Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography identifies symptomatic cavum septum pellucidum cyst: case report.

OBJECTIVE: Cavum Septum Pellucidum (CSP) cysts are considered normal anatomic variants, comprising as many as 15% of the adult and 85% of pediatric populations. On rare occasions, the cavum can obstruct CSF outflow from the lateral ventricles causing elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) and headaches. The purpose of this paper is to present a challenging case of new onset symptomatic CSP in a previously healthy adult male without papilledema and elevated ICP detected by transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasonography. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: A previously healthy 44 year-old man presented to the neurology service with debilitating positional headaches that were mitigated solely by recumbent positioning. A magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI) of the brain revealed a cavum septum pellucidum. A lumbar puncture was performed and revealed normal ICP. No papilledema was evident on fundoscopic examination. A CSF flow study revealed normal dye opacification pattern without evidence of CSF leak. INTERVENTION: Without other clinical indicators of high ICP, but a history suspicious for symptomatic CSP, TCD study was performed and revealed abnormally low cerebral blood flow velocities (CBFV's) and significantly elevated pulsatility indices (PI's) for patient's age indicative of high ICP. Endoscopic fenestration of the septum pellucidum was performed improving the patient's headaches and normalization of the PI's and CBFV's to normal (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Symptomatic CSP is a difficult diagnosis to make based on existing diagnostic paradigm. TCD in the absence of other objective confirmatory studies, can aid in the diagnosis and provide information about the success of fenestration of the cavum septum.

Advanced neurologic monitoring for cardiac surgery.

Cardiac surgery (CS) with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is currently the most common surgery in the United States. Understanding, avoiding, and preventing postoperative complications, including neurologic deficits following CS, represents a great public and economic benefit for society, especially considering our aging population. There is a critical need to identify new strategies that will prevent harmful events during and after CS. At present, experience with neurophysiologic techniques includes the ability to measure cerebral blood flow velocity/emboli and regional cerebral venous oxygen saturation by transcranial Doppler ultrasound, and by near-infrared spectroscopy, respectively. Continuous monitoring of these variables along with systemic hemodynamics will provide a better understanding of mechanisms of brain and other organ injury during CPB. Neuroprotective interventions based on multimodality neurologic monitoring would ideally eliminate postoperative complications and improve patient outcomes.

Cerebral and systemic hemodynamics changes during upright tilt in chronic fatigue syndrome.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: During head-up tilt (HUT), patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have higher rates of neurally mediated hypotension (NMH) and postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) than healthy controls. The authors studied whether patients with CFS were also more likely to have abnormal cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) compared with controls in response to orthostatic stress. METHODS: Transcranial Doppler monitoring of middle cerebral artery (MCA) CBFV was performed during 3-stage HUT prospectively in 26 patients with CFS and 23 healthy controls. At the same time, continuous monitoring of arterial blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), endtidal CO2 (ET-CO2) were performed. Results are reported as mean +/- SD. RESULTS: NMH developed in 21 patients with CFS and in 14 controls (P = .22). POTS was present in 9 CFS patients and 7 controls (P = .76). Supine HR was higher in CFS patients, but all other hemodynamics and CBFV measures were similar at baseline. The median time to hypotension did not differ, but the median time to onset of orthostatic symptoms was shorter in those with CFS (P < .001). The CBFV did not differ between groups in the supine posture, at 1 or 5 minutes after upright tilt, at 5 or 1 minute before the end of the test, or at termination of the test. Mean CBFV fell at termination of tilt testing in those with CFS and controls. ET-CO2 was lower at termination of the test in those with CFS versus controls (P = .002). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study are not consistent with the hypothesis that patients with CFS have a distinctive pattern of MCA CBFV changes in response to orthostatic stress.

Intracerebral hemorrhage and postpartum cerebral vasculopathy.

INTRODUCTION: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) associated with pregnancy commonly occurs in the postpartum period in the setting of preeclampsia/eclampsia. We describe the clinical course of two patients with ICH due to postpartum cerebral vasculopathy in the absence of toxemia. METHODS: We reviewed two cases with ICH and postpartum vasculopathy in our hospital (1996-2001) and compared them with seven similar case reports from the literature. RESULTS: Mean age of all patients is 28.7+/-5.6 years (mean+/-S.D.). Toxemia of pregnancy was absent in all cases. ICHs were cortical in eight and putaminal in one patient. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate was elevated in two. Two cases rehemorrhaged during the same admission. No cerebral infarctions were reported. All patients had diffuse vasculopathy on conventional catheter angiography, with no clinical manifestations or laboratory data supportive of extracerebral or systemic vasculitis. Eight patients were treated with corticosteroids, two with additional cytotoxic agents and one with nimodipine alone. Improvement on follow-up cerebral angiography (catheter or MRA) and transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD) was noted in eight cases. One did not have follow-up cerebral imaging but had an excellent clinical outcome. All cases had good to excellent functional recovery. CONCLUSIONS: Postpartum ICH in the absence of toxemia may be associated with isolated cerebral vasculopathy. The clinical course and functional outcome is good to excellent. This entity appears to be distinct from cerebral vasculitis, which is usually associated with poor outcome.