Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0012833 (dizziness)
 9,689 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Dizziness is doubtlessly one of the most common symptoms to arise in ischemia of the brainstem. In such cases the circulatory deficit can not only cause a direct lesion of the vestibular structures but it may also block the compensatory process. There are, however, significant difficulties in establishing whether such dizziness can be attributed to a brainstem insufficiency (BI). In fact, both CAT and NMR provide data only in the case of permanent CNS tissue lesions and tests such as the Doppler examination of neck blood vessels are unable to establish the true state of cerebral blood flow. In order to obtain semi-quantitative data regarding cerebral blood flow 99mTc-HMPAO-S.P.E.T. (Single Photon Emission Tomography) was used in 18 patients suffering from dizziness and for whom there was strong indication that the underlying cause could be vascular. There was a discrepancy between the Doppler and S.P.E.T. findings in 50% of the cases. CAT, however, proved negative in all but one of the cases. These data indicate that Doppler testing of the neck blood vessels can provide useful information regarding the status of the cerebral-afferent vessels but that these cannot be correlated to the level of cerebral blood flow. On the other hand, with S.P.E.T., in 15 of the 18 patients, it proved possible to identify significant alterations in cerebral blood flow in the absence of any permanent tissue lesions as those revealed by CAT and NMR. In the light of the present results cerebral S.P.E.T. appears to be a highly valid tool when, faced with dizziness for which a vascular origin is suspected, one must evaluate cerebral prognosis and therapy.
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PMID:[Use of SPECT in the diagnosis of vertigo syndromes of vascular nature]. 209 69

Although there is general agreement that chronic ingestion of alcohol poses great risks for normal cardiovascular functions and peripheral-vascular homeostasis, a direct cause and effect between the real phenomena of alcohol-induced headache and risk of brain injury and stroke is not appreciated. "Binge drinking" of alcohol is associated with an ever-growing number of strokes and sudden death. It is becoming clear that alcohol ingestion can result in profoundly different actions on the cerebral circulation (e.g., vasodilation, vasoconstriction-spasm, vessel rupture), depending upon dose and physiologic state of host. Using rats, it has been demonstrated that acute, high doses of ethanol can result in stroke-like events concomitant with alterations in brain bioenergetics. We review recent in vivo findings obtained with 31P-NMR spectroscopy, optical reflectance spectroscopy, and direct in vivo microcirculatory studies on the intact brain. Alcohol-induced hemorrhagic stroke is preceded by a rapid fall in brain intracellular free magnesium ions ([Mg2+]i) followed by cerebrovasospasm and reductions in phosphocreatine (PCr)/ATP ratio, intracellular pH, and the cytosolic phosphorylation potential (CPP) with concomitant rises in deoxyhemoglobin (DH), mitochondrial reduced cytochrome oxidase aa3 (rCOaa3), blood volume, and intracellular inorganic phosphate (Pi). Using osmotic mini-pumps implanted in the third cerebral ventricle, containing 30% ethanol, it was found that brain [Mg2+]i is reduced 30% after 14 days; brain PCr fell 15%, whereas the CPP fell 40%. Such animals became susceptible to stroke from nonlethal doses of ethanol. Human subjects with mild head injury have been found to exhibit early deficits in serum ionized Mg (IMg2+); the greater the degree of early head injury (30 min-8 h), the greater and more profound the deficit in serum IMg2+ and the greater the ionized Ca (ICa2+) to IMg2+ ratio. Patients with histories of alcohol abuse or ingestion of alcohol prior to head injury exhibited greater deficits in IMg2+ (and higher ICa2+/IMg2+ ratios) and, unlike the subjects without alcohol, did not leave the hospital for at least several days. Women, for some unknown reason, exhibit a much higher incidence of morbidity and mortality from subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) than men. Data on 105 men and women with different types of stroke indicate that, on the average, a 20% deficit in serum IMg2+ is seen; total Mg (TMg) or blood pH is usually near normal. Women with SAH, however, exhibit much lower IMg2+ and higher ICa2+/IMg2+ ratios; the presence of ethanol in the blood is associated with even more depression in IMg2+ in SAH in women. It is possible that prior alcohol ingestion is, in large measure, responsible for a great deal of this unexplained higher incidence of SAH in women. It has recently been reported that the cyclical changes in estrogenic hormones appear to control the serum IMg2+ level in young women. A surge in estrogenic levels prior to SAH could thus precipitate, in part, the SAH. In other human studies, it has been shown that migraines and headache, dizziness, and hangover, which accompany ethanol ingestion, are associated with rapid deficits in serum IMg2+ but not in TMg. The former, and the alcohol-associated headache, can be ameliorated with IV administration of MgSO4. Premenstrual tension-headache (PTH) and its exacerbation by alcohol in women is also accompanied by deficits in IMg2+, and elevation in serum ICa2+/IMg2+; IV MgSO4 corrects the PTH and the serum deficit in IMg2+. Animal experiments show that IV Mg2+ can prevent alcohol-induced hemorrhagic stroke and the subsequent fall in brain [Mg2+]i, [PCr], pHi, and CPP. Other recent data indicate that alcohol-induced cellular loss of [Mg2+]i is associated with cellular Ca2+ overload and generation of oxygen-derived free radicals; chronic pretreatment with vitamin E prevents alcohol-induced vascular injury and pathology in the brain. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)
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PMID:Association of alcohol in brain injury, headaches, and stroke with brain-tissue and serum levels of ionized magnesium: a review of recent findings and mechanisms of action. 1054 55

An echinococcal cyst of the heart is a rare cause of acute cardiac tamponade. We report on a 24 year old male from the Kosovo who was brought in an emergency state from a provincial hospital complaining of severe dyspnea, thoracic pain, dizziness, and a short period of unconsciousness. Surgical decompression had to be performed urgently, because the pericardium could not be punctuated due to the position of the hydatid cyst. The differential diagnosis was cardiac tumor or echinococcal cyst. Because of a negative result of a test for anti-echinococcal antibodies (indirect haemagglutination) and no eosinophilia (5%), the diagnosis of hydatid cyst was at first discarded. Later on, the test for anti-echinococcal antibodies became positive and a marked eosinophilia (59%) was manifest. In combination with a typical appearance in the echocardiograph and NMR, the diagnosis of a cardiac hydatid cyst was made. After preoperative treatment with albendazole, the cyst was sterilized with a 20% NaCl solution and the contents evacuated. The therapy with albendazole was continued. When last seen eight months after the first incidence, the patient was well except some degree of dyspnea on exertion. As a differential diagnosis of a cardiac tumor, a hydatid cyst should be taken into account in patients from an area where Echinococcus granulosus is endemic. A negative test on antiechinococcal antibodies and the absence of eosinophilia do not rule out echinococcosis.
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PMID:[Acute pericardial tamponade in cardiac echinococcosis]. 1065 95

Vertigo and dizziness in children, when these symptoms are recognized, worry physician and children's families and urge them, before doing a good otological, neurological and vestibular clinical examination, on a prescription of CT scan or an NMR which are unnecessary test in most of the cases and expensive tests. A better knowledge of the clinical signs of vestibular deficit and of the most frequent origins of vertigo and dizziness in children (migraine equivalent, ophthalmological disorders, benign paroxysmal idiopathic pediatric vertigo, temporal bone fracture) permits a better and more adapted procedure for diagnosis and therapy.
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PMID:[Vertigo in children]. 1559 51