Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0751295 (memory loss)
 3,619 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A 59-year-old demented Japanese man who was proven to have high titer of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) was admitted to our hospital. Neurological examinations revealed moderate dementia with deterioration and loss of memory, and decreased deep tendon reflexes in all extremities. Sensory disturbances were not obvious. There were no significant changes in the usual laboratory findings including CSF, except for elevated serum AFP and CEA. Three months after admission, he died of gastric cancer and its metastases in liver and lymph nodes. Post-mortem examination in the central nervous system (CNS) revealed many senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles throughout the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. There was marked loss of neurons in the hippocampus. All the neuropathological findings in the CNS were consistent with those in Alzheimer disease. In the peripheral nervous system, necrotizing arteritis was found throughout the length of sciatic nerve. Large myelinated fibers seemed to be preferentially degenerated with proximo-distal gradient. Teased fiber preparation revealed de/remyelination and axonal degeneration more frequently at the distal portion. Immunohistologically, the serum IgG of this patient specifically reacted to the endothelial cells of all vessels in control organs, which strongly suggested the autoimmune mechanism for the necrotizing arteritis in this patient. The pathogenetic role of this antibody for necrotizing arteritis, found selectively in the peripheral nervous system, still remained unclear. However, paraneoplastic neuropathy due to necrotizing arteritis is a distinct entity in addition to common form of paraneoplastic subacute sensory neuropathy.
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PMID:[A case of paraneoplastic neuropathy with necrotizing arteritis localized in the peripheral nervous system]. 165 26

A 19-year-old woman developed memory loss followed by psychosis, coma, convulsion, and central hypoventilation requiring mechanical ventilation. MRI of the brain showed minimal changes, and SPECT imaging revealed a small region of increased uptake in the cortex. Intravenous acyclovir and high-dose corticosteroids were administered without any effect. An extensive work-up revealed an elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) concentration and the presence of an ovarian tumor. Following resection of the tumor, an immature teratoma by pathology, the patient had significant recovery of her cognitive function with some psychotic sequela. Serum anti-neuronal antibody (anti-Hu) was negative both by immunohistochemistry and by Western blot analysis. A rare combination of paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis and brainstem encephalitis was the suspected diagnosis. Because the tumor contained a neuronal component, we propose an immunologic cross-reaction as the pathomechanism, but the lack of a specific antibody may suggest cell-mediated rather than globulin-mediated immunity.
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PMID:Reversible limbic encephalitis caused by ovarian teratoma. 922 72