Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Nov 2003
Case ReportsA variant of multifocal motor neuropathy with acute, generalised presentation and persistent conduction blocks.
Multifocal motor neuropathy with persistent conduction blocks is classically described as a chronic neuropathy with progressive onset, and acute forms have not previously been characterised. We report four cases of severe motor impairment with acute and generalised onset and with persistent motor conduction blocks. ⋯ Because of the persistence of multifocal motor conduction blocks for several weeks or months as the isolated electrophysiological feature, these cases could not be consistent with Guillain-Barré syndrome or chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. They suggest an original variant of multifocal motor neuropathy with an acute and generalised initial presentation and persistent motor conduction blocks affecting all four limbs.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Nov 2003
Parkinson's disease patients undershoot target size in handwriting and similar tasks.
Previous research suggested that people with Parkinson's disease are able to increase handwriting stroke size up to 1.5 cm without an increase of stroke duration; whereas age matched individuals in normal health are able to modulate stroke size without changes in stroke duration for sizes up to 2 cm. This study was designed to test this finding by examining whether sizes larger than 1.5 cm show different relationships with stroke duration for patients with Parkinson's disease as compared with age matched controls. ⋯ The findings suggest that individuals with Parkinson's disease writing at speed produce inadequate stroke sizes when these should equal or exceed 1.5 cm.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Nov 2003
Gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery for unilateral acoustic neuromas.
To evaluate the clinical results achievable using current techniques of gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery to treat sporadic unilateral acoustic neuromas. ⋯ Tumour control rates, while difficult to define, are comparable after radiosurgery with those experienced after surgery. The complications and morbidity after radiosurgery are far less frequent than those encountered after surgery. This, combined with its minimally invasive nature, may make radiosurgery increasingly the treatment of choice for small and medium sized acoustic neuromas.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Nov 2003
The topography of metabolic deficits in posterior cortical atrophy (the visual variant of Alzheimer's disease) with FDG-PET.
The term "posterior cortical atrophy" (PCA) refers to a clinical syndrome in which higher order visual processing is disrupted owing to a neurodegenerative disorder, the most commonly associated pathology being Alzheimer's disease. ⋯ The neuropsychological and PET findings are consistent with damage predominantly to the dorsal stream of visual processing. Frontal eye field hypometabolism secondary to loss of input from the occipito-parietal region may be the mechanism for the ocular apraxia seen in Balint's syndrome.