Correction to:"Careful" reprogramming of baclofen intrathecal programmable synchromed infusion pumps at their replacement in a series of 156 patients

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ONS and DBS for the Treatment of Chronic Cluster Headache

Research focus: Chronic cluster headache (CCH) is a pathological entity leading to a severe degree of disability. It is characterized by pain attacks occurring daily or spaced out by remission periods of <1 month, contrarily to the episodic form. When the condition results to be refractory to conservative treatments (both prophylactic and abortive treatments) and when such condition is present for at least 2 years, surgical treatment is suggested

Long-term occipital nerve stimulation for drug-resistant chronic cluster headache

Introduction Chronic cluster headache is rare and some of these patients become drug-resistant. Occipital nerve stimulation has been successfully employed in open studies to treat chronic drug-resistant cluster headache. Data from large group of occipital nerve stimulation-treated chronic cluster headache patients with long duration follow-up are advantageous. Patients and methods Efficacy of occipital nerve stimulation has been evaluated in an experimental monocentric open-label study including 35 chronic drug-resistant cluster headache patients (mean age 42 years; 30 men; mean illness duration: 6.7 years). The primary end-point was a reduction in number of daily attacks. Results After a median follow-up of 6.1 years (range 1.6–10.7), 20 (66.7%) patients were responders (≥50% reduction in headache number per day): 12 (40%) responders showed a stable condition characterized by sporadic attacks, five responders had a 60–80% reduction in headache number per day and in the remaining three responders chronic cluster headache was transformed in episodic cluster headache. Ten (33.3%) patients were non-responders; half of these have been responders for a long period (mean 14.6 months; range 2–48 months). Battery depletion (21 patients 70%) and electrode migration (six patients – 20%) were the most frequent adverse events. Conclusions Occipital nerve stimulation efficacy is confirmed in chronic drug-resistant cluster headaches even after an exceptional long-term follow-up. Tolerance can occur years after improvement

Hypothalamic Deep Brain Stimulation for the Treatment of Chronic Cluster Headaches: A Series Report

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Measurements with the ELI-NP cavity Beam Position Monitor Read-out Electronics at FLASH

The Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics Gamma Beam System (ELI-NP GBS) will be installed and commissioned starting within the next year in Magurele, Romania. It will generate gamma beam through Compton back-scattering of a recirculated laser and a multi-bunch electron beam, produced by a 720 MeV LINAC. In order to obtain bunch by bunch position measurements, four cavity beam position monitors (cBPM) near the two interaction points are foreseen. Extensive tests on the cBPM readout electronics, recently developed by Instrumentation Technologies and acquired for ELI-NP GBS, were performed in laboratory at INFN-LNF and at FLASH in DESY, during the user operation. In the latter case, three cBPMs installed along the LINAC, with similar features as the ones of ELI-NP GBS, were used as measuring devices and signal sources for the read-out electronics under test. We present here the measurements collected and the related analysis, with a particular focus on the beam position measurement resolution

Effects of oxygen ozone therapy on cardiac function in a patient with a prior myocardial infarction

Oxygen-ozone therapy has been piloted in Italy patients with ischemic heart disease or suffering from myocardial infarction since 1991. Over time, it has been observed that ozone exerts a significant anti-inflammatory and rheological activity: ozone activates the redox system, lowers the pro-inflammatory cytokines16β, TNFα, modulates the NF-KB system, reduces platelet aggregation, and stimulates the release of growth factors. It is because of these characteristics that oxygen-ozone therapy is used in the prevention and treatment of ischemic heart disease and for post-infarction rehabilitation. The case study – a critically ill patient aged 76 with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), suffering from ischemic heart disease and heart attacks, high blood pressure, renal failure, ischemic vascular pluri-infarct CNS disease, Parkinsonism, stroke, neurological bladder disease and debilitating inguinal hernia – after a year and a half of AMI with infusions of autologous blood treated with ozone (GAE), recovered the left ventricular ejection fraction from 33 to 50% and underwent a successful inguinal hernia operation. It appears evident that oxygen ozone therapy using GAE protect the hearts of patients suffering from ischemic heart disease, and is useful during the acute phase of infarctions, as well as for rehabilitating patients who have had an AMI with stenting

Association between plasma gamma-glutamyltransferase fractions and metabolic syndrome among hypertensive patients

Among the risk factors associated to metabolic syndrome (MetS), hypertension shows the highest prevalence in Italy. We investigated the relationship between the newly identified serum γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) fractions, b-s-m-f-GGT, and risk factors associated to MetS in hypertensive patients. A total of ninety-five consecutive hypertensive patients were enrolled. GGT fractions were analysed by gel-filtration chromatography, and hepatic steatosis was evaluated by ultrasound. MetS was diagnosed in 36% of patients. Considering the whole group, b-And f-GGT showed the highest positive correlation with BMI, glucose, triglycerides and insulin, and the highest negative correlation with HDL cholesterol. While both serum triglycerides and insulin were independently associated with b-GGT levels, only triglycerides were independently associated with f-GGT. The values of b-GGT activity increased with steatosis grade (g0 = 1.19; g2 = 3.29; ratio g2/g0 = 2.75, p &lt; 0.0001 linear trend). Patients with MetS showed higher levels of b-GGT, m-GGT and f-GGT [median (25th-75th) U/L: 3.19 (1.50-6.59); 0.55 (0.26-0.81); 10.3 (9.1-13.6); respectively] as compared to subjects presenting with one or two MetS criteria [1.75 (0.95-2.85), p &lt; 0.001; 0.33 (0.19-0.60), p &lt; 0.05; 8.8 (7.0-10.6), p &lt; 0.001]. Our data point to a potential role for b-And f-GGT fractions in identifying MetS patients among hypertensive subjects, thus providing a minimally invasive blood-based tool for MetS diagnosis

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more patients, 1 with focal motor epilepsy once again (resulting in status epilepticus) and the other with behavioural comorbidity and multifocal epilepsy. Results: A significant reduction in seizure frequency was observed, and the 2 patients with behavioural comorbidity also showed a dramatic improvement in their disruptive behaviour. The patient with motor focal seizures showed a 70% reduction in seizure frequency, and in the last patient remission from status epilepticus was obtained. Conclusion: Our data confirm DBS of deep brain structures modulates the functional activity of the cerebral cortex as suggested by Adrian Upton in 1985. In the reported series, deep-brain stimulation of 2 unconventional targets belonging to the reticulo-cortical system (the brainstem-diencephalon functional system including structures that act as remote controls in modulating cortical excitability) was found to be effective in controlling otherwise refractory multifocal (pHyp) and focal sensorimotor (CZi) epilepsy when resective surgery was not feasible

Deepbrain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens in obsessive compulsive disorder: clinical, surgical and electrophysiological considerations in two consecutive patients

Abstract Obsessive compulsive disorder is a highly disabling pathological condition which in the most severe and drug-resistant form can severely impair social, cognitive and interpersonal functioning. Deep-brain stimulation has been demonstrated to be an effective and safe interventional procedure in such refractory forms in selected cases. We here report the first Italian experience in the treatment of this pathology by means of nucleus accumbens stimulation, pointing out to some technical data which could be of help in localization of the target

Erratum to: Radiosurgery reirradiation for high-grade glioma recurrence: a retrospective analysis

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