British Neurotoxin Network recommendations for managing cervical dystonia in patients with a poor response to botulinum toxin

Botulinum toxin (BoNT) injections are an effective treatment for cervical dystonia. Approximately 20% of patients eventually stop BoNT treatment, mostly because of treatment failure. These recommendations review the different therapeutic interventions for optimising the treatment in secondary poor responder patients. Immunoresistance has become less common over the years, but the diagnosis has to be addressed with a frontalis test or an Extensor Digitorum Brevis test. In case of immunoresistance to BoNTA, we discuss the place the different therapeutic options (BoNT-A holidays, BoNT-B injections, alternative BoNT-A injections, deep brain stimulation). When poor responders are not immunoresistant, they benefit from reviewing (1) injections technique with electromyography or ultrasound guidance, (2) muscles selection and (3) dose of BoNT. In addition, in both scenarios, a holistic approach including drug treatment, retraining and psychological support is valuable in the management of these complex and severe cervical dystonia

Predictors of the development of myocarditis or acute renal failure in patients with leptospirosis: An observational study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Leptospirosis has a varied clinical presentation with complications like myocarditis and acute renal failure. There are many predictors of severity and mortality including clinical and laboratory parameters. Early detection and treatment can reduce complications. Therefore recognizing the early predictors of the complications of leptospirosis is important in patient management. This study was aimed at determining the clinical and laboratory predictors of myocarditis or acute renal failure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a prospective descriptive study carried out in the Teaching Hospital, Kandy, from 1st July 2007 to 31st July 2008. Patients with clinical features compatible with leptospirosis case definition were confirmed using the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT). Clinical features and laboratory measures done on admission were recorded. Patients were observed for the development of acute renal failure or myocarditis. Chi-square statistics, Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney <it>U </it>test were used to compare patients with and without complications. A logistic regression model was used to select final predictor variables.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Sixty two confirmed leptospirosis patients were included in the study. Seven patients (11.3%) developed acute renal failure and five (8.1%) developed myocarditis while three (4.8%) had both acute renal failure and myocarditis. Conjunctival suffusion - 40 (64.5%), muscle tenderness - 28 (45.1%), oliguria - 20 (32.2%), jaundice - 12 (19.3%), hepatomegaly - 10 (16.1%), arrhythmias (irregular radial pulse) - 8 (12.9%), chest pain - 6 (9.7%), bleeding - 5 (8.1%), and shortness of breath (SOB) 4 (6.4%) were the common clinical features present among the patients. Out of these, only oliguria {odds ratio (OR) = 4.14 and 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.003-17.261}, jaundice (OR = 5.13 and 95% CI 1.149-28.003), and arrhythmias (OR = 5.774 and 95% CI 1.001-34.692), were predictors of myocarditis or acute renal failure and none of the laboratory measures could predict the two complications.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study shows that out of clinical and laboratory variables, only oliguria, jaundice and arrhythmia are strong predictors of development of acute renal failure or myocarditis in patients with leptospirosis presented to Teaching Hospital of Kandy, Sri Lanka.</p

Sudden death in epilepsy recorded in ambulatory EEG

A woman with epilepsy died during a seizure and the event was recorded on ambulatory EEG. The circumstances were typical of sudden death in epilepsy (SUDEP). The EEG revealed that the patient had suffered a generalised seizure that abruptly ended with cessation of all cerebral electrical activity. Two other cases recorded on videotelemetry demonstrating similar EEG features were reported in the literature. We postulate that abrupt irreversible cerebral electrical shutdown during a seizure may be the primary mechanism of SUDEP

A complicated prosthetic valve endocarditis due to methicillin resistant Staphylococci treated with linezolid and ciprofloxacin: a case report

Abstract Background Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) due to methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a rare disease with significant mortality and morbidity. With the emerging resistance and adverse effect profile of vancomycin which is the standard treatment, there is a compelling necessity of an effective alternative for vancomycin. Linezolid is proved as such an agent for infections caused by MRSA in other sites. However to-date the evidence for successful use of linezolid for MRSA prosthetic valve endocarditis is limited only for few case studies. We here present the third case reported as effective treatment of PVE by MRSA with linezolid and probably the first case reported with successful treatment with linezolid in a patient with multiple complications who is a candidate for surgery in standard guidelines. Case presentation A 45 years old male from Kandy Sri Lanka, who had undergone prosthetic valve replacement 10 years back, presented with prosthetic mitral valve endocarditis caused by MRSA. He failed to respond to vancomycin and cotrimoxazole while sustaining cerebral haemorrhages, as well as life threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Treatment with intravenous linezolid and ciprofloxacin resulted in a complete response with disappearance of the vegetations and sterilization of blood cultures. Conclusions Linezolid can be considered as a good option for treating PVE by MRSA infections who are not responding to vancomycin and may negate the need for a surgery in patients awaiting an early surgery. Further studies including randomized controlled trials are needed to assess the efficacy of linezolid in PVE due to MRSA

Dural arteriovenous fistula causing primary intraventricular haemorrhage.

Primary intraventricular haemorrhage is a rare presentation of a dural arteriovenous fistula. We describe the case of a 52-year-old woman with a past history of idiopathic intracranial hypertension who presented with sudden-onset severe headache The CT scan on admission showed primary intraventricular haemorrhage with no associated haemorrhage in the brain parenchyma or the extra-axial compartment The cerebral angiogram demonstrated a dural arteriovenous fistula involving the left sigmoid and transverse sinuses which was successfully embolised transvenously. Subependymal venous congestion and rupture secondary to retrograde venous drainage has been proposed as the cause for this presentation

Biopattern Analysis and Subject-Specific Diagnosis and Care of Dementia

Abstract -Worldwide, the number of people that develop Alzheimer&apos;s disease and other types of dementia is rapidly rising and will create a considerable financial burden on the health and social services. The availability of new drugs that may slow or even halt the disease progression makes accurate early detection crucial. Objective methods are needed to support clinical diagnosis and care for patients; to quantify severity, monitor progression and response to new treatments. Electrophysiological markers have an important role to play in the objective assessment and care for dementia. The EEG provides a measure of brain dysfunction and EEG changes could be detected fairly early in the dementing process. Subject-specific EEG analysis offers the possibility of using objective methods to assess and care for dementia on an individual basis. The main objectives of this paper are: (i) to introduce the concepts of subject-specific EEG analysis as a basis for improving diagnosis and care for dementia; and (ii) present two novel methods for deriving suitable subject-specific electrophysiological markers -analysis of fractal dimension and zero crossing interval density of the EEG. We present findings that indicate that the methods are potentially good candidates for the development of individualized, low-cost, easy to administer and reasonably accurate methods for detecting dementia within the growing at risk population