Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0036572 (seizures)
 80,221 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Twenty-three leukemic children were studied prospectively to detect chronic effects of therapy. All patients received CNS prophylaxis, including 2400 R cranial irradiation, and intermittent maintenance therapy with intravenous methotrexate, cyclophosphamide and cytosine arabinoside. Neurologic symptoms were observed in 12 patients, all of whom had intermittent limping and mild incoordination, between the 10th and 18th month of maintenance therapy. Five of the 12 sustained seizures and four of these had subsequent abnormalities in motor, perceptual, behavioral or language development. Three school-aged children have learning disability and perceptual-motor defects. Studies of CSF folate and MTX content are presented but not helpful in delineating the etiology of these neurologic symptoms.
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PMID:Chronic neurologic disturbance in childhood leukemia. 106 30

Chemotherapy with high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) is often associated with acute neurotoxicity. We determined whether the altered neuronal function after HD-MTX [such as the reduced regional cerebral metabolic glucose rate (rCMRGlc) and slow electroencephalographic pattern] affects the sensitivity of the CNS to centrally acting drugs: the depressant phenobarbital, which reduces rCMRGlc, and the analeptic agent pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), which elevates rCMRGlc. Adult male Sabra rats received an i.v. infusion of MTX, 0.51 mg/min, to induce neurotoxicity or saline solution for 24 hr. Subsequently, MTX-treated and control groups were infused in one experiment with phenobarbital until loss of the righting reflex and in the second experiment with PTZ until the onset of maximal seizures. HD-MTX did not affect the infused hypnotic dose or serum, brain, and cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of phenobarbital at the onset of anesthesia. The convulsive dose and PTZ concentrations in the serum and brain at the onset of maximal seizures were significantly higher in the HD-MTX-treated animals. These outcomes indicate that HD-MTX and the reduced rCMRGlc that follows this treatment do not contribute to the hypnotic action of phenobarbital. On the other hand, treatment with HD-MTX exhibited anticonvulsant properties as evidenced by the reduced CNS sensitivity to PTZ-induced seizures.
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PMID:High-dose methotrexate does not affect the pharmacodynamics of phenobarbital hypnotic action but decreases the central nervous system (CNS) sensitivity to pentylenetetrazol-induced maximal seizures in rats. 144 29

The case histories of two patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia, who developed central nervous system complication during combined chemotherapy are described. The neurological picture could be characterized by symptoms of headache, mental deterioration, hemiparesis and seizures. Following L-asparaginase administration one patient had intracranial thrombosis with focal seizures and hemiparesis associated with clotting abnormalities, including severe hypofibrinogenemia and decreased antithrombin III activity. In the other patient, it was after intrathecal administration of Methotrexate when mental deterioration associated with the symptoms of progressive leukoencephalopathy occurred. It arises the possibility that with increasing complexity of combined chemotherapy the occurrence rate of neurological complications will also increase.
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PMID:[Neurologic complications during chemotherapy of children with acute lymphoid leukemia]. 157 51

20 patients with malignant brain tumors in childhood were treated according to a regimen which included initial surgery, preradiation chemotherapy and subsequent irradiation. The chemotherapy consisted of alternating cycles of high-dose methotrexate (12 g/m2) and "8 drugs in 1 day" (Bleyer, 1983). Each cycle was to be given up to six times, as tolerated. The diagnoses were medulloblastoma in 10 cases, astrocytoma in 5 cases, ependymoma and PNET in 2 patients each, and malignant mesenchymoma in 1 case. 15 patients were previously untreated, 5 patients experienced relapse after a different first line therapy and a longer time interval. 8 patients are in continuous complete remission for 13 to 54 months. The toxicity upon the bone marrow, the kidney and the inner ear was tolerable. Long lasting emesis contributed a marked problem to the patients but did not cause abbreviation of the therapy. The neurotoxicity was notably mild. Three episodes of generalized seizures were seen without subsequent sequelae, four cases of peripheral neuropathy were attributable to vincristine. A leukoencephalopathy was neither detected on clinical grounds nor on neuroradiological imaging. Therapy related deaths were not seen. We conclude that the combination of HD-MTX and "8 in 1" markedly contributes to the intensification of the chemotherapy for malignant brain tumors in childhood. In the setting as preradiation chemotherapy the toxicity is tolerable.
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PMID:[High dosage methotrexate in combination with "8 in 1" in therapy of pediatric grade III/IV brain tumors]. 158 54

Five patients with documented recurrences of glioblastoma multiforme were given continuous infusions of methotrexate delivered intratumorally using implantable catheters and subcutaneous refillable pumps. A continuous infusion of methotrexate (1 mg/d) was begun with concomitant oral administration of folinic acid. The methotrexate dose was increased every 2 weeks to 3, 10, 30, and, ultimately, 75 mg/d in two patients. Samples of serum and ventricular cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were obtained to determine the levels of methotrexate and total bioactive folates, and brain tissue was obtained from two patients for determination of methotrexate concentration. The patients survived from 7 to 49 weeks after the implantation of the infusion device. Neither the clinical examination nor sequential radiological studies gave clear evidence of reduction in tumor size. Pneumonia developed in one patient, and mild hepatitis and increased seizure frequency in another. Methotrexate was stable in the delivery system over 12 days, and ventricular CSF reached steady-state levels by 5 days. Steady-state ventricular CSF levels of methotrexate were higher than serum levels in some patients, while the reverse was true in others. Levels of total bioactive folates in the CSF did not increase above the normal range. Methotrexate concentrations were highest at the center of the tumor, but measurable amounts of methotrexate were detectable in all areas of the brain. At autopsy in four patients, variable liquefactive necrosis of the brain tumors was seen, and viable tumor was found at the periphery of the tumor bed. These preliminary results suggest that it is technically feasible to infuse methotrexate into brain tumor cavities, and show that little central nervous system or systemic toxicity was encountered in five patients. Better delineation of the safety and efficacy of this therapeutic approach will require further clinical trials.
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PMID:Continuous intratumoral infusion of methotrexate for recurrent glioblastoma: a pilot study. 165 12

Methotrexate leukoencephalopathy is a chronic syndrome of ataxia and confusion which may progress to seizures, coma, and death. We report a fatal case of this syndrome in a patient who displayed no evidence of the typical prodrome of neurologic symptoms or signs. This patient suffered brain death after receiving 11 doses of intrathecal methotrexate for leukemic meningitis. Since leukoencephalopathy was not clinically suspected, this case underscores the need for a test that would reliably monitor central nervous system toxicity due to intrathecal therapy.
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PMID:Sudden neurologic death after intrathecal methotrexate. 230 23

Neurological disorders, such as seizures, are not infrequently associated with anti-leukemic therapy. It has been hypothesized that a disrupted peptidergic transmission between neurons could be the cellular basis of the neurological dysfunction. Since endogenous opioids have been recently found to alter neuronal function and possess anticonvulsant properties, the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) immunoreactive beta-endorphin levels in children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) during chemotherapy and cranial irradiation have been studied. Twenty-seven children, 2 at low, 20 at medium and 5 with high risk ALL, undergoing prophylactic treatment for meningeal leukemia, entered the study. Sequential lumbar punctures with introduction of MTX combined with oral prednisone therapy were performed; each lumbar puncture sample was collected and assayed for immunoreactive beta-endorphin. All the patients studied showed a biphasic profile of the peptide with the minimum levels reached during the induction (days 14-28) and the maximum levels detected at the end of the intensification chemotherapy (days 49-55). In the 3 groups the beta-endorphin decrease corresponded to the period of prednisone therapy; the increase was concomitant with the suspension of oral glucocorticoids. 3 patients showed tonic-clonic seizures which coincided with the lowest cerebrospinal fluid beta-endorphin levels and, in the follow-up, 13 out of 27 patients displayed EEG abnormalities. From these findings a relationship between cerebrospinal fluid beta-endorphin concentrations and neuronal excitability in patients with ALL can be suggested. It is also evidenced that oral glucocorticoid therapy has profound inhibitory effects on central beta-endorphin levels.
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PMID:Immunoreactive beta-endorphin levels in cerebrospinal fluid of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: relationship with glucocorticoid therapy and neurological complications. 253 Nov 80

Methotrexate may cause seizures, dementia, and leukoencephalopathy when given in toxic doses to children with leukemia or solid tumors. Even in therapeutic doses, treatment with this drug is associated with an increased incidence of seizures in children with leukemia. To study mechanisms of injury, juvenile rats were given multiple intraventricular injections of methotrexate and the brains were analyzed for histopathology and biogenic amine metabolites of dopamine and serotonin. Disruption of monoamine metabolism has been proposed as a cause of brain dysfunction from this chemotherapy. Multiple injections (1 or 2 mg/kg) produced convulsions in an increasingly larger percentage of animals at higher cumulative doses, and five doses produced the neuropathological changes seen in human leukoencephalopathy. A single dose reduced the concentration of brain metabolites of dopamine, but not serotonin, six hours later. The effect was less pronounced after five doses. This rodent model should be useful for studying the metabolic basis of methotrexate encephalopathy.
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PMID:A model of methotrexate encephalopathy: neurotransmitter and pathologic abnormalities. 359 35

Four men and four women, aged 16 to 43, developed dural sinus thrombosis, five patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (L.A.L.) and three with non Hodgkin malignant lymphoma (N.H.M.L.). All the cases of L.A.L. were F.A.B.-2 subtype without any unusual hematological features. In 6 cases, the disorders occurred during the phase of therapeutical induction (E.O.R.T.C.-A.L.L.-H.R. protocol) at D5, D10, D15, D26, D30, D38, and in 2 cases during maintenance after a period of remission. All patients had received Vincristine and Prednisone, intrathecal Methotrexate in 5 cases, encephalic irradiation in 3 cases and L-Asparaginase in one case. Three women were taking contraceptive drugs. The neurological symptoms and signs were headache due to intracranial hypertension in 6 cases, Grand Mal seizures in 5 cases, focal seizures in 2 cases, a regressive hemiparesis in 4 cases, stupor in 3 cases. CT scan was abnormal in 4 cases, displaying oedema in 3 cases and an hemorrhagic infarction in 1 case. Angiography showed in all cases occlusion of the superior sagittal sinus in 7 cases and of the transverse sinus on 1 case. Six patients received anticoagulant therapy. Outcome was fatal in 3 cases: in 2 cases of L.A.L., the condition worsened rapidly after the onset and death was related to a tentorial herniation; in 1 case of N.H.M.L. death resulted from an intercurrent infection.
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PMID:[Dural venous sinus occlusions in hemopathies]. 385 30

45 children with ALL treated with intrathecal Methotrexate and radiation therapy, all in hematologic remission, have been examined with brain CT at intervals varying from 3 to 6 years after completion of CNS prophylaxis. Abnormalities were detected in 20% of the children; the main findings were: calcifications within the brain parenchyma in 3 patients; enlargement of the ventricular system and/or sulci in 8. The 3 patients with calcifications had seizures during or after treatment whereas those with dilatation of the ventricular system or sulci presented no neurological signs.
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PMID:Prophylactic treatment of the central nervous system in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. CT findings in 45 children off therapy. 694 81


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