Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023380 (lethargy)
 5,697 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Three years after radiation therapy for an intrasellar tumor, a 42-year-old housewife presented with headache, lethargy, and remarkable plain skull roentgenograms, in which dilated lateral and third ventricles were filled with air. Air apparently had entered the cranium through the sphenoid sinus and eroded sellar floor, extending directly through intrasellar remnants of the chromophobe adenoma and into the floor of the third ventricle. Frontal exploration showed an empty sella turcica and no residual tumor. She made an excellent recovery and has done well for 5 years after operative closure of the defect.
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PMID:Spontaneous pneumoventriculogram following radiation of a pituitary adenoma. 117 14

A case of infantile optic glioma involving the whole optic pathway is reported. The patient was a 4-month-old female. The mother noticed that the baby could not follow the object, although her physical development had been apparently normal only until three months after birth. On admission, she was lethargic, although no definite motor weakness was identified. The ophthalmological check revealed delayed bilateral pupillary light reaction and choked disks. Skull X-ray film showed the J-shaped sella and the enlarged bilateral optic canals. CT scan also revealed an isodensity mass in the suprasellar cistern and enlarged bilateral optic nerves. The lesions were enhanced homogeneously with contrast medium and extended toward both optic radiations. Lateral ventricles were mildly dilated. Cerebral angiography showed the upward shift of A1-portion of the bilateral anterior cerebral arteries and the backward shift of the basilar artery. No abnormal vessels were visible. A bifrontal craniotomy was performed to partially remove the suprasellar tumor. The histological diagnosis was optic glioma. The postoperative course was uneventful. The patient was discharged without any neurological deficits except poor visual acuity. Four months later, she suddenly fell into generalized convulsion. CT scan revealed the significant enlargement of residual tumor and ventricular dilatation. Surgical treatment of VP shunt was immediately performed on, and then irradiation of 4,000 rad of total dose to the tumor followed. The tumor size became definitively small. On a follow-up term of 15 months, the patient has been doing well.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Infantile optic glioma involving the whole optic pathway--a case report]. 372 75

Lymphoproliferative disorders associated with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) include non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and "post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders" (PTLD), which occur with immunosuppression after marrow and organ transplantation. PTLD is characterized by actively proliferating, latently infected EBV(+) B-lymphocytes, and often manifests a rapidly progressive fatal clinical course if the immunosuppression cannot be reversed. Lung transplant recipients are a subset of patients at special risk for developing PTLD. The incidence of PTLD development in these patients has been estimated at 5--10%. Whereas immunologic and antiviral therapy have been moderately effective for treating EBV-associated infections in the lytic phase, they have been less useful in the more common latent phase of the disease. One common treatment for herpesvirus infections has targeted the virus-specific enzyme thymidine kinase (TK). The lack of viral TK expression in EBV(+) tumor cells, due to viral latency, makes anti-viral therapy alone ineffective as an anti-neoplastic therapy, however. We have developed a strategy for the treatment of EBV-associated lymphomas/PTLD using pharmacologic induction of the latent viral TK gene and enzyme in the tumor cells, followed by treatment with ganciclovir. Arginine butyrate selectively activates the EBV TK gene in latently EBV-infected human lymphoid cells and tumor cells. A Phase I/II trial has been initiated, employing an intra-patient dose escalation of arginine butyrate combined with ganciclovir. In six patients with EBV-associated lymphomas or PTLD, all of which were resistant to conventional radiation and/or chemotherapy, this combination produced complete clinical responses in four of six patients, with a partial response occurring in a fifth patient. Pathologic examination in two of three patients demonstrated complete necrosis of the EBV lymphoma, with no residual disease, following a single three-week course of the combination therapy. Possible side-effects of the therapy included nausea and reversible lethargy at the highest doses. One patient suffered acute liver failure, thought to be secondary to release of FasL from the necrotic tumor. Analysis of patient-derived tumor cells in culture demonstrated that arginine butyrate produced selective induction of the EBV TK gene, which then conferred sensitivity to ganciclovir, resulting in tumor apoptosis. Additional patient accrual is sought for further evaluation of this therapy.
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PMID:Epstein--Barr virus post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease and virus-specific therapy: pharmacological re-activation of viral target genes with arginine butyrate. 1149

A 24-year-old woman underwent craniotomy for falx meningioma (5 cm in diameter) on October 24, 1995. The deepest part of the tumor was located in the anterior horn of the lateral ventricle, which was not resected. The histology was clear cell meningioma (CCM), aggressive in nature. The MIB-1 labeling index was high (11%). She underwent gamma knife (GK) radiosurgery for the residual tumor with an irradiation dose of 16 Gy at the tumor periphery on May 24, 1996. The postradiosurgical course was uneventful. The residual intraventricular tumor gradually decreased in size, but the peripheral portion gradually grew into the diencephalic region. The patient remained in good condition for 5 years until September 2001, when she exhibited memory disturbance and lethargy. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a large tumor (4.5 cm in diameter) in the diencephalon, compressing the optic nerves and fornix. The calculated tumor doubling time was 120 days. A second craniotomy was performed on October 9, 2001. The tumor was totally resected through the anterior transcallosal approach. The histology and the MIB-1 labeling index of the tissue from the second operation did not differ markedly from those of the first operation. Neither tumor recurrence nor metastasis has been observed to date. GK radiosurgery contributed to control of the residual intraventricular tumor, but the peripheral portion of the tumor, which received a relatively low radiation dose (16 Gy), grew rapidly. This suggests that a marginal dose of 16 Gy may not be sufficient for control of CCM.
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PMID:Rapid regrowth of intracranial clear cell meningioma after craniotomy and gamma knife radiosurgery--case report. 1525 49

A 3-year-old boy presented with headaches, vomiting, lethargy and papilledema. Communicating hydrocephalus along with transependymal fluid absorption and meningeal contrast enhancement was identified on CT. The enhancement was initially thought to be the result of a partially treated meningitis (child was previously on oral antibiotics for a presumed mycoplasma pneumonia). A right ventricular-peritoneal shunt was placed. CSF studies procured during the procedure were all normal. In contrast, CSF from a lumbar puncture contained a high protein, and cytology was highly suspicious for malignancy. Spine MRI showed diffuse leptomeningeal enhancement and a 1.5-cm intramedullary lesion at T12-L1 associated with minimal edema. The lesion was subtotally resected (70%) and diagnosed as an astrocytoma (mostly Kernohan grade 2 but with areas of grade 3). Chemotherapy was administered and follow-up spine MRI at 2 months did not reveal any residual tumor, however, the leptomeningeal enhancement persisted. Sixteen months later, at the completion of the chemotherapy and radiation therapy, the spine MRI remained unchanged. Neurological examination has always been normal. This case illustrates how a spinal cord astrocytoma can metastasize via spinocranial dispersion and present early with hydrocephalus rather than myelopathy.
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PMID:Hydrocephalus as the initial presentation of a spinal cord astrocytoma associated with leptomeningeal spread. 1588 10