The Sensorineural Hearing Loss Related to a Rare Infratentorial Developmental Venous Angioma: A Case Report and Review of Literature.

BACKGROUND: Developmental venous anomaly (DVA) is a benign venous abnormality draining normal brain parenchyma. It is mostly asymptomatic; however, rare complications such as hemorrhage may lead to symptomatic conditions. Headache and seizure are the most common symptoms. Hearing loss is an extremely rare presentation of DVA. To our knowledge, only five cases of DVA, presenting with hearing loss, had been reported so far. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a 27-year-old woman who presented with a sensorineural hearing loss followed by facial paresis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) angiography revealed hematoma with adjacent converging veins showing a typical "caput medusa" sign in the left middle cerebellar peduncle, in favor of DVA. Due to the compression effect of hematoma, she underwent surgery. Hearing loss and facial paresis improved significantly during the postoperative follow-up. CONCLUSION: Although DVA is mostly benign and asymptomatic, complications such as hemorrhage rarely occur. Hearing loss is an extremely rare presentation that can be attributable to the compression effect on the cranial nerve VII to VIII complex. In the case of compression effect or progression of symptoms, surgical intervention is necessary. A good clinical outcome could be expected postoperatively.

A Comparison Between MRIT2 and NT-ProBNP in Early Detection of Heart Diseases in Thalassemia Major Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.

One of the most common causes of mortality in major thalassemia is cardiac complications. Despite existence of several methods for diagnosis of cardiac complications in thalassemia, this sequel persists as a major problem in these patients. The aim of this study is to compare the level of serum NT-ProBNP and cardiac MRI T2* in early detection and treatment of cardiac disorders in beta thalassemia major patients. 35 major thalassemic patients on regular transfusion were selected in our center from 2013 to 2014. All of the patients were at least 8 years old. NT-ProBNP and MRIT2* analyses were carried out for these patients, and consequently the findings were compared together and analyzed. There is a strong correlation between NT-ProBNP and MRIT2* (p value < 0.001) in early detection of cardiac disorders. NT-ProBNP is an important marker for diagnosis of cardiac complications before emergence of heart failure in thalassemic patients. Given the findings of this study, it is recommended that this marker be used on a regular basis for thalassemic patients on regular transfusion.

Secondary ALL after Successful Treatment of Ewing's Sarcoma: A Case Report.

Treatment with intensification of chemotherapy using alkylating agents and Topoisomerase II inhibitors and radiotherapy has improved the outcome of patients with solid tumors such as Ewing's sarcoma. However, there are several reports of secondary malignancy following treatment of these tumors. In this article, we describe a 12 years old girl with ALL who had Ewing's sarcoma when she was 8 years old and underwent successful treatment but after two and half years at 12 years old, she came back with pallor and muscular pain.