Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0344232 (blurred vision)
 2,072 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A 45-year-old man developed generalized convulsion and consciousness disturbance at age 43. An X-ray CT revealed hemorrhagic infarction in the left fronto-parieto-temporal area. A conventional angiography disclosed complete occlusion of the left cortical vein. In the chronic stage of the stroke, he had incomplete right quadrantopsia, a mild right hemiparesis and sensory aphasia. The patient has had partial somatosensory seizures since February 1990. Ictal EEG recordings showed epileptogenic discharges in the left parietal region. The seizures were adequately controlled with clonazepam. Since July 27, 1993, he has become aware of blurred vision in both eyes accompanied with headache and dizziness. On August 6, he was admitted to the hospital with right homonymons hemianopsia, sensory aphsia and tonic seizures in the right hand. Ictal EEG recordings demonstrated theta waves of the left parieto-occipital region and epileptogenic discharges in the left occipital region which consisted of spikes, sharp waves and spike-wave complexes. Single photon emission computed tomography (SEPCT) images obtained during seizures showed considerable hyperperfusion in the left occipital temporal lobes, while there was hypoperfusion in the left temporo-parietal area corresponding to the lesion of the old cerebral infarction. A T2-weighted MRI scan showed an abnormal high-intensity area in the left occipital lobe that suggested brain edema. After the admission, the patient was treated with additional anticonvulsant drugs. The tonic seizures in the right hand disappeared and right homonymous hemianopsia and sensory aphasia showed gradual improvement in the next four weeks.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[An unusual case of status epilepticus of simple partial seizure with an occipital lobe focus]. 799 93

We performed a survey for taeniasis and cysticercosis among persons living in a Mexican village where Taenia solium infection in pigs was known to be enzootic. A standardized questionnaire was administered in all 577 households to obtain medical histories and information on demographic and environmental factors and on risk factors associated with transmission of infection. Serum and/or stool specimens were obtained from 1005 volunteers and examined for cysticercosis antibodies and intestinal parasites. Faecal examination of 828 participants revealed infection by Taenia sp. in 2 (0.2%). Three additional cases of taeniasis were detected in individuals who evacuated proglottids after treatment with praziquantel. Of 1005 human serum specimens, 49 (4.9%) were positive in the cysticercosis immunoblot assay. Seropositivity increased with age and reached a peak in subjects aged 46-55 years (P < 0.05). A history of seizures was significantly associated with seropositivity (P < 0.05); approximately 25% of persons with such histories were seropositive. Histories of headache, dizziness, trembling, blurred vision, and vomiting were also significantly associated with positive immunoblot assays. This study has demonstrated previously undiagnosed morbidity associated with T. solium neurocysticercosis and identified community behavioural and environmental practices that must be modified to prevent continued transmission of cysticercosis and taeniasis.
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PMID:Epidemiological investigation of Taenia solium taeniasis and cysticercosis in a rural village of Michoacan state, Mexico. 815

Jimson weed (Datura stramonium, a member of the Belladonna alkyloid family) is a plant growing naturally in West Virginia and has been used as a home remedy since colonial times. Due to its easy availability and strong anticholinergic properties, teens are using Jimson weed as a drug. Plant parts can be brewed as a tea or chewed, and seed pods, commonly known as "pods" or "thorn apples," can be eaten. Side effects from ingesting jimson weed include tachycardia, dry mouth, dilated pupils, blurred vision, hallucinations, confusion, combative behavior, and difficulty urinating. Severe toxicity has been associated with coma and seizures, although death is rare. Treatment consists of activated charcoal and gastric lavage. Esmolol or other beta-blocker may be indicated to reduce severe sinus tachycardia. Seizures, severe hypertension, severe hallucinations, and life-threatening arrhythmias are indicators for the use of the anticholinesterase inhibitor, Physostigmine. This article reviews the cases of nine teenagers who were treated in hospitals in the Kanawha Valley after ingesting jimson weed. We hope this article will help alert primary care physicians about the abuse of jimson weed and inform health officials about the need to educate teens about the dangers of this plant.
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PMID:The dangers of jimson weed and its abuse by teenagers in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia. 927 42

An increased incidence of cerebral thromboembolic events has been reported in young patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It has been suggested that a hypercoagulable state is associated with clinical activity of the disease, with elevation of factors V, VIII, fibrinogen and platelets and a lowering of anti-thrombin III. We present the case of a 35 y/o male with refractory Crohn's disease who complained of headaches, blurred vision and tonic-clonic seizures. The studies demonstrated an ischemic stroke of the left cerebral hemisphere, without vascular abnormalities. Elevation of factor VIII, platelets, and antithrombin III were found. The symptoms were relieved with medical treatment and the patient has continued in good health after resection of the diseased terminal ileum.
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PMID:Cerebral thrombosis associated with active Crohn's disease. 988 77

Many children in Japan developed various neuropsychological problems, including seizures, while watching the program Pocket Monster, televised on 16 December 1997. To examine the basis for this incident, we have performed a survey of volunteering children and their parents who visited our pediatric clinics for other reasons from 8 January to 28 February 1998. Children and their parents filled out questionnaires. Among the total of 662 children surveyed, the great majority (603, 91.1%) was found to have watched the Pocket Monster program and 30 individuals (5.0% of viewers) complained of variable degrees of neuropsychological abnormalities. These included seizures (two cases), headache (nine cases), nausea (eight cases), blurred vision (four cases), vertigo (two cases), dysthymia (two cases) and vomiting (one case). Nearly half (14) of these children developed symptoms during or immediately after watching the program, while the remainder did so later. Representative cases are reported and other statistical aspects are discussed.
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PMID:Patient background of the Pokemon phenomenon: questionnaire studies in multiple pediatric clinics. 989 88

Chemotherapy for malignant brain tumors has a limited efficacy largely due to restricted blood-brain barrier permeability for chemotherapeutic drugs. Intraarterial chemotherapy (IAC) has the advantage of increased uptake during the first passage of the drugs through tumor capillaries. Initial IAC trials had less than satisfactory results due to unacceptable toxicities. Between 1987 and 1996, 173 patients with primary and metastatic brain tumors were treated with intraarterial (intracarotid and/or intravertebral) cisplatin and etoposide (VP-16). Out of these, 168 patients, who received a total of 438 cycles, were evaluated for the incidence of toxicities. Patients received either cisplatin at 40 mg/m2 and VP-16 at 20 mg/m2 or cisplatin at 60 mg/m2 and VP-16 at 40 mg/m2. Nausea and vomiting were the most common toxicities (42 patients, 14% of cycles). Arterial puncture was associated with a 1.6% incidence of groin hematomas (6 patients), and a 0.7% incidence of failure to canulate the carotid or vertebral arteries (3 patients). Neurologic toxicities included headache (1.4% of cycles, 5 patients), focal seizures (1.4% of cycles, 5 patients), transient confusion and urinary retention/incontinence (1.9% of cycles, 8 patients), and blurred vision (0.9% of cycles, 4 patients). We have not seen visual loss, strokes, major vessel dissection or thrombosis, or myelosuppression. Toxicity incidence was higher in patients with metastatic brain tumors than in those with primary brain tumors (34% versus 17%, p < 0.001). It was also higher in patients who had brain radiation therapy (RT) prior to IAC than in those who had RT concomitant with IAC (31% versus 19%, p = 0.05). No significant difference in toxicity incidence was noticed between patients who received RT concomitant with IAC and those who received RT after IAC (19% and 23% respectively, p = 0.08). Intracarotid chemotherapy given prior to RT resulted in 23 months of median survival for patients with glioblastoma multiforme. Intraarterial chemotherapy with cisplatin and VP-16 is a relatively safe treatment modality, especially in patients with primary brain tumors who have not received brain radiotherapy.
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PMID:Toxicities related to intraarterial infusion of cisplatin and etoposide in patients with brain tumors. 1036 Apr 81

In October 1996, a 26-year-old woman was given a diagnosis of acute myeloblastic leukemia, FAB subtype M1. Treatment with combined chemotherapy achieved a complete remission (CR). In May 1997, the patient received an allogenic bone marrow transplant (BMT) from an HLA-identical sibling donor. Cyclosporine (CsA) and short-term methotrexate were given for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis. Successful engraftment was obtained and signs of acute or chronic GVHD never developed. Five months after BMT, the patient experienced low-grade fever and blurred vision. Retinal examination demonstrated intraretinal hemorrhages, cotton-wool spots, and retinal detachments, which were presumably attributable to multiple thrombosis of retinal microvessels. The patient also exhibited hemolytic anemia with red cell fragmentation, thrombocytopenia, elevated lactate dehydrogenase, and renal impairment, and was thus given a diagnosis of BMT-associated thrombotic microangiopathy (BMT-TM). Discontinuation of CsA and administration of ticlopidine and prednisolone induced successful recovery from BMT-TM. Three months after the onset of BMT-TM, however, the patient experienced generalized clonic-tonic seizures with consciousness loss. Single-photon-emission computed tomography revealed blood-flow disturbances in the brain, suggesting the recurrence of microthrombosis. Accordingly, multiple transfusions of fresh frozen plasma were administered together with dipyridamole and aspirin. The patient gradually recovered and remained asymptomatic through the following 13 months. Currently, early diagnosis of BMT-TM is considered to be difficult. We suggest that careful examination of the ocular base may be useful for the early detection of BMT-TM.
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PMID:[Bone marrow transplantation-associated thrombotic microangiopathy manifested by visual disturbance]. 1069 95

This is a systematic-prospective study of occipital seizures with elementary visual hallucinations in 18 patients with symptomatic occipital epilepsy. Qualitative and chronological analysis showed that visual seizures usually lasted for seconds to 1-3 minutes. Three patients also had longer visual seizures of 20-150 minutes. Elementary visual hallucinations mainly consisted of coloured and small circular patterns flashing or multiplying in a temporal hemifield. Flashing lights or non-circular patterns were rare. Three patients experienced achromatic flickering lights. None of the patients had the over 4 minute, linear, zigzag, and achromatic or black and white patterns characteristic of migraine visual aura. Blurring of vision could precede visual hallucinations. Visual seizures were usually frequent, often occurring in multiple clusters daily or weekly. They usually occurred alone but they often advanced to other occipital and extra-occipital ictal symptoms. In 7 patients they progressed to temporal lobe seizure manifestations, and in 6 to motor partial seizures or ipsilateral hemiconvulsions. All but 2 had secondary generalised tonic clonic convulsions. Ictal blindness ab initio occurred in 2 and ictal, mainly orbital headache in another 2 patients. One patient had ictal vomiting as an occasional symptom. Postictal headache, often severe and indistinguishable from migraine, occurred in two thirds of the patients, even after brief visual seizures without convulsions. Despite relevant structural lesions in brain imaging, 10 patients had a normal mental and neurological state. In 8 patients, EEG was also normal or nonspecific. Misdiagnosis of visual seizures as visual aura of migraine was common and 3 patients were misdiagnosed as suffering from migraine. The differential diagnosis between migraine and the occipital epilepsies is reviewed. It is concluded that elementary visual hallucinations, blindness or both, alone or followed by headache and vomiting of symptomatic occipital epilepsy are identical to those of idiopathic occipital epilepsy. Progress to temporal lobe structures is different and consistent with symptomatic occipital lobe epilepsy. The clinical diagnosis of visual seizures is easy if individual elements of duration, colour, shape, size, location, movement, speed of development and progress are identified. They are markedly different from visual aura of migraine, although they often trigger migrainous headache, probably by activating trigeminovascular or brain stem mechanisms.
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PMID:Visual phenomena and headache in occipital epilepsy: a review, a systematic study and differentiation from migraine. 1093 55

We describe 13 patients with neurological signs and symptoms associated with Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. M. pneumoniae was isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 9 patients: 5 with meningoencephalitis, 2 with meningitis, and 1 with cerebrovascular infarction. One patient had headache and difficulties with concentration and thinking for 1 month after the acute infection. M. pneumoniae was detected, by means of PCR, in the CSF of 4 patients with negative culture results. Two had epileptic seizures, 1 had blurred vision as a consequence of edema of the optic disk, and 1 had peripheral nerve neuropathy.
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PMID:Neurological symptoms in patients whose cerebrospinal fluid is culture- and/or polymerase chain reaction-positive for Mycoplasma pneumoniae. 1151 2

Cortical dysplasia (CD) is the most epileptogenic structural lesion associated with epilepsy and patients with intractable seizures caused by this condition are good surgical candidates. MRI plays an important role in detecting the abnormalities of CD. We clarified the MRI characteristics of CD by comparing imaging and histological findings in 20 patients with intractable seizures who underwent surgical resection. There were 12 males and eight females, mean age at operation was 15 years. MRI was performed at 1.5 tesla; T1-weighted, T2- and proton density-weighted spin-echo and fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (FLAIR) images were obtained. The lesions were in the frontal lobe in nine cases, temporal in two, occipital in another two, insular in one and multilobar in six. Blurring of the grey/white matter junction was seen in all patients, and T2 prolongation in white matter and/or at the grey/white matter junction in 19. Abnormal signal intensity was more frequent in the white matter or at the grey/white matter junction than in the grey matter. FLAIR images made this abnormal high signal easier to appreciate, and we thought them very useful in this context. In areas of T2 prolongation, we saw dysplastic neurones and/or balloon cells, dysmyelination, and ectopic neuronal clustering histologically; glial proliferation played an important role in prolonging T2.
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PMID:MRI of cortical dysplasia--correlation with pathological findings. 1168 98


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