Blepharoptosis and dysarthria in a boy aged 2 years / 中国当代儿科杂志

A boy, aged 2 years and 4 months, had a sudden onset of blepharoptosis of the right eyelid, accompanied by the mouth deviated to the right side, drinking cough, nystagmus, and developmental regression. Cranial MRI showed softening lesions formed after infarction of the right dorsolateral medulla oblongata, while head CT angiography showed no imaging of the proximal part of the V4 segment of the right vertebral artery. The child was diagnosed with dorsolateral medulla oblongata syndrome and was treated with gamma globulin to regulate immune function, with mannitol to reduce neuronal edema, with low-molecular-weight heparin sodium to improve local hypercoagulation of occluded blood vessels, with hyperbaric oxygen to improve local ischemia and hypoxia and promote the recovery of brain function, and with neuromuscular electrical stimulation to promote the recovery of neuromuscular function. Before discharge, only mild right ataxia and Horner syndrome remained. This article reports the first case of infantile dorsolateral medulla oblongata syndrome and provides experience for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Association of RAS mutations in circulating cell-free DNA in the plasma with clinicopathological features of colorectal cancer / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To detect RAS mutations in the circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in the plasma and explore the their correlation with the clinicopathological features in patients with colorectal cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Real-time PCR was used to detect RAS mutations in plasma cfDNA and matched tumor tissue DNA samples from 71 colorectal cancer patients. The correlation of RAS mutations with the clinicopathological features of the patients were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 71 patients with colorectal cancer, 23 (32.39%) showed RAS mutations in the cfDNA and 36 (50.7%) showed RAS mutations in tumor tissue DNA, with a concordance rate of 76.06% in the results between the two samples (Kappa=0.523). RAS mutations in the cfDNA were not related to the patients' age (P=0.072), gender (P=0.320), tumor stage (IVa and IVb, P=0.450), primary tumor position (P=0.324), lung metastasis (P=0.237), CEA level (P=0.284) or CA199 level (P=0.427). The positivity rate of RAS mutations in plasma cfDNA was significantly higher in patients with liver metastasis than those without liver metastasis (P=0.045).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Plasma cfDNA can be a reliable source of diagnostic DNA to replace the tumor tissue DNA for diagnosis of RAS mutations. RAS mutations in plasma cfDNA occur more frequently in colorectal cancer patients with liver metastasis.</p>