Rev Neurol France
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A case of global and persistent amnesia due to a right polar and anterior thalamic infarction is reported. There was a moderate impairment of attention and categorization ability. ⋯ Retrograde memory was mildly affected. Two years later, a second infarction in the right thalamo-sub-thalamic territory occurred, increasing the deficits of attention, short-term memory and recall.
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Forty six patients who had normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) and who presented 2 or more of the 5 following preoperative signs: dementia with gait disturbances and urinary incontinence, gait disturbance as first sign, known etiology, positive lumbar puncture withdrawal test, presence of periventricular hypodensity on CT and absence of visible cerebral sulci, were treated by lumboperitoneal shunt. Postoperative results were evaluated at 1 month, 6 months and 1 year with 60.6 p. 100 of good results. Complications of LP shunts (26 p. 100) were mild and did not compromise the outcome. We emphasize the necessity of clinical selecting criteria before surgery and the value of LP shunt in the treatment of NPH.
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Diaphragmatic paralysis is rare in neuralgic amyotrophy. Total quick recovery is usual. We report a case with a diaphragmatic paralysis still present more than 30 years after the onset of a bilateral and recurrent neuralgic amyotrophy. Neuralgic amyotrophy should be considered as a possible cause of chronic diaphragmatic paralysis.
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A healthy 26-year-old man, without initially presenting fever, rapidly developed a focal right pontomedullary deficit associated with an aseptic lymphocytic meningitis. The diagnosis of Listeria infection was confirmed by blood cultures. CT and MRI demonstrated an abscess extending from the superior cerebellar peduncle to the lateral portion of the medulla. ⋯ Antibiotic therapy was maintained for 5 months up to normal CSF and CT. One year after the onset, MRI was also normal. The rare nature of listerial abscess in the brainstem is discussed with regard to rhombencephalitides.
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The neurological spectrum of Borrelia burgdorferi infections is still enlarging. We review epidemiological, pathological and serological data of Lyme disease. The course of the disease is divided in three stages: stage 1 during the first month is characterised by erythema chronicum migrans and associated manifestations; stage 2 includes not only the classical European meningoradiculitis but also less specific neurological symptoms: isolated lymphocytic meningitis with an acute or even relapsing course, apparently idiopathic facial palsy, neuritis of other cranial nerves, polyneuritis cranialis, Argyll-Robertson sign, peripheral nerve involvement, acute transverse myelitis, severe encephalitis, myositis. ⋯ High doses of penicillin can halt the disease, sometimes induce spectacular regression of symptoms or sometimes be inefficient; ceftriaxone could be a more powerful therapy. Similarities between syphilis and Borreliosis are multiple: both of these spirochetes contain plasmids, can be transmitted through the placenta and progress for many years through successive stages, with multiorgan symptoms, including parenchymatous and vascular lesions of the central nervous system. Borrelia burgdorferi is the new great imitator.