Autoimmune cerebellar hypermetabolism: Report of three cases and literature overview.

We report three cases of vermian cerebellar hypermetabolism in patients with autoimmune encephalitis. One of our patients was positive for anti-Ma2 antibodies and one for anti-Zic4 antibodies while the remaining patient did not present any known antibodies. The seronegative patient deteriorated after immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment for a pulmonary adenocarcinoma and improved with immunosuppressive drugs, which is in favour of an underlying autoimmune mechanism. They all presented with subacute neurological symptoms. Brain magnetic resonance imaging was normal except in one patient, where hyperintensities were present on FLAIR sequence around the third ventricle and the cerebral aqueduct. 18F-FDG brain positron emission tomography with computed tomography (18F-FDG PET-CT) demonstrated an unusual vermian cerebellar hypermetabolism in the three cases. While cerebellar hypermetabolism on 18F-FDG PET-CT has been described in various neurological diseases, such vermian - and more broadly cerebellar - hypermetabolism was seldom described in previous studies on autoimmune encephalitis. When differential diagnoses have been ruled out, this pattern may be of interest for the positive diagnosis of autoimmune encephalitis in difficult diagnostic cases.

Use of IgG Avidity test in case definitions of toxoplasmosis in pregnancy.

A survey network for congenital toxoplasmosis (TOXO-NET) was set up in December 1996 in Piedmont (Italy). Participants were asked to classify the infections in pregnant mothers and newborns by the criteria of the European Network on Congenital Toxoplasmosis published by Lebech in 1996. Because the IgG Avidity test is largely employed as a 2nd level test in toxoplasmosis diagnosis and it could be helpful to date infection, the co-ordinators of TOXO-NET suggested including it in the "case definition" of "probable" infection and "unlikely" infection. 117 cases of toxoplasmosis in pregnancy divided into the risk categories under Lebech's criteria were re-examined using the "new" case definitions. 77 out of 117 (65.8%) Toxoplasma gondii infections during pregnancy could be defined with only one serum sample using the IgG Avidity test. The IgG Avidity test proved a useful method to classify the Toxoplasma gondii infections in pregnancy, especially when we had only one serum sample.

[Cost analysis of toxoplasma infection control in pregnancy]. / Analisi dei costi relativi al controllo dell'infezione toxoplasmica in corso di gravidanza.

In Italy, the management of Toxoplasma infection screening in pregnant women is often unproductive and inefficient and generates a wide variability of costs. This study evaluated performance parameters in the screening management of a population of pregnant women, estimated its costs and compared them with the costs of a full application of Ministerial Documents of 1995 and 1998. We controlled until delivery 830 pregnant women who had done the first blood test between September 1st and December 31st 1997. The costs of direct and indirect testing were analysed using the Excel database and statistical software package. Of the 573 pregnant women defined 'susceptible' at the first test, only 240 (42%) did further blood tests during the II and III trimesters, 30% did no more tests and the remaining women adopted a heterogeneous behaviour. The mean cost of each screening was found to be euro 54.47/pregnancy and euro 60.05/pregnancy with a full application of the Ministerial Document of 1995. A full application of Ministerial Document of 1998, instead, would have involved a cost of euro 94.28/pregnancy for 5 tests, euro 111.40/pregnancy for 6 tests and euro 128.51 for 7 tests. The study shows that the management of toxoplasmosis screening during pregnancy needs greater attention to the prescription of tests, so that useless testing can be reduced and the efficacy of the screening improved, two important goals the Ministerial Documents were designed to achieve.

(18)F-FDG PET/CT in tuberculosis: an early non-invasive marker of therapeutic response.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential of (18)F-fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) for early therapeutic intervention in patients with probable or confirmed tuberculosis (TB). METHODS: Twenty-one consecutive human immunodeficiency virus negative patients were prospectively included. All patients underwent (18)F-FDG PET/CT before and after 1 month of anti-tuberculosis treatment. The maximum standardised uptake value (SUV(max)) of the most (18)F-FDG avid lesions was recorded. RESULTS: The median age of patients was 36 years (range 18-84); 33.3% were male, 80.9% were born in endemic countries, and 23.8% had a past history of TB. TB was confirmed on culture in 8, on histology in 9 and on the basis of clinical symptoms in 4 patients. (18)F-FDG PET/CT detected active pulmonary TB (n = 1), extra-pulmonary (n = 10) or both (n = 10). The second (18)F-FDG PET/CT showed reduced radiotracer uptake intensity in 19 of 21 patients, with a median percentage decrease of SUV(max) of 31% (range 2-84). Two patients showed no improvement. TB was ruled out in one patient during follow-up; the final diagnosis was a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The other patient was smear-positive for 3 months. CONCLUSION: (18)F-FDG PET/CT allows an easy evaluation of early therapeutic response in patients with TB, particularly extra-pulmonary TB.

Congenital toxoplasmosis: 10-year follow up.

A long-term follow up was begun in 1982 on offspring of mothers who acquired toxoplasmosis during gestation. The 114 newborns were subdivided into 3 groups: (1) 26 born to mothers with certain infection; (2) 51 born to mothers with probable infection, and (3) 37 born to mothers with doubtful infection. There were five infections in the first group (19.2%), three in the second (5.8%) and none in the third. For purposes of data elaboration we considered only the 77 offspring of mothers with certain or probable infection. Of these, 2 infected cases out of 52 (3.8%) were born to mothers with infection in the first trimester of pregnancy, 4 out of 21 (19%) in the second trimester, and two out of four in the third. There were a total of 8 congenital infections (10.4%). Specific IgM antibodies were revealed in five out of eight infected children (62.5%). Infection was symptomatic in two children (2.6% of newborns at risk, 25% of infected cases), both born to mothers with infection in the second trimester. In the other six cases diagnosis was reached by evaluating trends in antibody levels: the percentage of infected newborns was higher in the group of maternal infections untreated (50%) or improperly treated (15.4%), compared to those receiving adequate treatment (6.9%). We suggest considering as infected children presenting specific IgM antibodies and/or antibody titres which do not become negative, even when symptoms are absent. Therapy with spiramycin should be started in all newborns at risk, while the use of sulphamides and pyrimethamine is justified only after the presence of infection is confirmed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)