Dyke-davidoff-masson syndrome: an unusual cause of status epilepticus and refractory seizures

Dyke-Davidoff-Masson Syndrome [DDMS] is a rare neurological condition characterised by drug-resistance seizures, hemiparesis, mental retardation, facial asymmetry, and intellectual disabilities. On brain imaging, the disease is characterised by cerebral hemiatrophy with ipsilateral calvarial thickening and hyperpneumotisation of paranasal sinuses or mastoid air cells. Although more common in men and on the left side of the brain, the disease can affect both genders and cerebral hemispheres. It mainly presents in childhood. The adult presentation is unusual but has been reported in medical literature. Most of the patients need more than one antiepileptic agent for optimal control of seizures. Hemispherectomy is reserved for patients who have drug-resistant and disabling seizures. The good prognostic factors are disease onset before age of two and better seizure control. We report two cases of DDMS occurring in teenage boys who presented with status epilepticus. The clinical histories, radiological findings, and treatment of both patients are discussed below

Comparative evaluation of conventional medical treatment alone versus conventional medical treatment with amniotic membrane transplantation in infective corneal ulcer

To compare the effect of amniotic membrane transplantation along with conventional therapy and the conventional therapy alone for the treatment of infective corneal ulcer. This study was conducted at Ophthalmology Department, Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar. The duration of study was 6 months, i.e., from April 2010 to October 2010, in which a total of 68 patients were included using WHO software for sample size determination. They were divided into two equal groups of 34 each. Non probability purposive sampling technique was used. In this study, mean age was 50 +/- 0.24 years. Forty six [67.6%] patients were male while 32.4% [n=22] patients were female. Conventional Medical Treatment alone was effective in 87% [n=30] cases while Conventional Medical Treatment with Amniotic Membrane was effective in 96% [n=33] cases with a p-value of 0.03. This study showed encouraging results of amniotic membrane trans plantation along with conventional treatment in corneal ulcer in improving both symptoms and signs