100 CHILDREN WITH ACUTE ATAXIA; A SURVEY IN MOFID CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

Objective:The term "Ataxia" refers to disturbances of body posture and movement that are normally controlled by the cerebellum, frontal lobes and the posterior columns of the spinal cord. The primary symptom and the most prominent feature of ataxia is abnormal gait which is characterized by lurching and wide base walking. Ataxia was considered acute, if it had occurred within the two preceding weeks. Knowing how frightening acute-onset Ataxia is for the family is not surprising that the condition prompts an immediate visit to the physician.Material & Methods:In view of the lack of information in our country, on the etiology of sudden-onset Ataxia, the authors enrolled 100 children with the chief complaint of acute loss of equilibrium, who came to the attention of the Pediatric Neurology Department over a two year duration (Sept.2001-Sept 2003); they were admitted to the Mofid Childrens' Hospital and all necessary investigations were carried out.Results & Conclusion:The results revealed that Acute Cerebellar Ataxia was the most common cause of the problem, the second most frequent being drug intoxication, which most commonly occurred in patients, 2- 4years old. The remaining causative factors in order of descending frequency consisted of infectious polyneuropathy, migraine, opsoclonus-myoclonus, brain tumor, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy.Key words:Acute ataxia, Children, Acute cerebellar ataxi

Frequency and clinical patterns of stroke in Iran - Systematic and critical review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cerebrovascular disease is the second commonest cause of death, and over a third of stroke deaths occur in developing countries. To fulfil the current gap on data, this systematic review is focused on the frequency of stroke, risk factors, stroke types and mortality in Iran.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirteen relevant articles were identified by keyword searching of PubMed, Iranmedex, Iranian University index Libraries and the official national data on burden of diseases.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The publication dates ranged from 1990 to 2008. The annual stroke incidence of various ages ranged from 23 to 103 per 100,000 population. This is comparable to the figures from Arab Countries, higher than sub-Saharan Africa, but lower than developed countries, India, the Caribbean, Latin America, and China. Similarly to other countries, ischaemic stroke was the commonest subtype. Likewise, the most common related risk factor is hypertension in adults, but cardiac causes in young stroke. The 28-day case fatality rate is reported at 19-31%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Data on the epidemiology of stroke, its pattern and risk factors from Iran is scarce, but the available data highlights relatively low incidence of stroke. This may reflect a similarity towards the neighbouring nations, and a contrast with the West.</p

Italian guidelines for primary headaches: 2012 revised version

The first edition of the Italian diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines for primary headaches in adults was published in J Headache Pain 2(Suppl. 1):105–190 (2001). Ten years later, the guideline committee of the Italian Society for the Study of Headaches (SISC) decided it was time to update therapeutic guidelines. A literature search was carried out on Medline database, and all articles on primary headache treatments in English, German, French and Italian published from February 2001 to December 2011 were taken into account. Only randomized controlled trials (RCT) and meta-analyses were analysed for each drug. If RCT were lacking, open studies and case series were also examined. According to the previous edition, four levels of recommendation were defined on the basis of levels of evidence, scientific strength of evidence and clinical effectiveness. Recommendations for symptomatic and prophylactic treatment of migraine and cluster headache were therefore revised with respect to previous 2001 guidelines and a section was dedicated to non-pharmacological treatment. This article reports a summary of the revised version published in extenso in an Italian version