Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0019829 (Hodgkin's disease)
 30,247 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Meningitis should be suspected in a patient who presents with fever, meningism, or severe headache. A careful physical examination should be performed of perimeningeal foci, with emphasis on the sinuses, ears, throat, neck, and lungs. A history of exposure to tuberculosis, viral disease, rodents, or suspicious dairy products or farm animals may give clues to the source of the meningitis. Immunosuppression through the use of corticosteroids or chemotherapy for such conditions as Hodgkin's disease, lymphoma, leukemia, malnutrition, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) should also be noted and alert the clinician to the possible presence of an unusual pathogen. Meningitis associated with leukemia or most of the non-T-cell lymphomas is likely to be from a common bacterial agent (often Listeria), unless the patient is being treated with a steroid or is receiving other chemotherapy. Patients with Hodgkin's disease or AIDS or who have been treated with a steroid are more likely to have cryptococcal or tuberculous meningitis. Neonates and the very elderly may present with only irritability or lethargy and fever, without any of the other common symptoms. In neonates up to one week of age, group B streptococcal infection should be suspected. Gram-negative organisms should be suspected in elderly patients and those who have had neurosurgery. In patients with CSF shunts, infection with coagulase-negative Staphylococcus should be assumed and these patients are treated empirically until results of cultures are received. Several noninfectious conditions may mimic infectious meningitis, as may some unusual causes of infectious meningitis (eg, syphilis and schistosomiasis), which have not been discussed in this article.
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PMID:The many causes of meningitis. 361 11

A prospective study of combined modality therapy of non-AIDS related lymphomatous meningitis was carried out. Lymphomatous meningitis is diagnosed increasingly as anti-lymphoma therapies become more effective and result in prolonged patient survival. Twenty-two patients (range 38-69 years; median 60) with lymphomatous meningitis due to metastatic non-AIDS related non-Hodgkins lymphoma were treated. Neurologic presentation included: headache (n=13); cranial neuropathies (n=9); ataxia (n=5); cauda equina syndrome (n=3); myelopathy (n=1); and meningismus (n=1). All patients underwent radiographic evaluation of the extent of central nervous system disease (CNS) followed by radiotherapy (n=8) and sequential intraventricular chemotherapy (methotrexate in 22 patients; cytarabine in 12; thio-TEPA in 5). CNS imaging demonstrated: interrupted CSF now (n=8); intra-cranial subarachnoid nodules (n=2); hydrocephalus (n=2); spinal subarachnoid nodules (2); nerve root enhancement (n=2); and epidural spinal cord compression (n=1). Cytologic responses were seen in 16 patients (73%) to first-, 7 (58%) to second- and 2 (40%) to third-line chemotherapy. Treatment-related toxicity included 14 patients (64%) with aseptic meningitis and 12 patients (55%) with thrombocytopenia or neutropenia (all unrelated to intraventricular chemotherapy). Median survival was 10 months (range: 3-24 months). Fourteen patients (64%) died of their systemic disease, 3 patients (14%) died of progressive lymphomatous meningitis, 4 patients (19%) died of progressive combined systemic disease in lymphomatous meningitis and 1 patient (5%) is disease-free. Fourteen patients (64%) received concurrent systemic chemotherapy and no differences were seen in outcome within this group of patients including 6 patients treated with dose intensive chemotherapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation. Lymphomatous meningitis in patients with non-AIDS related non-Hodgkin's lymphoma may be palliated with combined modality therapy, however, despite the application of standard or dose intensive systemic chemotherapy, therapy remains non-curative.
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PMID:Lymphomatous meningitis in immunocompetent patients. 2159 Feb 44