Guillain-Barré syndrome and posterior reversible leukoencephalopathy syndrome: a rare association.

A 69-year-old woman presented with headaches and visual disturbance in the context of marked hypertension secondary to non-compliance with antihypertensive medications. She developed seizures and hyperreflexia, and MRI brain showed changes consistent with posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES). She was treated with antihypertensives with the resolution of symptoms. Over the following week, she developed progressive distal sensory loss, weakness and areflexia. The cerebrospinal fluid examination demonstrated albuminocytologic dissociation, and electrophysiological findings were in keeping with a diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). She was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin with gradual recovery. The co-occurrence of PRES and GBS has only been described in a handful of cases. In the majority of these, the dysautonomia of GBS leads to profound hypertension and subsequently PRES. This is a rare case of PRES preceding and possibly even triggering the onset of GBS. In this report, we review the literature and discuss the potential pathogenic mechanisms for this unusual association.

Vanishing bone disease of the orbital roof: now you see it, now you don't.

We describe a rare case of vascularised orbital roof and calvarial erosions with an associated venous malformation. In the absence of infection, malignancy, trauma and eosinophillic granuloma, the closest previously described entity is vanishing bone disease. Computed tomography (CT), MRI, catheter angiography and pathology were all important in the diagnostic workup to enable surgical planning for biopsy and reconstruction. Ongoing CT and MRI follow-up imaging will determine future treatment planning.

Functional MRI in clinical practice: a pictorial essay.

In clinical practice, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a valuable non-invasive tool particularly during preoperative work-up of brain tumour and epilepsy patients. In this pictorial essay, we review expected areas of eloquent cortical activation during the four major clinical paradigms, discuss pitfalls related to fMRI and look at clinical examples where fMRI was particularly valuable in preoperative planning.

Magnetic resonance imaging in adults with epilepsy: a pictorial essay.

This pictorial essay highlights the role of the radiologist as a member of the adult epilepsy multidisciplinary team, and gives an overview of MRI-evident epileptogenic lesions.

Clinical management and survival outcomes of gliosarcomas in the era of multimodality therapy.

Gliosarcoma (GSM) is a rare primary malignant brain tumour accounting for less than 0.5% of all intracranial tumours. It has a biphasic histological composition, demonstrating both gliomatous and sarcomatous elements. In clinical practice GSM are generally managed similarly to glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). However, unique features including its clinical propensity for extra-cranial metastasis, distinct radiological features and possible worse prognosis than GBM suggest that GSM may be a distinct clinico-pathological entity. Hence we reviewed patterns of care and outcomes for a series of Australian patients diagnosed with GSM in the era of combined chemo-radiotherapy. Patients were identified by searching the Australian Genomics and Clinical Outcomes of Glioma (AGOG) database and the Western Australian Interhospital Neurosurgical database. Nineteen patients with GSM were identified. Of these, 15 patients were diagnosed with primary GSM and four patients developed secondary GSM after radiation therapy for primary GBM. For comparative purposes, 408 primary GBM patients were identified from the AGOG database during the same study period. The overall median survival for all primary GSM patients was 9.7 months. In comparison the overall median survival for GBM patients recruited to the AGOG database over the same period was 12.2 months. The median survival for secondary GSM patients from the time of diagnosis was 5 months. Primary and secondary GSM pose a great clinical challenge due to their rarity. Our study adds further evidence to support GSM as a unique clinical entity with a likely worse prognosis than GBM.

Intravenous minocycline in acute stroke: a randomized, controlled pilot study and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Minocycline, in animal models and 2 small randomized controlled human trials, is a promising neuroprotective agent in acute stroke. We analyzed the efficacy and safety of intravenous minocycline in acute ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. METHODS: A multicenter prospective randomized open-label blinded end point evaluation pilot study of minocycline 100 mg administered intravenously, commenced within 24 hours of onset of stroke, and continued 12 hourly for a total of 5 doses, versus no minocycline. All participants received routine stroke care. Primary end point was survival free of handicap (modified Rankin Scale, ≤2) at day 90. RESULTS: Ninety-five participants were randomized; 47 to minocycline and 48 to no minocycline. In the intention-to-treat population, 29 of 47 (65.9%) allocated minocycline survived free of handicap compared with 33 of 48 (70.2%) allocated no minocycline (rate ratio, 0.94; 95% confidence interval, 0.71-1.25 and odds ratio, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.31-1.71). A meta-analysis of the 3 human trials suggests minocycline may increase the odds of handicap-free survival by 3-fold (odds ratio, 2.99; 95% CI, 1.74-5.16) but there was substantial heterogeneity among the trials. CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot study of a small sample of acute stroke patients, intravenous minocycline was safe but not efficacious. The study was not powered to identify reliably or exclude a modest but clinically important treatment effect of minocycline. Larger trials would improve the precision of the estimates of any treatment effect of minocycline. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION URL: http://www.anzctr.org.au. Unique identifier: ACTRN12612000237886.

Susceptibility weighted imaging as a useful imaging adjunct in hemichorea hyperglycaemia.

Hyperglycaemia with hemichorea (HGHC) is an unusual clinical entity that can be associated with corpus striatum hyperintensity on T1-weighted (T1W) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences. We report the utility of the susceptibility weighted image (SWI) sequence and the filtered phase SWI sequence in the imaging assessment of HGHC.

Spinal arachnoiditis as a consequence of aneurysm-related subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Only a few case reports currently exist regarding symptomatic spinal arachnoiditis following aneurysm-related subarachnoid haemorrhage. We present three patients who developed symptomatic spinal arachnoiditis following spontaneous aneurysm rupture. Following initial aneurysm and subarachnoid haemorrhage management (including ventriculo-peritoneal shunt placement), all three patients developed gradually worsening neurological abnormalities, and subsequent imaging demonstrated spinal arachnoiditis. Despite spinal decompression, all three patients experienced progressively worsening neurological decline.