Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology
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The aim of this study was to verify the extent to which the presence of pain affects the quality of life (QoL) of neuropathic patients. The patients were selected in our Department of Peripheral Nervous System Diseases. ⋯ Our main finding was that the QoL is affected not only by the presence of neuropathy, but also by the presence and intensity of pain: the physical aspect of the QoL correlated only weakly with the TNS, but pain was closely related to a worsening in this parameter; moreover, the mental domains of the SF-36 were only correlated with pain. Pain per se worsens the QoL of neuropathic patients, regardless of disease severity.
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The objective was to examine the utility of delayed spinal cord injury rehabilitation. The design was a retrospective study in the spinal unit of a large rehabilitation hospital. ⋯ Patients showed a significant increase in all the outcome measures and achieved independence or assisted independence; significant neurological improvement and improvement in walking were recorded too; most of the patients were discharged home. The present data demonstrate the utility of delayed rehabilitation and highlight the importance of having rehabilitation in a specialised setting.
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Case Reports
Severe amnesia following bilateral medial temporal lobe damage occurring on two distinct occasions.
A comprehensive neuropsychological assessment was performed on a 38-year-old woman with drug-resistant right temporal lobe epilepsy before temporal lobectomy, during a 2-year follow-up period, and approximately 3 years after surgery when she developed a malignant glioma in the left medial temporal lobe (MTL). Both before and after epilepsy surgery, memory function was normal. ⋯ Compared with other cases of bilateral temporal lesion, this case is peculiar because the damage occurred on two distinct occasions. It suggests that only one MTL can allow normal memory function, or can take over the function normally subserved by a dysfunctional contralateral MTL when the dysfunction is marked and prolonged, such as in chronic epilepsy.
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General population studies suggest a non-casual association (comorbidity) between migraine, major depression and anxiety disorders (panic attack disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalised anxiety disorder). The risk of developing affective and anxiety disorders is not increased uniformly in the different migraine subtypes, but it is more elevated in migraine with aura patients. The relationship between migraine and depression is "bi-directional" (i. e., migraineurs have a more than three-fold risk of developing depression compared with non-migraine patients, while depression patients that have never suffered from migraine before have a more than three-fold risk of developing migraine compared with nondepressed patients) and specific (i. e., the presence of migraine or severe non-migraine headache increases a patient's risk of developing depression or panic attack disorder, whereas the presence of depression or panic attack disorder is associated with a greater risk of developing migraine, but not severe non-migraine headache). Comorbidity with psychiatric disorders has also been described for chronic tension-type headache and for chronic daily headache, although these findings are based only on clinical population data.