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Query: UMLS:C0026838 (spasticity)
 6,471 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In 62 battered children with involvement of the central nervous system clinically 3 patterns of impact to the skull, brain and its coverings could be distinguished: In 22 babies (mean age 6 months) the brain was damaged mainly by violent shaking. Many of those infants were in shock and epileptic status on admission. Retinal, subarachnoidal, and later subdural bleedings were recognizable. At first, all patients survived, but later 3 of them died in a vegetative state. Retinal bleedings are prompted by subarachnoidal hemorrhage due to shearing of bridging veins and by compression of the chest which immediately is followed by raise of venous pressure in the upper half of the body and by arteriospasms, leading to endothelial damage and increase of vascular permeability (Purtscher's disease). Both mechanisms result in severe retinal hemorrhage which might intrude into the vitreous body (Terson-syndrome). The consequences of violent shaking for the child might be disastrous mental retardation, microcephaly, spasticity, and epilepsies. The child might turn blind on one or both eyes; the visual failure is due to retinal scar formation, retinal detachment and fibrous organisation within the vitreous body on the one hand, due to raised intracranial pressure on the other hand, adding further damage to the visual pathway. In 19 children whose mean age was 13 months massive impact on the skull resulted in major brain damage: acute subdural hematoma, contusional bleedings, compound, diastatic or impression fractures. Ten of them died immediately or were picked up dead from home by different emergency services.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Damage patterns in severe child abuse with and without fatal sequelae]. 374 20

Alexander disease is usually classified according to the age of onset, e.g. an infantile form with onset during the first two years of life, a juvenile form with onset in childhood, mainly school age. It has been recognized, however, that the clinical course can be very variable within these groups. Thus, this clinical classification is not a useful predictor of severity and progression of the disease. This is demonstrated here on the basis of the history of seven own patients and a literature review. Only an onset in very early infancy, during the neonatal period, seemed to be associated with a rather uniform pattern of disease course, often leading to early death. This neonatal form showed very stereotyped symptoms, in part different from later onset: Early, often intractable, generalized seizures; hydrocephalus with raised intracranial pressure due to aqueductal stenosis because of pathological astroglia proliferation; lack of developmental progression but without prominent spasticity or ataxia; elevated CSF protein content. This was associated with the well-established neuroradiological findings, e.g. severe white matter affection with fronto-temporal predominance, involvement of basal ganglia and periventricular enhancement as an obligatory symptom. The identification of this early onset form is especially important as seizures and signs of raised intracranial pressure may mislead the diagnosis.
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PMID:Alexander disease--classification revisited and isolation of a neonatal form. 1083 83

Increased intracranial pressure can rarely be the initial symptom in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE). We examined cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressures and their correlation with clinical features in 58 patients with SSPE. CSF pressure varied between 50 and 500 mmH2O, mean 210.9+/-103.7 mmH2O. Twenty-five (42%) patients had pressures above 200 mmH2O and 15/58 (25%), above 250 mmH2O. There was no correlation between CSF pressure and neurological disability, spasticity, or clinical stage. Frequent myoclonia and shorter interval between measles and onset of SSPE were associated with CSF pressure >200 mmH2O (p=0.035). The causes of high pressure in certain SSPE patients is unknown but may include the effect of myoclonic jerks or inflammatory reaction. Because these patients may be unable to express symptoms, increased intracranial pressure should be considered in the presence of irritability or frequent myoclonia.
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PMID:Cerebrospinal fluid pressures in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. 1725 14