Revista de neurologia
-
Revista de neurologia · May 2005
Case Reports[Herpes simplex encephalitis in Cáceres. An analysis of the last five years].
Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) is a rare disease, although it is still the most common serious viral infection of the central nervous system. Little is currently known about its epidemiology and clinical features in our area. This paper presents a retrospective description of the clinical, diagnostic and progressive characteristics of patients diagnosed with HSE in Cáceres General Hospital, and confirmed by means of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) study for the DNA of the herpes simplex virus over the last 5 years. ⋯ The incidence of HSE in our environment is in the upper interval of that reported in the literature. PCR analysis for the herpes simplex virus in CSF seems to have replaced brain biopsy studies as the diagnostic technique. The underlying severe chronic pathology makes it more difficult to diagnose and worsens the prognosis. A multicentre epidemiological study should be conducted to confirm these findings.
-
Revista de neurologia · Apr 2005
[Neonatal neurology decision-making starting from systematic reviews of Cochrane Collaboration].
Cochrane Collaboration (CC) provides growing and readily accessible resource to help that decision-making care is based on detailed, critical, and current reviews of the best available evidence. There are many clinical questions for which there is no good evidence on which to base clinical practice. ⋯ At the moment, the neonatal neurology SR published in Neonatal CC are infrequent and almost half of them the reviewer's conclusions are insufficient for inferring probable effects in clinical practice. Many therapies in neonatal neurology persist without supportive evidence, and some common therapies may actually be harmful, and these are the conclusions found in SR about intraventricular haemorrhage. We detected no SR about important neuropediatric themes in neonatal period: hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, periventricular leukomalacia, neonatal seizures, hypotonia, etc.
-
Revista de neurologia · Mar 2005
Review[Guidelines for the clinical management of neuropathic pain (II)].
Up to 5% of the population suffers from neuropathic pain (NP). A bibliographical search in several databases revealed that, to date, there are no protocols to guide physicians who are not specialists in pain that enable them to treat NP and thus improve patients' quality of life. ⋯ There is no specific set of guidelines for the treatment of NP. At the present time, the keystone of NP treatment consists in the use of antidepressant and anticonvulsive drugs. There is a need for further clinical trials to prove the effectiveness of using combined medication.
-
Rett syndrome is a progressive neurodevelopmental disorder with onset in early childhood occurring almost exclusively in females and caused by mutations in methyl-CpG- binding protein 2 (MECp2) and is one of the most frequent causes of mental retardation in females. Regression is a defining feature of Rett syndrome and during the regression period the patients develop autistic behaviour. This is the reason why Rett syndrome has been classified as a pervasive developmental autistic spectrum disorder. However movement disorders are so exuberant, characteristic and unique in Rett syndrome that is very difficult to an experienced clinician mistake both situations. ⋯ We can define Rett syndrome as a condition which manifests in the majority of the cases as a hyperkinetic movement disorder and progresses (at varying rates) to a bradykinetic disorder. The aim of this publication is to characterize and describe movement disorders in Rett syndrome based on a revision of the literature and the personal experience of the author.
-
Revista de neurologia · Jan 2005
Comment Letter Case Reports[Meningitis following spinal anaesthesia and asepsis: two irreconcilable issues?].