Simultaneous, Bilateral Ophthalmoplegia as the Presenting Sign of Paediatric Multiple Sclerosis: Case Report and Discussion of the Differential Diagnosis.

An 11-year-old female developed bilateral oculomotor nerve palsies without pupillary involvement and bilateral optic neuropathy as the presenting signs of paediatric multiple sclerosis (MS). Although ocular mono-neuropathies have been reported, this is the first bilateral mono-neuropathy reported in a paediatric patient due to MS. The differential diagnosis and evaluation for bilateral ophthalmoplegia are discussed in detail.

Cervical spondylotic myelopathy in the young adult: a review of the literature and clinical diagnostic criteria in an uncommon demographic.

BACKGROUND: Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is typically encountered in the elderly population. Significant inconsistencies currently exist regarding the definition of the disorder, the true incidence of CSM in younger populations, and the established diagnostic criteria. OBJECTIVE: To highlight the lack of standardization in the definition and diagnosis of CSM. METHODS: A PubMed literature search was conducted spanning the years 2001-2011. The search was limited by the following terms: (1) English language, (2) adults (19-44 years old), and (3) "cervical spondylotic myelopathy." Each article was reviewed to determine if the presence of the definition of CSM existed in the article. The clinical characteristics used to make the diagnosis of CSM were recorded for each article. Cochran's Q statistic was used to determine whether some clinical characteristics were more frequently used than others. RESULTS: Ninety-three papers were reviewed in detail and 16 case reports, reviews, and articles concerning less than 3 patients were excluded, resulting in 77 articles in the final analysis. The most common clinical definitions were gait disturbance (22/77 articles (28.6%)), upper limb paresthesias or sensory disturbance (21/77 (27.3%)), and clumsy hands (15/77 (19.5%)). Hyperreflexia, spasticity, and pathologically increased reflexes were identified as diagnostic criteria in a minority of patients. CONCLUSION: The literature employs a wide range of neurologic signs and symptoms to make the diagnosis of CSM, with a majority of studies failing to rely on strict diagnostic criteria. The clinician should not discount CSM as an explanation for the aforementioned findings, as it is well-reported in the literature among the ages 18-44.

Evaluating initial spine trauma response: injury time to trauma center in PA, USA.

Historical perceptions regarding the severity of traumatic spinal cord injury has led to considerable disparity in triage to tertiary care centers. This article retrospectively reviews a large regional trauma database to analyze whether the diagnosis of spinal trauma affected patient transfer timing and patterns. The Pennsylvania Trauma database was retrospectively reviewed. All acute trauma patient entries for level I and II centers were categorized for diagnosis, mechanism, and location of injury, analyzing transportation modality and its influence on time of arrival. A total of 1162 trauma patients were identified (1014 blunt injuries, 135 penetrating injuries and 12 other) with a mean transport time of 3.9 hours and a majority of patients arriving within 7 hours (>75%). Spine trauma patients had the longest mean arrival time (5.2 hours) compared to blunt trauma (4.2 hours), cranial neurologic injuries (4.35 hours), and penetrating injuries (2.13 hours, p<0.0001). There was a statistically significant correlation between earlier arrivals and both cranial trauma (p=0.0085) and penetrating trauma (p<0.0001). The fastest modality was a fire rescue (0.93 hours) or police (0.63 hours) vehicle with Philadelphia County (1.1 hour) having the quickest arrival times. Most trauma patients arrived to a specialty center within 7 hours of injury. However subsets analysis revealed that spine trauma patients had the greatest transit times. Present research trials for spinal cord injuries suggest earlier intervention may lead to improved recovery. Therefore, it is important to focus on improvement of the transportation triage system for traumatic spinal patients.