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Query: UMLS:C0036572 (seizures)
 80,221 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Sequential computerized tomography (CT) was performed on a patient with seizures and an organic mental syndrome. Cerebral sarcoidosis was subsequently diagnosed on the basis of noncaseating granulomas in three organ systems. Cranial nerve palsies, hypothalamic dysfunction, and widespread disease were absent. An unusual neuroradiologic sequence of events indicated focal and asymmetric hydrocephalus, mass effect, ependymitis, diffuse breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, and periventricular white matter destruction. These findings have not been previously described together in a patient with sarcoid. With the advent of noninvasive CT, it is possible to perform serial investigations of encephalopathies of obscure origin. Findings similar to those in the present case should prompt a thorough search for subclinical systemic involvement by sarcoid.
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PMID:Sarcoid encephalopathy with diffuse inflammation and focal hydrocephalus shown by sequential CT. 57 4

A case of sudden death from cysticercosis cerebri is described. A 38-year-old Ecuadorian woman suffered from headache for a few weeks which was interpreted as migraine. Later she developed extremely severe headache with seizures and died. A forensic autopsy showed normal organs. Neuropathologic examination revealed cysticercosis racemosus with reactive chronic ependymitis and meningitis and secondary hydrocephalus.
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PMID:Sudden death from cerebral cysticercosis. 322 78

Cerebral cysticercosis is the result of infestation of the brain with the larval stage of the intestinal tape worm Taenia Solium. The disease, endemic in some parts of the world, especially Mexico, South America, India, Eastern Europe, is still encountered practically all over the world. There appear to be distinct geographical variations not only in the incidence but also the pattern of the disease. The commonly accepted modes of infection do not stand a critical analysis of available epidemiological data. The brain is a site of predilection for this infestation, where it results in meningeal racemose, parenchymatous ventricular or mixed types of lesions. It may thus produce meningo-encephalitis, granulomatous meningitis, ependymitis , focal granulomas, solitary or multiple parenchymatous cysts, hydrocephalus or a combination of these. Clinically its manifestations are protean and often perplexing, consisting, either alone or in combination, of raised intracranial pressure, focal or multifocal or generalized epileptic seizures, signs and symptoms of a focal mass lesion, hydrocephalus or chronic meningo-encephalitis. Important features of the disease are remissions and recurrences. Laboratory diagnostic investigations are generally unrewarding, there being so far, no single completely reliable test. Recent CAT scan studies have been helpful but not always diagnostic. There is no known medical treatment. Excision of a solitary parenchymatous or intraventricular lesion provides gratifying results but the management of diffuse lesions, presenting with raised intracranial pressure ("pseudo-tumour") is often frustrating. Extensive bilateral decompression, with or without an additional thecoperitoneal shunt, is helpful in some of these cases.
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PMID:Cerebral cysticercosis. 637 90

Of 102 patients with bacterial meningitis admitted to the Children's Hospital of Buenos Aires, 25 were selected for computed tomographic (CT) scans on the basis of altered consciousness for more than 96 hours after admission, persistent or recurrent seizures after 72 hours of antibiotic therapy, development of focal neurologic signs, increased intracranial pressure or prolonged fever. Scan findings included hydrocephalus, cerebritis, vasculitis, subdural effusion, cerebral atrophy, abscess, and ependymitis. Serial CT scans demonstrated the progression or regression of some complications. The CT scan was very useful in indicating the need for neurosurgical procedures.
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PMID:Computed tomography in purulent meningitis. 697 22

Cysticercosis is an infection caused by Taenia solium larvae (cysticerci). When the cysticercus is lodged in the central nervous system (CNS), the disease is known as neurocysticercosis (NCC). NCC is the most frequent and most widely disseminated human neuroparasitosis. It is endemic in many parts of the world, particularly Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and still relatively frequent in Portugal, Spain and Eastern European countries It is also endemic in developed countries with high rates of immigration from endemic areas. Man may act as an intermediate host after ingestion of mature, viable T. solium eggs via the fecal-oral route. The development of lesions in the brain and leptomeninges, and the consequent of onset of symptoms associated with NCC are mainly due to the host immune-inflammatory response. As long as the cysticercus remains viable, there is relative host immune tolerance. It is only when the parasite dies that massive antigen exposure occurs, with intensification of the immune response/inflammatory reaction and the appearance or worsening of symptoms. NCC can be asymptomatic or cause widely varied clinical manifestations, such as seizures, increased intracranial pressure, ischemic cerebrovascular disease, dementia, and signs of compression of the spinal roots/cord. The combination of two or more symptoms is common. Such clinical polymorphism is determined by 1) the number of lesions (single or multiple cysticerci); 2) the location of CNS lesions (subarachnoid, intracerebral, intraventricular, intramedullary); 3) the type of cysticercus (Cysticercus cellulosae, Cysticercus racemosus); 4) the stage of development and involution of the parasite (vesicular or viable, necrotic, fibrocalcified nodule); and 5) the intensity of the host immune-inflammatory response (no inflammatory reaction, leptomeningitis, encephalitis, granular ependymitis, arteritis).
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PMID:Neurocysticercosis. 903 74

A 15 years old girl of African origin was admitted with a history of headaches and a generalised tonic seizure. Her clinical examination including fundoscopy was normal. She claimed she had been assaulted. Within a few hours of her admission she was found dead in her bed during the ward round. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was unsuccessful. At post-mortem, the major organs showed no pathological changes and neck dissection showed no abnormality. Neuropathological examination after formalin fixation revealed a cystic lesion in the fourth ventricle, ependymitis and acute hydrocephalus. Histology showed parts of the parasite Taenia solium and the diagnosis was neurocysticercosis. This case highlights the need for forensic and general pathologists as well as forensic medical examiners and paediatricians to be aware of neurocysticercosis as a possible cause of sudden death in the presence of normal clinical findings and negative autopsy, especially in patients from Asian, African or South American countries. As cysticercosis is the commonest cause of seizures in the developing world, neurocysticercosis needs to be considered as a cause of sudden and unexpected death in any patient with a history of headaches and/or seizures.
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PMID:Cysticercosis of the fourth ventricle causing sudden death: a case report and review of the literature. 1880 93

A comatose 30-month-old, entire male boxer was presented because of an acute history of a cluster of three to four seizures. Neurological examination suggested a diffuse to multifocal intracranial lesion. Magnetic resonance tomography revealed symmetrical multifocal to diffuse changes of the cerebral grey matter and ependymal lining with sediment in the lateral ventricles. Haematological examination revealed leucocytosis with neutrophilia. Cerebrospinal fluid examination revealed high protein concentration and polymorphonuclear pleocytosis. Despite antiepileptic treatment, therapy against increased intracranial pressure and antibiosis, the dog's condition continued to deteriorate and he was euthanased. Pathological examination revealed fibrinosuppurative meningo-ependymitis and necrotising arteritis throughout the brain. In addition, chronic inflammation and arterial stenosis was found in the spinal meninges. No infectious agent was found. A diagnosis of steroid-responsive meningitis arteritis was made. The massive extension into the meninges and ventricular system of the forebrain has not been described previously in dogs with steroid-responsive meningitis arteritis and should be considered in the differential diagnosis when an intracranial suppurative infection is suspected.
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PMID:Cerebral extension of steroid-responsive meningitis arteritis in a boxer. 1916 8