European neurology
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Comparative Study
Representation of somatosensory modalities in pathways ascending from the spinal anterolateral funiculus to the thalamus demonstrated by lesions in man.
Patients with cordotomies (16), and brainstem (17) or thalamic (30) infarcts, all except cordotomies verified by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have been subjected to quantitative sensory perception threshold testing (QST) for touch (von Frey), mechanical pain, sharpness, innocuous warmth and cold, and heat pain in the maximally affected body area and its unaffected contralateral mirror image region. Some patients were tested twice at widely spaced time intervals; no qualitative differences were found. ⋯ In the lower (crossed symptoms and signs), but not the upper (uncrossed symptoms), deficits for all modalities (except for touch) were more marked than at higher levels. At the level of the thalamus, deficits for innocuous and noxious thermal modalities but not for mechanical pain were recorded in the case of lesions of the principal somatosensory relay nucleus (VPL/Vc), while more medial thalamic lesions resulted in deficits for mechanical pain but not for heat pain or innocuous thermal modalities; there is a marked deficit for sharpness caused by lesions at both thalamic sites.
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We undertook a study to investigate the short- and long-term outcomes of spontaneous CSF hypovolemia. Fifty-three consecutive patients with spontaneous CSF hypovolemia were included. Short-term outcome was assessed 4 weeks after the treatment in all patients. ⋯ In assessing the short-term outcome of CSF hypovolemia, we found that complete headache relief was significantly higher in 43 patients who received epidural blood patch (EBP) than in 10 patients treated with supportive measures (p < 0.05). After a mean follow-up of 61 months, 25 (96%) of the 26 patients evaluated for long-term outcome had complete headache relief. These results suggest that EBP is safe and effective, resulting in excellent short- and long-term outcomes of CSF hypovolemia.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Almotriptan in migraine patients who respond poorly to oral sumatriptan: a double-blind, randomized trial.
To investigate the efficacy and tolerability of almotriptan 12.5 mg in migraine patients who respond poorly to sumatriptan 50 mg. ⋯ Almotriptan 12.5 mg is an effective and well-tolerated alternative for patients who respond poorly to sumatriptan 50 mg. A poor response to one triptan does not predict a poor response to other agents in that class.
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Historical Article
Neurological eponyms derived from literature and visual art.
Eponyms are common in medicine, and neurology is not an exception. Most neurological eponyms originate from the names of those who first described a disease or pathological condition, as well as from the names of characters from the literature and mythical or biblical heroes. The article describes en block both widespread and nowadays seldom used or even forgotten neurological eponyms derived from literature and visual art.