Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0004134 (ataxia)
 15,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Monoclonal gammopathies are frequently associated with peripheral neuropathies of which clinical, electrophysiological, pathological and possibly pathogenetical aspects are heterogeneous. Nevertheless some clinico-biological entities, which account for the majority of cases, have been recently recognized: 1) The IgM neuropathy is a chronic demyelinating sensori-motor polyneuropathy with tremor and ataxia as prominent features. It can be either associated with MGUS or Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia. The light chain of the gammopathy is kappa in a majority of cases. Numerous reports have demonstrated specific antibody activities supported by the M-protein and directed against various peripheral nerve antigens, usually myelin components such as the myelin associated glycoprotein (MAG). The ultrastructural evidence of widely spaced myelin is suggestive of the diagnosis but is not consistent. Treatment directed towards the gammopathy is occasionally associated with improvement of the symptoms. 2) The neuropathy of the osteosclerotic myelomas and solitary plasmacytomas present as a chronic sensori-motor polyradiculoneuropathy with conspicuous demyelination and may be associated with one or more of the systemic clinical features of the Crow-Fukase or POEMS syndrome (Polyneuropathy, Organomegaly, Endocrinopathy, M-protein, Skin changes). The POEMS syndrome may also be associated with "benign" monoclonal or even polyclonal dysproteinemias. The M-proteins are almost all IgG or IgA with lambda light chains. There are some relations between POEMS syndrome and Castleman's disease. The pathogenesis of both disorders remains obscure. Treatment is most favorable in case of solitary plasmacytomas, which may be completely removed. 3) The neuropathy observed in patients with primary AL amyloidosis or amylosis associated with malignant plasma-cell dyscrasias is rare. Sensory deficit and autonomic dysfunction are related to a prominent involvement of small myelinated and unmyelinated fibers. A clinical and/or electro-physiological carpal tunnel syndrome is frequent. In a majority of cases the light chain of the M-protein is lambda. Amyloid deposits are observed on nerve biopsy. Treatment is inefficient. 4) The neuropathy associated with cryoglobulinemias may be asymmetric, painful, cryosensitive and associated with cutaneous purpura and neuromuscular vasculitis. In fact, in a majority of cases the symptoms are less suggestive raising the problem of an incidental laboratory finding. 5) A motoneuron disease-like syndrome may develop in patients with various types of monoclonal gammopathies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
 ...
PMID:[Dysglobulinemic neuropathies]. 284 76

Since the beginning of this century, the concept of tropical neuromyelopathy (T. N. M.) was progressively elaborated in tropical areas. This disorder is constituted by three main clinical syndromes (e.g.: polyneuropathy, spastic paraplegia, ataxia). Abnormal clinical, electrophysiological and pathological features, observed in all clinical forms argue in favor of a diffuse pathobiological process of the nervous system. The association with positive HTLV-1 serology, has recently induced a great interest for the spastic forms of T. N. M. Tropical spastic paraplegia tend to be individualized. This attitude differs from the global concept of T. N. M. which allows gathering similar clinical syndromes. This T. N. M. group should be kept intact until the discovery of new etiologies. Toxic (manioc, lathyrism) or deficiency (hypovitaminosis, malabsorption) causes are incriminated. Otherwise etiologies are unknown.
 ...
PMID:[The concept of tropical neuromyelopathy]. 290 Dec 97

We report a case of chronic progressive inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy with a subacute exacerbation that included ataxia, tendon areflexia, ptosis, and ophthalmoplegia. Spinal fluid protein was elevated and electrophysiological studies revealed a demyelinating neuropathy. This case suggests a continuum between chronic inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy and the Miller Fisher variant of acute inflammatory polyneuropathy.
 ...
PMID:Chronic inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy with ophthalmoplegia. 294 24

A 65-year-old man with Tangier disease (analphalipoproteinemia) had had a progressive sensorimotor distal neuropathy with sensory ataxia for 1 year. Muscle biopsy demonstrated excess lipid vacuoles on histochemical and electron-microscopic techniques. Sural nerve biopsy showed a marked loss of large fibers and an increase in small myelinated fibers, with presence of remyelinating fibers and clusters of regeneration; a few aspects of active demyelination and some onion-like formations were also present. Lipid accumulation chiefly affected the Schwann cells of unmyelinated fibers and, to a lesser degree, of myelinated fibers, endoneurial fibroblast, and vasa nervorum. Teased fibers showed prevalent aspects of de-/remyelination and, often in association, marked myelin wrinkling suggesting axonal atrophy. This Tangier patient differs from known cases for the presence of a distal symmetrical sensorimotor polyneuropathy (not previously reported in Tangier disease) and because of the morphological findings of de-/remyelination coexisting with aspects of axonal atrophy and previous degeneration, and of lipid accumulation within striated muscle and vasa nervorum. This latter finding contrasts with the assumption that in Tangier disease vessel walls are not a site of lipid storage: probably the vasa nervorum are different, in this respect, from other vessels, because of the intense lipid metabolism of the nervous tissue. Thus we suggest that involvement of vasa nervorum in Tangier disease may be more important than previously suspected, possibly playing a role in the causation of neuropathy.
 ...
PMID:Tangier disease. A case with sensorimotor distal polyneuropathy and lipid accumulation in striated muscle and vasa nervorum. 299 11

Dementias which are either reversible or avoidable are discussed in the light of the literature. The frequency is between 6 and 32%. The most important etiological groups are immunological vasculopathies, hyperlipidemia, some types of encephalitis and, mainly, progressive dementia of the insane, benign tumors and in particular meningioma, low pressure hydrocephalus, intoxications due to drugs, industrial products and alcohol, metabolic disturbances, encephalopathy in dialysed patients, ileo-jejunal-bypass encephalopathy and encephalopathy due to neoplasms. Dementias are also seen in endocrinological disturbances and particularly in hypothyroidism. Vitamin B12 and folate deficiency, as well as epilepsy, may be causes of dementia. Depression may mimic a state of dementia. Some features of reversible dementias are listed, including in particular the somewhat more rapid onset, the younger age of patients, and accompanying neurological symptoms such as headache, gait disturbances, ataxia, polyneuropathy, myoclonus or epileptic fits.
 ...
PMID:[Reversible and preventable dementias]. 361 87

Five patients developed neurological symptoms during treatment with amiodarone for intervals ranging between five and 40 months. In each case the daily maintenance dose did not exceed 600 mg. The neurological manifestations included gait ataxia, tremor, polyneuropathy, and myopathy. In all five patients, the neurological symptoms were severe and disabling. In one patient with a myopathy, there was no improvement after amiodarone was withdrawn. The neurological side effects of amiodarone may be disabling and are not always reversible with drug withdrawal. Neurological complications may arise during treatment with usual maintenance doses.
 ...
PMID:Disabling neurological complications of amiodarone. 386 21

An own observation of Refsum's disease is described. The female patient of 39 presented all characteristic symptoms of the disease, which had developed progressively starting at the age of 25: atypical retinitis pigmentosa with nightblindness and concentric constriction of the visual fields, cataracts, peripheral polyneuropathy with reduced nerve conduction velocity, ataxia, high protein level in CSF, ichthyosis-like cutaneous manifestations, sceletal anomalies, progressive sensorineural deafness, anosmia. Refsum's disease is a metabolic disorder based on an inborn enzyme defect, inherited by autosomal recessive transmission. It causes storage of phytanic acid in the body. Treatment consists in diet low in phytol and phytanic acid as well as large volume plasma exchanges.
 ...
PMID:[Refsum syndrome, heredopathia atactica polyneuritiformis in the view of the otolaryngologist (author's transl)]. 616 93

Heredopathia atactica polyneuritiformis (phytanic-acid storage disease, Refsum's disease) is an inborn error of metabolism, in which the body accumulates exogenous phytanic acid. The severe manifestations of this disease, which include pigmentary retinal degeneration, chronic polyneuropathy, ataxia, impaired hearing, and cardiopathy, can be either kept from worsening or reversed by elimination of foods rich in phytanic acid from patients' diets. This is borne out by a 20-year experience with two patients, whose conditions improved markedly once they stopped eating butter, animal fat, and other foods rich in phytanic acid.
 ...
PMID:Heredopathia atactica polyneuritiformis phytanic-acid storage disease, Refsum's disease:" a biochemically well-defined disease with a specific dietary treatment. 617 Feb 81

Three months after gastric partitioning for morbid obesity, two patients developed an unusual and severe form of polyneuropathy that affected their sense of position maximally. This disorder produced severe ataxia of the upper extremities and trunk, and pseudochorea. One patient died and the autopsy showed an extensive demyelinating polyneuropathy. Neuronal cell bodies in the anterior horns and dorsal root ganglia showed extensive accumulations of lipofuscin and Schwann cells showed extensive accumulations of lipid. This neuronal and Schwann cell lipidosis appears to result from starvation of the obese and has never been reported in other forms of human starvation or nutritional deficiency.
 ...
PMID:Peripheral neuropathy and starvation after gastric partitioning for morbid obesity. 627 6

We have examined 138 cases of a disorder previously described in people of Portuguese origin and which has received many names. By computer analysis of 46 different items of a standardized neurological examination carried out in each patient, we have been able to delineate the main components of the clinical presentation, to conclude that the marked variability in clinical expressions does not negate the homogeneity of the disorder, and to describe the natural history of this entity which should be called, for historical reasons, "Machado-Joseph Disease". This hereditary disease has an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance, presenting as a progressive ataxia with external ophthalmoplegia, and should be classified within the group of "Ataxic multisystem degenerations". When the disease starts before the age of 20, it may present with marked spasticity, of a non progressive nature but often so severe that it can be accompanied by "Gegenhalten" countermovements and dystonic postures but little frank dystonia. There are few true extrapyramidal symptoms except akinesia. When the disease starts after the age of 50, the clinical spectrum is mostly that of an amyotrophic polyneuropathy with fasciculations accompanying the ataxia. For all the other cases the clinical picture is a continuum between these two extremes, the main determinant of the clinical phenotype being the age of onset and a secondary factor, the place of origin of the given kindred. The ataxic and amyotrophic components are clearly progressive with time in contrast to the spasticity component. Although the majority of known cases are of Portuguese origin, this is not obligatory. The next research endeavour should be a search for the chromosomal site of the gene, using molecular biology technology such as those for recombinant DNA.
 ...
PMID:The natural history of Machado-Joseph disease. An analysis of 138 personally examined cases. 650 98


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>