Pheochromocytoma presented with vertebral artery dissection.

BACKGROUND: Pheochromocytoma may rarely cause arterial dissection. Here the authors report a patient with pheochromocytoma complicated with vertebral artery dissection (VAD) and stroke. CASE HISTORY: A 48-year-old man presented with probable diagnosis of myocardial infarction. Following premedication with methylprednisolone for coronary artery angiography, he had unstable hypertension. Three days later, he had right cerebellar and left occipital lobe infarction in association with VAD. Urinary cathecolamines and MR scan of the abdomen suggested a diagnosis of phaeochromocytoma, which was later histopathologically confirmed. CONCLUSION: This case is interesting in that there is no previous report of the combination of pheochromocytoma, VAD, and stroke. Awareness of the atypical clinical presentations of this tumor is important for definitive treatment.

Intravascular lymphoma masquerading as multiembolic stroke developing after coronary artery by-pass surgery.

BACKGROUND: Intravascular lymphoma (IVL) is a very rare non-Hodgkin type lymphoproliferative disorder characterized by neoplastic growth of lymphoid cells within the lumen of capillaries, small veins, and arterioles. The neoplastic cells cannot reach the parenchyma because of the loss of adhesion molecules during malignant transformation. Multifocal vascular occlusions caused by proliferation of malignant lymphocytes in the lumen result in diffuse thrombosis and tissue infarction. The clinical symptoms of the disease are dependent on the specific organ involvement which most often includes the central nervous system and skin. Neurologic presentation includes focal sensory or motor deficits, altered sensorium, rapidly progressive dementia, seizures, ataxia, and vertigo. CASE REPORT: We report a patient with IVL whose symptoms developed on the second postoperative day of coronary artery-bypass surgery imitating a multiembolic stroke. Magnetic resonance imaging showed widespread ischemic subcortical lesions. The patient's clinical status worsened irrespective of supportive medical treatment. The diagnosis was established by autopsy. CONCLUSION: IVL may mimic ischemic stroke. IVL is not often diagnosed before death because of the intravascular growth pattern of the tumor cells and a fulminant clinical course. IVL may be considered in the differential diagnosis of ischemic stroke patients with progressive worsening despite medical management.

Psychiatric comorbidity in medication overuse headache patients with pre-existing headache type of episodic tension-type headache.

BACKGROUND: Medication overuse headache (MOH) mostly evolves from migraine and episodic tension-type headache (ETTH). Chronic tension-type headache (CTTH) is another headache type that evolves over time from ETTH. It is well known that psychiatric comorbidity is high in MOH patients. AIM: To investigate the frequency of psychiatric comorbidity, and the intensity of depression and anxiety in MOH patients evolving from ETTH and to compare results with CTTH patients and MOH patients evolving from migraine. METHODS: Twenty-eight CTTH (Group C) and 89 MOH patients were included into the study. MOH patients were divided into two groups according to their pre-existing headache types: MOH patients with pre-existing ETTH (Group E, n = 31), and with pre-existing migraine (Group M, n = 58). All patients were interviewed with a psychiatrist and SCID-CV and SCID-II were applied. Beck Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory scales were also performed. RESULTS: Eleven patients (39.3%) in Group C, 21 patients (67.7%) in Group E, and 31 patients (53.7%) in Group M were diagnosed to have comorbid psychiatric disorders. The psychiatric comorbidity was found significantly higher in Group E than Group C. In Group E, mood disorders were found significantly higher, but the difference between the two groups with regard to anxiety disorders was insignificant. Mean depression scores were significantly higher in Group E than Group C. The mostly diagnosed type was obsessive-compulsive personality disorder in all the three groups, and was statistically significant in Group M than Group C. CONCLUSION: Psychiatric comorbidity in MOH patients with pre-existing ETTH is common as in those with pre-existing migraine headache and MOH with regard to developing psychiatric disorders should be interpreted as a risk factor in chronic daily headache patients.

Spinal granulocytic sarcoma (chloroma) presenting as acute cord compression in a nonleukemic patient.

The case of a previously healthy 24-year-old man diagnosed with extradural thoracic granulocytic sarcoma with no evidence of bone marrow or other hematological involvement is described. The tumor was removed totally by microsurgery. The histopathological examination was consistent with granulocytic sarcoma. Granulocytic sarcomas are most commonly found in the context of an acute myelogenous leukemia or in chronic myelogenous leukemia. They rarely have been reported in otherwise healthy patients without any evidence of systemic disease. A review of the literature revealed only 14 more nonleukaemic cases with granulocytic sarcoma causing thoracic spinal cord compression.

Progression in acute ischemic stroke: frequency, risk factors and prognosis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency, possible predictive factors and the prognosis of deteriorating ischemic stroke. METHODS: A total of 266 stroke patients who presented within 24h of onset were enrolled. Clinical deterioration was defined as a decrease of > or =1 points in the Canadian Neurological Scale (CNS). Rankin Score (RS) was performed at discharge and at six months. RESULTS: Of the 266 patients studied, 26 (9.8%) worsened. Involvement of posterior circulation (odds ratio (OR) 3.16) and noncardioembolic infarction (OR 4.5) were found to be independently associated with neurological worsening. Death occurred in 19.2% of progressive (P) and in 4.16% of nonprogressive (NP) groups. Functional outcome was worse in the P than in NP patients at discharge and at sixth months. CONCLUSIONS: Involvement of posterior circulation and noncardioembolic subtypes of infarct independently affect neurological progression in acute ischemic stroke. Clinical deterioration significantly worsens the prognosis.

Magnetic resonance neurography diagnosed brachial plexitis: a case report.

Idiopathic brachial plexitis is a rare disorder presenting with pain and weakness in the shoulder girdle and upper extremity. Idiopathic brachial plexitis can mimic other conditions that cause acute pain and weakness around the shoulder, and its diagnosis can be challenging. There is no special test for the diagnosis of idiopathic brachial plexitis, although electromyography may be useful. In this case of idiopathic brachial plexitis, we present magnetic resonance neurography findings for the first time.

Low income and education levels may cause medication overuse and chronicity in migraine patients.

BACKGROUND: Frequent analgesic drug intake, especially in migraine patients, may induce the risk of medication overuse headache (MOH). The various conditions that may affect the development and the features of MOH have not been determined yet. AIM: To compare MOH patients with migraine as pre-existing headache and episodic migraine patients according to socioeconomic and educational variables. METHODS: Forty-six MOH patients with migraine as pre-existing headache and 61 migraine patients were included into study. The headache characteristics, socioeconomic and educational variables of MOH and migraine groups and subgroups divided according to the education (low/high education subgroups), and income (low/high income subgroups) levels were evaluated. RESULTS: We found that mean duration of education was shorter in MOH patients than migraine patients. There was a negative correlation between duration of education and duration of MOH. The mean duration of MOH was longer and rate of low-income level was higher in patients with low-education level. The duration of education was lower in MOH patients with low income. The frequency of migraine attacks and low-income rate was also higher in low-educated migraine patients. The duration of education was shorter in migraine patients with low income. CONCLUSION: We report that migraineurs with low socioeconomic status may have risk of developing MOH. A better identification of patients at risk of drug-associated headache may contribute to improved health in a group of patients with MOH.

Sympathetic skin response in migraineurs and patients with medication overuse headache.

BACKGROUND: Autonomic dysfunction has been reported in patients with migraine, and it may play a role in promoting attacks. OBJECTIVE: To investigate changes in the autonomic function of migraineurs and patients with medication overuse headache via sympathetic skin response, and to determine whether psychiatric comorbidity is related to any changes recorded. METHODS: A consecutive series of patients with migraine (n = 45) and medication overuse headache (n = 53) were studied. Patients with other chronic diseases requiring medication were excluded. Sympathetic skin response latencies and amplitudes from the patients with headache (N = 98) and 40 healthy controls were compared statistically. RESULTS: Sympathetic skin response latencies in patients with medication overuse headache and in migraineurs were significantly longer than in controls. To analyze the effect of psychiatric comorbidity, patients with medication overuse headache and migraineurs were each divided into 2 groups: those with psychiatric comorbidity and those without comorbidity. When the sympathetic skin response results of these 4 groups were compared with controls, the only statistically significant difference was between the sympathetic skin response latencies of controls and the latencies of patients with psychiatric comorbidity. We could not find any difference between the results from patients without psychiatric comorbidity and those of controls. CONCLUSION: Psychiatric disease may affect the results of autonomic function testing in migraineurs and patients with medication overuse headache. Consideration should be given to excluding patients with psychiatric comorbidity from studies investigating autonomic dysfunction in patients with headache.

[Double inversion recovery sequence in temporal lobe epilepsy: preliminary results]. / Temporal lob epilepsisinde "double inversion recovery" sekansi: ön sonuçlar.

PURPOSE: DIR (double inversion recovery) is a sequence with the hybrid contrast of both FLAIR and STIR sequences, produced by the application of double inversion recovery pulse. It has been suggested that DIR provides high sensitivity to lesions with low T2 contrast. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that DIR sequence is superior to conventional sequences in the identification of mesial temporal sclerosis and other temporal lobe lesions in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-three subjects with a prediagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy and ten healthy control subjects with no abnormality on magnetic resonance imaging studies have been studied with DIR, FLAIR and T2W sequences. Coronal images through temporal lobes and hippocampus were acquired. Qualitatively, overall sensitivity to the presence of lesions, hippocampal lesion detectability, temporal horn dilatation and artifacts were evaluated in temporal lobe epilepsy cases and quantitatively, hippocampal and white matter signal-to-noise ratio as well as hippocampus-white matter contrast-to-noise ratio were calculated in the healthy subjects. Subjective scores were graded on a scale of 3 or 4 points. RESULTS: Signal-to-noise ratio scores were higher on T2W sequence, however contrast-to-noise ratio scores were higher on DIR sequence compared to the other two sequences. Imaging findings were compatible with mesial temporal sclerosis in seven patients, tumoral mass in two, and chronic infarct in four. DIR sequence was less sensitive to hippocampal atrophy than the other two sequences because of cerebrospinal fluid artifacts. Overall sensitivity to the presence of lesions and hippocampal lesion detectability scores, although similar among three sequences, were highest with DIR sequence. However, lesion sensitivity scores were highest for lesions compatible with mesial temporal sclerosis and for solid masses and lowest for cystic lesions on DIR sequence. CONCLUSION: Despite the presence of artifacts, DIR is a sequence providing high sensitivity to mesial temporal sclerosis like lesions at hippocampus. DIR might be useful as an additional sequence when the other conventional sequences reveal a suspicious lesion with no accompanying hippocampal atrophy.