Rinshō shinkeigaku = Clinical neurology
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A 51-year-old man complained of continuous pain lasting about 3 weeks around his forehead and left orbit-locations where pain may indicate conjunctival injection and lacrimation. Upon arrival to our hospital, his neurological examination was normal, and brain MRI showed no abnormality. The headache disappeared with indomethacin treatment (75 mg/day), and a diagnosis of hemicrania continua (HC) was established according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd Edition. ⋯ Although HC is one of the indomethacin-responsive headaches, continuous administration can cause side effects including gastrointestinal disorders. Such side effects can decrease the tolerability of indomethacin, and may eventually lead to its reduction or discontinuation. Pregabalin can be an alternative to indomethacin for treating HC.
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The symptoms of malignant (lethal) catatonia has been reported similar to initial symptoms of anti-NMDAR encephalitis. Subsequently, this autoimmune limbic encephalitis has been noticed in many psychiatrists. We have experienced several cases with malignant catatonia having anti-NMDAR antibody without clinical signs of encephalitis. ⋯ There is established evidence of NMDAR hypofunction as a central component of the functional disconnectivity; this is one of the most accepted models for schizophrenia. Moreover, autoimmune mechanisms have been proposed to be involved, at least in subgroups of schizophrenia patients. Further research of anti-NMDAR antibody and encephalitis would be important clues for the investigation of schizophrenia, catatonia and atypical psychosis.
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Myositis is a heterogeneous group of systemic autoimmune disorders characterized by inflammation of skeletal muscle. Historically, myositis has been defined using clinical features including muscle weakness, skin disease, internal organ involvement, and an association with cancer in adults. From a clinicopathologic approach, myositis has been classified into pathologically distinct subsets, polymyositis, dermatomyositis(DM), necrotizing autoimmune myositis, amyopathic DM, and non-specific myositis. ⋯ On the other hand, with the recent discovery of new myositis-specific autoantibodies (MSAs), it has been revealed that around 60% of patients with IIMs have been shown to have a anti-myositis-specific autoantibody, including anti-synthetase, anti-Mi-2, anti-MDA5, anti-TIF1 and anti-SRP antibodies. Because of striking association between unique MSAs and distinct clinical phenotypes, these antibodies are thought to be important not only for classifications of IIMs, but also as factors involved in the mechanism underlying their pathogenesis. This review reports recent progress in understanding of pathological features of myositis with MSAs.
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Case Reports
[A case of cerebral fat embolism after artificial bone replacement operation for femoral head fracture].
A 83 years old woman was slipped and injured with right femoral neck fracture. After three days from the fracture, she underwent an artificial head bone replacement operation. Immediately after surgery, she complained of chest discomfort, nausea and dyspnea. ⋯ Two weeks after surgery, her condition recovered and remaind to stuporous state even six month after surgery. We experienced a typical case of cerebral fat embolism, after bone surgery with diagnostic findings on MRI-DWI. Diagnosis of cerebral fat embolism syndrome requires a history of long bone fracture and/or replacing surgery with typical finding on MRI images, such as "star field pattern''.