Sudden Death in an 11-Year-Old Boy Due to Rupture of a Colloid Cyst of the Third Ventricle following ‘Disco-Dancing’

A case is described in which a previously healthy 11-year-old boy attended a ‘disco-dance’ where he indulged in a current craze known as ‘head-banging’. The history can be traced back to this activity. Post-mortem revealed an intra-cerebral haematoma obstructing the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid. Histological techniques indicated that the basic pathology was related to a colloid cyst in the third ventricle.

The Fractionation of Arithmetical Skills: A Single Case Study

A single case study of a patient with a selective impairment of arithmetical calculation is reported. DRC became severely acalculic after sustaining a left parietal intra-cerebral haematoma. His numeracy skills were documented as fully as possible. It was found that his knowledge of the significance of individual numbers and his concept of quantity appeared to be intact, but simple addition, subtraction and multiplication were all performed laboriously and inaccurately and his performance was inconsistent from trial to trial. Further it was shown that it was his knowledge of arithmetical facts not his knowledge of arithmetical operations which was impaired. The findings are discussed in relation to models of arithmetical calculation and it is concluded that for DRC there was a deficit in accessing one category of verbal semantic knowledge systems, namely arithmetical facts.

Surgery in Hypertensive Intracerebral Haematoma (ICH) Study of 49 Cases

Surgery in hypertensive intra cerebral haematoma are still controversial. We treated 49 cases of intracerebral haematoma surgically from January 1995 to December 2005. Hypertensive haematomas are- putaminal, thalamic, cerebellar, pontine haemorrhage and subcortical. These haematomas are mild, moderate and severe type. We operated ICH, where the diameters of haematomas were more than 3cm. Outcome was assessed on basis of activity of daily living (ADL). Male to female ratio was 5:2, Patients age ranged 45 to 72 years. All patients presented with unconscious or semiconscious stage, 100% patients had CT scan of brain. In this study of 49 cases 20(40.82%) had ADL II, 24 (45.82%) had ADL III, 1 (2.4%) had ADL IV. Death occurred in 04 (8.16%) cases. doi: 10.3329/taj.v20i2.3073 TAJ 2007; 20(2): 127-128