽  
Tanya Jain ◽  
Manisha Agarwal ◽  
Shalini Singh

Abstract Background Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a potentially lethal complication of measles infection. Neurological complications take years to manifest after primary viral infection of brain and can lead to blindness in some individuals. Findings A 13-year-old female patient with history of Bell’s palsy 2 months prior, presented with rapidly progressing necrotizing retinitis in both eyes. Soon after, she was unable to walk, developed myoclonic jerks, altered sensorium and loss of bowel and bladder control. Her clinical history, CSF IgG measles antibody analysis, MRI brain and EEG findings confirmed the diagnosis of SSPE. Conclusion SSPE in our case presented as Bell’s palsy and sudden painless diminution of vision due to ocular involvement, and developed full blown disease within 2 months. SSPE can present as a diagnostic challenge and warrants early identification and referral for timely diagnosis and management.


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