ABSTRACT
Metronidazole is a very common antibacterial and antiprotozoal with wide usage across the globe, including the least developed countries. It is generally well-tolerated with a low incidence of serious side-effects. Neurological toxicity is fairly common with this drug, however majority of these are peripheral neuropathy with very few cases of central nervous toxicity reported. We report the imaging findings in two patients with cerebellar dysfunction after Metronidazole usage. Signal changes in the dentate and red nucleus were seen on magnetic resonance imaging in these patients. Most of the cases reported in literature reported similar findings, suggesting high predilection for the dentate nucleus in metronidazole induced encephalopathy.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Febrile seizures are the most common seizure disorder in childhood, associated with a significant rise in body temperature. However, post-infectious refractory afebrile form of seizures in previously healthy children is being increasingly recognized in around the world, which evolves into a chronic refractory form of epilepsy. The term 'Febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome' (FIRES) has been proposed for these conditions and represents a refractory severe post-infectious epileptic condition in previously normal children. CASE REPORT: We report the initial and follow-up MR imaging findings in a 5year-old with refractory epilepsy post-febrile seizures. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, acute post-infectious seizures are increasingly being recognized across the globe with the newly coined term 'Febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome'(FIRES) for this group of immune-mediated epileptic encephalopathy in previously healthy children. This has three phases: episode of simple febrile infection, followed by acute refractory seizures and lastly the chronic phase of neuropsychological impairments and seizures.
ABSTRACT
Intraspinal hemorrhage is very rare and intramedullary hemorrhage, also called hematomyelia, is the rarest form of intraspinal hemorrhage, usually related to trauma. Spinal vascular malformations such intradural arteriovenous malformations are the most common cause of atraumatic hematomyelia. Other considerations include warfarin or heparin anticoagulation, bleeding disorders, spinal cord tumors. Radiation-induced hematomyelia of the cord is exceedingly rare with only one case in literature to date. We report the case of an 8 year old girl with Ewing's sarcoma of the thoracic vertebra, under radiation therapy, presenting with hematomyelia. We describe the clinical course, the findings on imaging studies and the available information in the literature. Recognition of the clinical pattern of spinal cord injury should lead clinicians to perform imaging studies to evaluate for compressive etiologies.
