Rev Neurol France
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In 1868, J. M. Charcot published his memoir "sur quelques athropathies qui paraissent dépendre d'une lésion du cerveau ou de la moelle épinière "based on 4 cases of tabes dorsalis. ⋯ Amyloidosis, familial dysautonomia, congenital insensitivity to pain were added to the list of causes of Charcot's joint. Less well known are the works of Charcot on joint diseases in hemiplegics. These were later studied by Alajouanine and Thurel and de Sèze and Ryckewaert have proposed to call them "algoneurodystrophies décalcifiantes réflexes" a topic which nowadays arises much interest in rheumatology.
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Case Reports Biography Historical Article
[Gustave Flaubert's illness].
All those interested in Gustave Flaubert's illness, during his lifetime as well as after his death, have agreed that he had epilepsy. The one important exception is Jean-Paul Sartre, who, in the 2800 pages of his "Idiot de la famille" claimed that Flaubert was a hysteric with very moderate intelligence who somatized his neurosis in the form of seizures. These, in Sartre's views, were moreover probably hysterical, but possibly epileptic resulting from the existence of a psychogenic epilepsy bred from the neurosis. ⋯ But, unable to carry out his wishes and desiring both to die and to survive, Gustave, adolescent, might have chosen the pathway of "false deaths", as exemplified by the seizures. Modern epileptology data enables not only to confirm the epileptic etiology and to discount the hysterical nature of the fits, but also: 1. to establish precise details of the site and nature of the cerebral lesions responsible for the attacks: neonatal atrophy or vascular malformation of the occipitotemporal cortex of the left hemisphere, the only lesion capable of provoking: a) the phosphenes marking the onset of the seizures; b) the intellectual manifestations (forced thoughts or flight of ideas), affective features (panic terror), and psychosensory (ecmnesic hallucinations) or psychomotor (confusional automatism) symptoms accompanying some attacks; c) the loss of speech preceding the loss of consciousness and terminal generalized convulsions. 2. to establish the consequences of the lesion and of the temporal fits on the behaviour of the writer; a) associated hypoactivity (slowness of ideation and writing) and paroxysmal impulsiveness (violent unmotivated angry outbursts); b) disturbed verbal functions (difficulty in finding words); and c) diminished sexuality. As a conclusion, it must be admitted; a) that Flaubert suffered from an organic and not a psychogenic epilepsy, the existence of the latter currently being disputed; b) that this epilepsy modified the behaviour of the author without affecting his genius; c) that, as a result of this, the epilepsy of Flaubert, as that of Dostoïevski, should serve as a defense witness for the unfortunate epileptics thought to be destined for intellectual deterioration only because of the repetition of their seizures.
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This paper describes the first French case of lymphomatoid granulomatosis (LYG) in 46-year-old male. Autopsy revealed bilateral pulmonary involvement and multiple central nervous system (CNS) localizations. The originality of this study is due to 1st the scarcity of reported cases of LYG in Europe 2nd a detailed neuropathological study permitting diagnosis of multifocal central nervous involvement by LYG. ⋯ These lesions correspond to; 8 instances of LYG, one progressive multifocal leukencephalopathy,, one post-therapeutic disseminated necrotizing leukoencephalopathy, one immunoblastic sarcoma and one case of LYG associated with histiocytic malignant lymphoma. This paper also evokes clinical, histological, ultrastructural and prognostic characteristics of LYG gathered from the available literature. From a nosological point of view the relationship of LYG with Wegener granulomatosis, polymorphic reticulosis and certain lymphomas is still, to this day, not clearly established.
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Case Reports
[Aneurysmal vertebra cyst (observation on two cases with neurological findings) (author's transl)].
The authors report 2 cases of aneurysmal cysts of the spinal cord with neurological manifestations. The first case was a young girl of 16 years of age with a lesion at the D6 level and spasmodic paraparesis. The second case was a boy aged 5 years with a lesions at the L3 level and lumbar pains. The characteristic "one-eyed vertebra" appearance was present in the radiological images in both cases, and was confirmed histologically on operation, which produced good results.
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The twenty-five patients with the intermittent claudication syndrome of th cauda equina included 19 men and 6 women aged from 23 to 70 years. The results of operation were very good in 16 cases, with improvement in 6 others and failure in 3 cases. There are various mechanisms which can cause the stenosis. The authors stress the importance of congenital vertebral abnormalities and the presence of apophyseal appendices which, at the present time, have not been considered responsible.