Sterile cyst formation after intrathecal stem cell transplant for Parkinson's disease: a case presentation and literature review

In recent years, fetal or autologous stem cell transplant for the treatment of Parkinson's disease [PD] has been practiced in a few medical organizations. However, the potential complications related to the growth of allograft tissue have not yet been well described apart from case reports. Here, we present a 42-year-old Saudi male who suffered from early onset Parkinson's disease. He sought medical care in China and received autologous intrathecal stem cell transplantation. He did not demonstrate any significant improvement. A few months later, the patient went back to China and underwent fetal cell transplantation into the left hemisphere and a second stem cell transplantation intrathecally. He presented with seizures and had a left frontal brain cyst. The cyst was drained and contained clear fluid. All cultures were negative. He had an uneventful recovery

Pandemic influenza A [2009 H1N1] in hospitalized patients in a Saudi Arabian hospital: Epidemiology and clinical comparison with H1N1-negative patients

The World Health Organization [WHO] declared that pandemic influenza A [H1N1] was a public health emergency of international concern in April 2009. Herein, we describe the characteristics of patients in a Saudi Arabian hospital with and without H1N1 infection. We reviewed the records of patients admitted with influenza-like illness and compared confirmed pandemic H1N1 cases to the H1N1-negative patients admitted to the hospital. Infections due to the novel H1N1 virus were confirmed using real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction [rRT-PCR]. During the study period, a total of 165 patients were admitted with influenza-like illness and underwent rRT-PCR testing. Of these patients, 47 [28.4%] had confirmed novel H1N1 virus infection. Thus, the hospitalization incidence rate was 13.4 cases per 100,000 persons. The remaining patients had negative H1N1 rRT-PCR test results. The mean age +/- SD of the H1N1-positive patients was 30.3 +/- 28.5 years compared with 25.3 +/- 23 years for the H1N1-negative group [P=0.28]. Severe obesity was observed in 6.7% and 8.5% of H1N1-positive and H1N1-negative patients, respectively [P=0.74]. The clinical picture was similar between the two groups, except for the higher prevalence of nausea [25.5% vs. 11%] and diarrhea [21.3% vs. 7.6%] in the H1N1-positive group than in the H1N1-negative group [P=0.03] The mortality rate was low in both groups. The clinical presentation and outcome are insufficient to differentiate between influenza-like illness [ILI] caused by H1N1 and that cause by other pathogens. In general, both groups had mild disease in this cohort of patients in Saudi Arabia