Serum prolactin levels are elevated also after pseudo-epileptic seizures.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity and the predictive values of repeated serum prolactin measurements in relation to epileptic seizures versus pseudoseizures. The method used was prospective measuring of serum prolactin from blood samples drawn (1) 15 min after seizure and (2) 2 hr after the first sample. Two parameters were used: the absolute maximal level; and the relative rise in blood level. In the study 38 had epilepsy (simple or complex partial seizures with or without secondary generalisation); and 20 had pseudo-epileptic seizures. In all cases, the diagnoses were made independent of the prolactin levels. In 30/38 (79%) of epilepsy patients and 17/20 (85%) of pseudoseizure patients, the diagnoses were corroborated by intensive EEG monitoring (video or cassette telemetry). There was a statistically significant rise in prolactin levels in both groups (p < 0.0001 and < 0.02, respectively), and also a significant difference between the two groups. However, repeated measurements in a number of patients (epilepsy: mean 1.5 measurements; pseudo; mean 2.1) showed also considerable intra-patient variations. The sensitivity for the maximal rise in pseudoseizures (5.5x) was only 20% and the negative predictive value 40%. For the cut-off in absolute level (1025 microU/ml), the corresponding figures were 34% and 44%, respectively. The rather limited discriminative power of prolactin measurements makes it of questionable value in discerning between epileptic and pseudo-epileptic seizures.

[Neurotic triad and change in blood platelet number in reaction to stress]. / La triade névrotique et la modification du nombre de plaquettes sanguines en réaction au stress.

Blood platelet count is evaluated three times in reaction to catheterization stress in a group of 21 myocardial infarction patients and a group of 21 non-coronary subjects. Coronary and non-coronary patients are divided in two groups according to their low or high results at the psychological scales (hypochondria, depression, hysteria of the M.M.P.I.). The group of non-coronary patients with low results in hypochondria, depression and in the sum of the three psychological scales presents a lower platelet count than the other groups. The non-coronary subjects with high psychological results have the same platelet count as the coronary patients with high or low values.

[Clinicobiochemical parallels in borderline neuropsychic disorders]. / Kliniko-biokhimicheskie paralleli pri pogranichnykh nervno-psikhicheskikh rasstroistvakh.

Under examination there were 173 patients with borderline neuropsychic disorders of the neurotic and neurosis-like genesis. In the course of the treatment the levels of acetylcholine and catecholamines were determined. It has been shown that in borderline neuropsychic disorders there are statistically significant differences in the levels of those neuromediators, these differences being characteristic for the neurotic and neurosis-like disorders. The process of the normalization of those levels was found to depend on the initial changes, which, in their turn, depended on the etiopathogenesis of the borderline disorders.