ABSTRACT
Headaches are a common disorder. Our hospital is a general emergency hospital located in the center of a suburban city in Japan. Our facility consists of 400 beds and 532 workers. The Department of Neurosurgery and the Headache Clinic at our hospital initiated clinical services five years ago. Data regarding the prevalence of headaches among hospital workers are scarce. Hospital workers are often assumed to have more knowledge concerning various common health issues, including headaches. However, the knowledge regarding headaches among hospital workers has not yet been reported. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence of and knowledge regarding prophylactic drugs and medication overuse causing headaches among workers at our hospital.
Subject(s)
HeadacheABSTRACT
This is the report of a patient with cluster headaches preceded by back pain. The patient’s back pain was provoked by arm and shoulder movement. Mild back pressure caused severe back pain and, as a result, he could not lie in a supine position. His back pain was usually mild, however he sometimes experienced severe stabbing and aching pain. We diagnosed the back pain as allodynia. We herein discuss the diagnosis of back pain in this case and its relationship with cluster headaches.
ABSTRACT
This study was aimed to explore the value of quantitative proton MR spectroscopy (1H-MRS) in the differentiation of benign and malignant meningioma. 23 cases, including 19 benign (grade I) and 4 malignant (grade II-III) meningiomas, underwent single voxel 1H-MRS (TR/TE = 2000 ms/68, 136, 272 ms). T2 relaxation time of tissue water and choline were estimated by an exponential decay model. Choline concentration was calculated using tissue water as the internal reference, and corrected according to intra-voxel cystic/necrotic parts. Tissue water T2 of benign and malignant meningiomas were (105 +/- 41) ms and (151 +/- 42) ms, respectively. The difference was statistically significant (P = 0.033). While Choline T2 of benign and malignant meningiomas were (242 +/- 73) ms and (316 +/- 102) ms respectively, the difference was not significant (P = 0.105). Choline concentration was (2.86 +/- 0.86) mmol/ kg wet weight in benign meningiomas and (3.53 +/- 0.60) mmol/kg wet weight in malignant ones; after correction they increased to (2.98 +/- 0.93)mmol/kg wet weight and (4.58 +/- 1.22) mmol/kg wet weight, respectively, and the difference was significant (P = 0.019). In conclusion, quantitative 1H-MRS is useful for the differentiation of benign and malignant meningioma by T2 relaxation time and absolute choline concentration.