ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze the clinical feature and prognostic predictors of disseminated herpes zoster.Methods A retrospective study was carried out on 76 patients with disseminated herpes zoster collected from 2005 to 2012 in the Department of Dermatology,Anhui Provincial Hospital.Statistical analysis and comparisons were done.Results The incidence rate of disseminated herpes zoster was highest in the three age groups:70-79 years,30-39 years,and 60-69 years.Of these patients,59.21％ suffered from complications,and 44.74％ from postherpetic neuralgia.Logistic regression analysis showed that the occurrence of complications was significantly associated with age and impaired cellular immune function,and the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia with age,impaired cellular immune function and presence of underlying diseases.Conclusions There is a high incidence of complications in patients with disseminated herpes zoster,and impaired cellular immune function may be an important factor affecting its prognosis.
ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze the clinical features, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of neurosyphilis. Methods Clinical data on and laboratory findings in 18 cases with neurosyphilis collected in the Affiliated Provincial Hospital, Anhui Medical University from 2006 to 2008 were retrospectively studied.Results Among the 18 patients, 3 sufferred from asymptomatic neurosyphilis, 1 from meningeal syphilis, 7 from meningovascular syphilis, 5 from paralytic dementia, and 2 from intracranial space-occupation. Toluidine red unheated serum reagin test (TRUST) and Treponema pallidum particle agglutination test (TPPA) of sera were positive in all the patients; cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) TRUST was positive in 16 patients, and CSF TPPA in all patients. An increase was observed in CSF leukocyte count in 7 patients and in CSF protein in 13 patients.The findings on cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) mainly included demyelination, brain atrophy,cerebral infarction, etc. All the patients, except 2 with a TRUST titer of 1:4, experienced a 4-fold decrease in TRUST titer within a 3-month follow up. Clinical symptoms of neurosyphilis improved in all patients except 1 with paralytic dementia. Conclusions The diversity of clinical manifestations usually leads to the misdiagnosis of neurosyphilis, which should be diagnosed based on comprehensive analysis of clinical characteristics as well as laboratory and imaging findings. Early diagnosis and treatment are beneficial to its prognosis.