Hyperhomocysteinemia Causes Severe Intraoperative Thrombotic Tendency in Superficial Temporal Artery-middle Cerebral Artery Bypass.

CASE: Two years ago, annual magnetic resonance imaging for unruptured right internal carotid artery aneurysm of a 47-year-old woman detected a cerebral infarct in her right occipital lobe which was unknown etiology and antiplatelet therapy was initiated. She presented with sensory disorder of her left fingers 4 months ago. Infarction in right parieto-occipital cortex and severe stenosis of right middle cerebral artery was revealed. Her laboratory test was normal except remarkably high homocysteine value. Regardless of dual anti-platelet therapy, she suffered from repeated minor stroke and the stenosis was progressing. Therefore, right superficial temporal artery - middle cerebral artery bypass was undertaken. Aspirin and clopidogrel were withdrawn 1 week before the surgery. Two branches were anastomosed with 2 separate frontal M4 branches. Although patency was confirmed immediately after the anastomosis, thrombus formation was revealed after 10 minutes. We needed to perform removal of the thrombus and re-anastomosis twice. Intraoperative administration of aspirin and ozagrel alleviated thrombotic tendency. After surgery, antiplatelet therapy and supplementation with folate and vitamin B were performed. Her postoperative course was uneventful and patency of both anastomoses was confirmed. DISCUSSION: Controversy still exists regarding preoperative antiplatelet therapy before superficial temporal artery-middle cerebral artery bypass, and folates and B6-12 vitamins supplementation for hyperhomocysteinemia. Considering intraoperative thrombo tendency in our case, it is recommended to evaluate the homocysteine level before bypass surgery for intracranial stenosis especially for young patients or patients with unknown etiology. Before bypass surgery of the patient with hyperhomocysteinemia, continuation of perioperative antiplatelet drugs and supplementation with folates and B6-12 vitamins are mandatory.

Superficial Temporal Artery Arteriovenous Fistula and Pseudoaneurysm: The Yin-Yang Sign.

Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Pseudoaneurisma traumático de la arteria temporal superficial, reporte de un caso / Traumatic pseudoaneurysm of the superficial temporal artery, report of a case

Los pseudoaneurismas son una causa infrecuente de masa palpable en cabeza y cuello, habitualmente secundarios a procedimientos intervencionales; trauma e infeccioso son casos aislados. Caso Clínico. Se presenta el caso de un niño de 14 años que luego de haber sufrido un trauma contuso cortante en la región preauricular izquierda intervenido quirúrgicamente, desarrolla al mes un aumento de volumen pulsátil tras un trauma menor en la zona. En la ecografía se aprecia el signo del yin yang, indicador de pseudoaneurisma. Se realiza en pabellón el vaciamiento del pseudoaneurisma y posterior sutura vascular sin incidentes. Discusión. Pese a la baja frecuencia de pseudoaneurisma como causa de masa en cabeza y cuello, se debe considerar como diagnóstico diferencial en el contexto de masas pulsátiles post traumáticas, de horas a días de evolución. El estudio de elección es la ecografía doppler y el Gold Standard del manejo es quirúrgico con sutura vascular.

Pseudoaneurysms are an infrequent cause of palpable mass in the head and neck; usually secondary to invasive procedures; trauma and infectious causes are rare. Clinical Case. We present the case of a 14-year-old boy who, after suffering a blunt contusive trauma in the left preauricular region surgically treated, develops a month later a pulsatile volume increase after a minor trauma in the area. Ultrasound shows the yin yang sign, indicator of pseudoaneurysm. The emptying of the pseudoaneurysm and subsequent vascular suture was performed without incident. Discussion. Despite the low frequency of pseudoaneurysm as a cause of mass in the head and neck, it should be considered as a differential diagnosis in the context of post-traumatic pulsatile masses, from hours to days of evolution. The study of choice is Doppler ultrasound and the Gold Standard treatment is surgery with vascular suture.

Extrastriatal dopamine D(2) receptors in Parkinson's disease: a longitudinal study.

Most antiparkinsonian drugs are known to act through central dopamine D(2) receptor agonism. A previous longitudinal positron emission tomography (PET) study has indicated that, in the striatum of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, dopamine D(2) receptor binding declines at a relatively fast annual rate of 2-4% (compared to the rate of <1%/year in healthy individuals). In the present study, the examination of longitudinal changes in D(2) receptors was extended to extrastriatal brain regions in PD. Eight early PD patients were examined twice with PET, approximately 3 years apart, using a high-affinity extrastriatal D(2)/D(3) receptor tracer, [(11)C]FLB 457. Both the MRI-referenced region-of-interest method and the voxel-based statistical analysis method were used independently in the analysis. Regional D(2)-like availabilities (binding potentials) in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the left temporal cortex and the left and right medial thalami were significantly decreased at the second examination by 20-37% (corresponding to an annual decline of 6-11%). Thus, the annual loss of extrastriatal D(2) availability in PD is up to three times faster than the rate previously reported in the putamen. Our longitudinal study shows first evidence concerning cortical D(2) receptor loss in the progression of PD, although it is not possible to distinguish between the effects of the therapy and the disease.