ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare primary neuroendocrine cutaneous tumor, rarely metastasizing to the brain. Chronic lymphoid leukemia (CLL) is a disease predisposing to MCC. According to previous reports, headache and focal neurological deficits suggest disease progression to the brain. We present a patient with MCC whose seizure was not elicited by a cerebral metastasis, but by bone metastases compressing the brain. Case Presentation. A 62-year-old female patient had a history of CLL. A lesion with the appearance of an atheroma was removed from the right upper arm. Histology confirmed the diagnosis of MCC. She was admitted to the neurology department with her first GM seizure. The cranial MRI/MRA showed bone metastases in the right parietal and both frontal areas, compressing the brain. Flow cytometry of CSF did not reveal metastasis of MCC. CONCLUSIONS: The case history of the patient was unique even among the rare cases of MCC with neurological involvement. The seizure was not elicited by a cerebral metastasis, but by bone metastases compressing the brain. In addition to patient history, clinical presentation and radiological findings enabled a suspected diagnosis of skull metastasis of MCC compressing the brain, causing symptomatic epileptic seizures.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To test whether str oke features relate to living standard within one city by comparing 2 districts. METHODS: District-8 (D-8) ranks the last, whereas District-12 (D-12) is the second regarding personal monthly income of the 23 districts of Budapest, Hungary. Stroke cases hospitalized in 2007 were identified by the database of the National Health Insurance Fund and postal codes for living address. Case certification was performed by personal visits to the general practitioners. Demographic data, risk factors and survival status in 2010 were analyzed using the anonymized database. RESULTS: Three-year case fatality was 36.6 % in D-8 and 31.5 % in D-12 (p = 0.24). Of the fatal cases, men were more than 12 years younger in D-8 than in D-12 (69.2 ± 13.3 vs. 82.4 ± 9.2 years, p < 0.001). Men died younger than women in D-8 (69.2 ± 13.3 vs. 75.2 ± 12.4; p = 0.036), but not in D-12 (82.4 ± 9.2 vs. 81.9 ± 7.3, p = 0.8). Non-treated hypertension, alcohol dependence, and smoking were significantly more prevalent in the poor district (p < 0.01 for all). CONCLUSION: In national stroke programs of former Eastern Block countries, primary prevention should focus especially on male populations of less wealthy regions.
