An initial MRI picture of limbic encephalitis in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

BACKGROUND: Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a rare and severe long-term complication of measles. Hallmarks of this entity include progressive cognitive decline, myoclonia, a generalized periodic pattern on EEG and deep white matter abnormalities on MRI. However, imaging can be normal in early stages. AIM: We report herein the case of a previously healthy 13-years-old girl with an unusual radiological presentation. RESULTS: She presented with unilateral myoclonia, cognitive decline with memory impairment and a first brain MRI with swelling of both hippocampi mimicking limbic encephalitis. Measles antibodies were positive in CSF and the EEG showed slow periodic complexes. CONCLUSION: This unusual radiological presentation has never been described in SSPE. Relationship between virus and limbic system are discussed.

Impact of severe epilepsy on development: recovery potential after successful early epilepsy surgery.

PURPOSE: Epilepsy surgery in young children with focal lesions offers a unique opportunity to study the impact of severe seizures on cognitive development during a period of maximal brain plasticity, if immediate control can be obtained. We studied 11 children with early refractory epilepsy (median onset, 7.5 months) due to focal lesion who were rendered seizure-free after surgery performed before the age of 6 years. METHODS: The children were followed prospectively for a median of 5 years with serial neuropsychological assessments correlated with electroencephalography (EEG) and surgery-related variables. RESULTS: Short-term follow-up revealed rapid cognitive gains corresponding to cessation of intense and propagated epileptic activity [two with early catastrophic epilepsy; two with regression and continuous spike-waves during sleep (CSWS) or frontal seizures]; unchanged or slowed velocity of progress in six children (five with complex partial seizures and frontal or temporal cortical malformations). Longer-term follow-up showed stabilization of cognitive levels in the impaired range in most children and slow progress up to borderline level in two with initial gains. DISCUSSION: Cessation of epileptic activity after early surgery can be followed by substantial cognitive gains, but not in all children. In the short term, lack of catch-up may be explained by loss of retained function in the removed epileptogenic area; in the longer term, by decreased intellectual potential of genetic origin, irreversible epileptic damage to neural networks supporting cognitive functions, or reorganization plasticity after early focal lesions. Cognitive recovery has to be considered as a "bonus," which can be predicted in some specific circumstances.

Trends in risk factors, patterns and causes in hospitalized strokes over 25 years: The Lausanne Stroke Registry.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The Lausanne Stroke Registry includes, from 1979, all patients admitted to the department of Neurology of the Lausanne University Hospital with the diagnosis of first clinical stroke. Using the Lausanne Stroke Registry, we aimed to determine trends in risk factors, causes, localization and inhospital mortality over 25 years in hospitalized stroke patients. METHODS: We assessed temporal trends in stroke patients characteristics through the following consecutive periods: 1979-1987, 1988-1995 and 1996-2003. Age-adjusted cardiovascular risk factors, etiologies, stroke localizations and mortality were compared between the three periods. RESULTS: Overall, 5,759 patients were included. Age was significantly different among the analyzed periods (p < 0.001), showing an increment in older patients throughout time. After adjustment for age, hypercholesterolemia increased (p < 0.001), as opposed to cigarette smoking (p < 0.001), hypertension (p < 0.001) and diabetes and hyperglycemia (p < 0.001). In patients with ischemic strokes, there were significant changes in the distribution of causes with an increase in cardioembolic strokes (p < 0.001), and in the localization of strokes with an increase in entire middle cerebral artery (MCA) and posterior circulation strokes together with a decrease in superficial middle cerebral artery stroke (p < 0.001). In patients with hemorrhagic strokes, the thalamic localizations increased, whereas the proportion of striatocapsular hemorrhage decreased (p = 0.022). Except in the older patient group, the mortality rate decreased. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows major trends in the characteristics of stroke patients admitted to a department of neurology over a 25-year time span, which may result from referral biases, development of acute stroke management and possibly from the evolution of cerebrovascular risk factors.