[L-dopa sensitive Parkinsonism in neurocysticercosis]. / Parkinsonismo sensible a levodopa en neurocisticercosis.

INTRODUCTION: Neurocysticercosis (NC) is a chronic parasitary disease that may have different neurological manifestations, such as seizures, dementia or obstructive hydrocephalus. On rare occasions, pictures secondary to hydrocephalia may occur with Parkinsonian syndrome. CASE REPORT: We present the case of a 29-year old woman with serologically confirmed NC and obstructive hydrocephalia secondary to a cyst in the IV ventricle. The patient required repeated ventricle-peritoneal shunt replacement because of valvular malfunction and obstructive hydrocephalia. She developed Parkinsonian's syndrome, which subsided after combined treatment with cysticidal drugs and L-dopa. DISCUSSION: Parkinsonian syndrome is an atypical presentation in NC. In this case, the above-mentioned profile is found within the context of multiple valvular malfunctions who nature is reversible after appropriate treatment. It seems to be related with increases in intraventricular cerebrospinal fluid pressure. We can conclude that Parkinsonian syndromes may be one more expression of NC. This acquires greater importance according to its context, in addition to the limited presence of similar cases in our environment in the literature.

Endovascular Treatment of Cerebral AVM: Our Experience with Onyx.

SUMMARY: We have been using Onyx, a non-adhesive liquid polymer, to treat cerebral AVMs endovascularly since 1999. During this time we have treated 45 consecutive, unselected patients. From the outset this product brought about a change in our approach to treating this type of lesion because of the different injection behaviour observed for this material compared with the adhesive Histoacryl that had been employed until then. The object of this article is to assess the results achieved by our team using this new embolic agent, following angiographic and clinical follow- up of cases for a minimum of six months and a maximum of five years (mean: two years). We propose new categories of cerebral AVM based on the expected behaviour of Onyx within the nidus. Our appraisal indicates that we have improved our angiographic results, achieving complete occlusion of the malformation in 22% of cases and over 80-% closure in 69% of cases. The morbimortality rate for the procedure was 18%.