The gravitational wave detector VIRGO

International audienc

The Virgo data acquisition system

International audienc

Search for non-Gaussian events in the data of the VIRGO E4 engineering run

International audienc

Neuropsychological and psychiatric complications in endoscopic third ventriculostomy: a clinical case report

The clinical case report of a patient who underwent an endoscopic third ventriculostomy for the treatment of a slit ventricle syndrome is presented. After surgery the patient developed a severe complication consisting of an organic personality disorder, characterised by impulsiveness, physical heteroaggressiveness, binge eating, hypersomnia and impairment of memory, and frontal-executive functions.
A frontal lobe lesion may explain some of the symptoms presented, such as the uncontrolled impulses, the aggressive behaviour, and even the binge eating. However, a longitudinal neuropsychological evaluation showed a severe deficit in immediate memory and difficulties in planning and consolidation of newly learned information, which may be best related to damage in the frontal basal structures of the brain: the fornix and its connection to the hippocampus and the mamillary bodies. Postoperative MR images confirmed the clinical hypothesis. The emergence of such a severe organic personality disorder and cognitive disturbances as a psychiatric complication of an endoscopic third ventriculostomy has not, it seems, been previously reported elsewhere. Clinicians should take these possible complications into account when recommending this so-called minimally invasive neuroendoscopic procedure.


Simple fMRI Postprocessing Suffices for Normal Clinical Practice

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Whereas fMRI postprocessing tools used in research are accurate but unwieldy, those used for clinical practice are user-friendly but are less accurate. We aimed to determine whether commercial software for fMRI postprocessing is accurate enough for clinical practice

Cortical laminar necrosis related to prolonged focal status epilepticus

Cortical laminar necrosis (CLN) is radiologically defined as high intensity cortical lesions on T1 weighted MRI images following a gyral distribution. Histopathologically, CLN is characterised by pannecrosis of the cortex involving neurones, glial cells, and blood vessels. It has been reported to be associated with hypoxia, metabolic disturbances, drugs, and infections. We present two patients who developed CLN and permanent neurological deficits after prolonged and repeated focal status epilepticus. The possible mechanisms leading to CLN in these patients are discussed, together with the implications of prompt and aggressive treatment in similar cases