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Query: UMLS:C0018681 (headache)
 56,091 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Nervous system opportunistic infections are seen in about one fifth of AIDS cases and account for over 40% of the patients with neurological manifestations. Serious infections are seen in severely immunosuppressed patients, usually with CD4 counts of 200 ml-1 or less. The commonest is CMV, which can produce acute encephalitis, sometimes with focal hemisphere or brain-stem signs, dementia, retinitis, optic neuritis and an ascending radiculomyeloencephalitis. Cryptococcal meningitis is the most frequent fungal disease; a high degree of clinical suspicion is required in patients with fever, malaise, headache or seizures. Only CSF cultures are always positive; both serum and CSF cryptococcal antigen tests are highly sensitive and specific. Treatment with amphotericin B and flucytosine is successful in at least 70% of first episodes but side-effects are common. Without maintenance therapy 50% of patients relapse; fluconazole is recommended. Cerebral toxoplasmosis can present with focal cerebral or spinal cord signs but also as a diffuse encephalopathy; negative T. gondii serology is exceptional but positive serum titres are usually unhelpful. Treatment with sulfadiazine, pyrimethamine and folinic acid achieves good results in 90% of the first episodes, but side-effects are common. Appearances on CT scan or MRI may take several weeks to improve. The value of an empirical approach to treatment is well-established; an initial cerebral biopsy is difficult to justify. Without maintenance therapy a relapse rate of 50% can be expected; therapy with sulfadiazine and pyrimethamine may also prevent pneumocystosis. HIV disease appears to increase the likelihood of neurosyphilis, and the risk of relapse after conventional penicillin doses, in patients with syphilis; at least 3-4 weeks of appropriate therapy are recommended. A number of other diseases caused by viruses, fungi, bacteria and parasites are less common; these include progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, herpes simplex and zoster infections and tuberculosis.
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PMID:Central nervous system opportunistic infections in HIV disease: clinical aspects. 134 47

A case of severe cyclosporin-induced hypertriglyceridemia that prompted plasma exchange therapy is reported. Hyperlipemic retinitis, headache, stupor, and peripheral paresthesias became apparent when the level of triglycerides exceeded the 1,500 mg/dL level. Two plasma exchanges were required to halt disease progression. This is the second time that plasma exchange was used in a bone marrow transplanted patient on cyclosporin-A therapy. In both cases hypertriglyceridemia became apparent and symptomatic after approximately 7 months of therapy with cyclosporin.
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PMID:Cyclosporin-induced hypertriglyceridemia with prompt response to plasma exchange therapy. 178 33

A patient with acquired immune deficiency and antecedents of pancreatitis presented with headaches, fever, dyspnea and bilateral decrease of vision. A diagnosis of disseminated cryptococcosis was made by lumbar puncture, alveolar washing and elevated cryptococcal antigen in blood, urine and stool. Bilateral chorioretinitis with ischaemic maculopathy was responsible of the low vision and attributed to cryptococcal infection after vitreous puncture and isolation of yeast from the vitreous. Systemic treatment with Amphotericin led to resolution of the chorioretinitis. A retinitis due to cytomegalovirus was associated short time before the patient died. Post-mortem anatomopathologic analysis revealed cryptococcus in high number in the choriocapillaris.
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PMID:[Cryptococcal chorioretinitis and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: apropos of a case]. 795 65

A 34-year-old man with AIDS was admitted to the hospital with a one-week history of cough, chest pain, and fever. Radiography revealed a cavitating left upper lobe lesion. Two weeks later he developed a headache associated with a contrast enhancing lesion in the right parietal lobe. The patient had a progressive downhill course, developing atrioventricular block and hypernatremia. Neuro-ophthalmologically, there was a mild facial droop, "hand motions" vision with presumed bilateral cytomegalic inclusion retinitis, and signs of a mesencephalic syndrome, including lid retraction. Discussions center on the differential diagnosis of the central nervous system disease and the obligative recommendations the neuro-ophthalmologist must be willing to make.
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PMID:Ophthalmoplegia associated with AIDS. 797 90

This 21-year-old male with hemophilia A developed cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). He had a history of numerous blood transfusions. Serum antibody titers became positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), when the patient was 18 years of age. Three years later, he developed CMV retinitis due to his immunosuppression. Ganciclovir (DENOSINE, TANABE SEIYAKU CO., LTD., Osaka, Japan) therapy given for 4 weeks produced a marked improvement in the ocular fundal findings, but the neurologic signs and symptoms, including headache, hypoesthesia, disorientation, and dementia became worse. T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated a diffuse high intensity area in the periventricular white matter and small focal or patchy lesions in the hippocampus, basal ganglia, midbrain, medulla oblongata and the nucleus dentatus. The patient died of HIV encephalopathy and CMV infection. Characteristic CMV intranuclear inclusion bodies were observed histologically in most sites of the brain including the hippocampus, white matter, basal ganglia, midbrain, medulla oblongata, nucleus dentatus and the retina. Infiltration by monocyte-macrophage and multinucleated giant cells, which are characteristic of HIV encephalopathy, were observed in the periventricular white matter and the hippocampus. In this patient, the neuroimaging findings were compatible with the neuropathologic observations. MR imaging proved useful in detecting the central nervous system (CNS) lesions of AIDS and CMV infection.
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PMID:Neuroimaging and neuropathologic findings in AIDS patient with cytomegalovirus infection. 806 93

Valganciclovir is a prodrug of ganciclovir which has been developed for the treatment of cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis in patients with AIDS. Oral valganciclovir is rapidly absorbed and hydrolysed to ganciclovir. The oral bioavailability of ganciclovir after oral valganciclovir administration is high. Oral valganciclovir 900 mg provides a daily exposure of ganciclovir comparable to that of intravenous ganciclovir 5 mg/kg. A single, randomised, nonblind study indicated that oral valganciclovir (900mg twice daily for 3 weeks then 900 mg once daily) and intravenous ganciclovir (5 mg/kg twice daily for 3 weeks then 5 mg/kg once daily) were equally effective in the treatment of newly diagnosed CMV retinitis in 160 patients with AIDS. Valganciclovir appears to have a similar tolerability profile to intravenous ganciclovir during induction therapy in patients with AIDS and newly diagnosed CMV retinitis. During maintenance therapy with valganciclovir, the most commonly reported adverse events included neutropenia, anaemia, thrombocytopenia, gastrointestinal (including diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain), fever, headache, insomnia, peripheral neuropathy, paraesthesia and retinal detachment.
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PMID:Valganciclovir. 1146 75

We describe a case of severe visual loss as a result of West Nile virus (WNV) infection. Associated headache and fever led to the proper diagnosis and management, but the findings of optic neuritis, retinitis, and uveitis were a surprising and prominent component of the patient's meningitis syndrome. Physicians diagnosing and treating patients with WNV infection should be alerted to the possibility of ocular and optic nerve involvement, which may leave permanent neuropathic residua.
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PMID:Visual loss with West Nile virus infection: a wider spectrum of a "new" disease. 1503 47

A 45-year-old HIV-positive man receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) presented with 6 weeks of right-sided headache and right eye pain. He had been diagnosed seropositive 2 years previously and screened negative for syphilis at that time. Examination demonstrated focal anterior scleritis with underlying retinitis and a mild vitritis. He was found to have positive syphilis serology and further investigations were consistent with neurosyphilis. Parenteral penicillin was commenced with prompt clinical response. This initial presentation of syphilis as acute scleritis emphasizes the need for thorough work-up of immunocompromised patients with inflammatory ocular disease.
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PMID:Syphilis presenting as scleritis in an HIV-positive man undergoing immune reconstitution. 1549 66

Angiostrongyliasis, caused by Angiostrongylus cantonensis, is endemic in northeastern Thailand and southern and eastern Taiwan and is also reported throughout the world. Humans get infected by eating raw freshwater snails or other paratenic hosts. The three main clinical forms of angiostrongyliasis are: eosinophilic meningitis (EoM), eosinophilic encephalitis (EoE) and ocular angiostrongyliasis. EoM, the most common form, causes acute severe headache, and corticosteroid is the cornerstone treatment. EoE is rare but fatal and has no effective treatment. The clinical presentations are coma and cerebrospinal fluid eosinophils without any other causes of the deterioration of consciousness, such as infection or metabolic derangements. Ocular angiostrongyliasis is very rare and causes a permanent visual impairment and a wide range of ocular inflammation, depending on the worm's route. It can occur with or without EoM. An identification of a living worm, usually a single worm in any part of an eye, is an important diagnostic clue. The treatment options are surgical removal or laser therapy. Corticosteroids may be necessary in the case of coexistence of EoM or other ocular inflammations such as retinitis or optic neuritis. The visual outcome is poor and depends on the initial visual acuity.
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PMID:Treatment of angiostrongyliasis. 1850 34

Toxocariasis is a helminthozoonotic disease caused by ascarid larvae of Toxocara genus: Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati. In the reported study, the clinical course of toxocariasis and administered therapy were evaluated in 103 children. The majority of the children (68.9%) were from the rural environment, with a prevalence of boys (62.1%). At diagnosis of infection, 36 (35%) children reported recurrent abdominal pain, 19 (18.4%) headache, 6 (5.8%) loss of appetite, 2 subfebrile conditions, and 2 arthralgia, Moreover, 23 (22.3%) children demonstrated symptoms of atopic diseases; in 30 (29.1%) children, moderate enlargement of lymphatic nodes was noted. In five children (4.9%), ophthalmic examination revealed unilateral changes in the eye: in two cases retinitis; in one case fibrotic lesions in the vitreous body, complicated 1 year from diagnosis by retinal detachment; and in other children parafoveal lesions and cataract. Only two children with ocular changes at diagnosis reported visual disorders. In 64.3% of children, eosinophilia was observed. A covert form of the disease was diagnosed in 95.1% of the children and an ocular form in 4.9%. In all the children, antiparasitic treatment was implemented, repeated several times in some of them. After therapy, the mean titer of specific antibodies, the number of children with abdominal pains and enlarged lymphatic nodes were decreased, while headaches maintained at unchanged levels. In approximately one fourth of the children with negative results of antibodies after the therapy, the symptoms of the disease were still reported. Evaluation of the efficacy of treatment is not easy due to non-characteristic symptoms and low kinetics of specific anti Toxocara IgG decrease; however, high IgG titers suggest non-effective treatment of concomitant infection requiring subsequent therapy. Due to risk of ocular form, which may develop in any stage of the disease, irrespectively of specific antibodies concentrations, it seems justified to implement antiparasitic treatment in all children infected with T. canis.
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PMID:Analysis of the course and treatment of toxocariasis in children-a long-term observation. 2220 49


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