Ramsay Hunt syndrome with multiple cranial neuropathies in a liver transplant recipient.

Ramsay Hunt syndrome is an infection of the head and neck caused by varicella zoster virus involving the facial nerve; less commonly, other cranial nerves might be involved. We report a case of Ramsay Hunt syndrome in an immune compromised patient, with classic facial nerve palsy and ipsilateral ear vesicles, which rapidly evolved to involve multiple cranial neuropathies, and improved dramatically with antiviral therapy and corticosteroids. Varicella zoster virus should be considered as a cause of multiple cranial neuropathies in an immune compromised patient, and abrupt treatment with acyclovir should be initiated once this diagnosis is suspected.

Sporadic hemiplegic migraine with seizures and transient MRI abnormalities.

Hemiplegic migraines are characterised by attacks of migraine with aura accompanied by transient motor weakness. There are both familial and sporadic subtypes, which are now recognised as separate entities by the International Classification of Headache Disorders, edition II (ICHD-II). Sporadic hemiplegic migraine is a rare variant of migraine, We report a case of sporadic hemiplegic migraine and seizures with MRI features suggestive of cortical hyper intensity and edema on T2 and FLAIR images with no restriction pattern on diffusion and these changes completely resolving over time, suggesting that these changes are due prolonged neuronal depolarization and not of ischemic origin.

Acute respiratory failure as a first manifestation of syringomyelia.

A 40 year old woman presented with a short history of acute onset of breathlessness to the ER of our hospital and after initial evaluation for acute pulmonary embolism which was ruled out after carrying out the appropriate investigations, she was diagnosed to be afflicted with syringomyelia based on her neurological symptoms and clinical findings, which was confirmed by doing an MRI scan, which was her basic diagnosis that was complicated by acute hypercapnic respiratory failure. This case is being reported to highlight syringomyelia as an unusual cause of acute respiratory failure, which manifested clinically in this patient as its first presentation and the underlying neurological diagnosis has been found to be present in very few reported cases (less than 0.01% of case reports) in the available literature as the basic disease in the absence of its classical presenting features. Problems associated with acute respiratory failure in the setting of syringomyelia are discussed.