Prognostic factors in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy surgery

Eighty-four patients submitted to anterior temporal lobectomy were evaluated retrospectively in order to correlate the different type of simple partial seizure (SPS) and their prognostic implications in patients with mesial temporal sclerosis. The patients were divided in two groups following the classification of Engel; Group 1 (53 patients) included patients Class I (without seizures or of good outcome) and Group 2 (31 patients) included Classes II, III and IV (with seizures or of bad outcome). The two groups were compared and results showed no statistical difference in relation to the demographic aspects as sex, side of surgery, age at onset of seizures and time of the patients' postoperative follow-up. Statistical analysis revealed no relationship between type of SPS and outcome. SPS did not show a statistical value in localizing the side of pathology. However, when the two groups were compared statistically in terms of patients' ages at the time of surgery, and the time elapsed from the onset of the seizures to the surgical intervention, it was observed that Group 1 (of good outcome) had seizures for smaller interval (p<0.05) and was operated at an earlier age (p<0.02) than Group 2 (of bad outcome). The presence or the type of SPS can not be used as a prognostic measure; surgical therapy must be considered as soon as clinical resistance is demonstrated.

Simple, cost-effective technique for portable digital eletrocorticography

We revised 16 patients submitted to epilepsy surgery using a new method of digital, real-time, portable electrocorticography. Patients were operated upon over a period of 28 months. There were no complications. The exam was useful in 13 cases. The low installation and operational costs, the reliability and simplicity of the method, indicate it may be useful for defining the epileptogenic regions in a variety of circumnstances, including surgery for tumors, vascular malformations, and other cortical lesions associated with seizure disorders.

Síndrome neuroléptica maligna: relato de caso com recorrência associada ao uso de olanzapina / Neuroleptic malignant syndrome: case report with recurrence associated with the use of olanzapine

A síndrome neuroléptica maligna (SNM) consiste em reaçao idiossincrática a neurolépticos, provavelmente relacionada a bloqueio dos receptores dopaminérgicos nos gânglios da base, sendo por isso também conhecida como síndrome da deficiência aguda de dopamina. A SNM é caracterizada por hiperpirexia, alteraçao do nível de consciência, hipertonia, disfunçao autonômica e insuficiência respiratória, podendo ainda ser encontrados rabdomiólise e leucocitose. O haloperidol é a droga mais frequentemente associada à síndrome. Relatamos o caso de um paciente de 30 anos que apresentou SNM em duas ocasioes diferentes, a primeira delas relacionada ao uso de haloperidol e clorpromazina e a segunda relacionada ao uso de olanzapina, fato este sem mençao anterior na literatura indexada.

Epilepsy surgery without invasive eeg: early results of a new program

A total of 42 patients were submitted to a clinical, behavioural and neuropsychological evaluation with the objective of eventual surgical treatment of epilepsy refractory to the usual clinical therapies. Prolonged video-EEG monitoring, MRI hippocampal volume measurement, lateralization of speech and memory using the amobarbital (Wada) test were used. Of 18 operated cases, 12 were submitted to temporal lobectomy, with a follow-up of 6-30 months; 8 patients had significant improvement in seizures control; 2 patients had partial improvement in seizure frequency and intensity; 2 patients had no improvement in seizure control. One patient underwent right frontal lobectomy with total remission of seizures and 5 had callosotomy with varying degrees of success. There was no mortality. Morbidity included one subdural hematoma, one transient hemiparesis, one episode of mania, one lobar pneumonia and frequent immediately post-operative muscular tension headaches. These early results indicate good results of temporal lobectomy patients investigated through a non-invasive presurgical evaluation.

The intracarotid amobarbital procedure (WADA test) with two protocols combined, Montreal and Seattle

The intracarotid amobarbital procedure was carried out in 8 male and 7 female candidates to temporal lobectomy, and a female candidate to frontal lesionectomy, aged 18-50 (mean 32.5) years. Language and memory were tested after injection in each hemisphere. Both were measured by the Montreal procedure. In 9 patients language and memory were evaluated with the Seattle procedure too. In 12 patients the left hemisphere was dominant for language; three had bilateral dominance. In 1 patient the Seattle procedure demonstrated the dominant hemisphere by relatively slowness of speech during the drug effect in the left hemisphere. Memory was defined to be in the left hemisphere in 12 patients, in the right in 2, bilateral in 1 and in another lateralization was not possible. In 1 patient memory dominance was determined by the Montreal protocol alone because of lack of cooperation. These early results indicate that the methods may be complementary for determination of language and memory dominance in epilepsy surgery candidates.

Eletrencefalograma digital com mapeamento em demência de Alzheimer e doença de Parkinson: estudo prospectivo controlado / Digital EEG with brain mapping in Alzheimer's dementia and Parkinson's disease: a prospective controlled study

Com o intuito de estudar a atividade eletrencefalográfica em vigilia da demência senil de tipo Alzheimer (DA) e da doença de Parkinson (DP) foi iniciado estudo prospectivo e controlado. Foram comparados 6 paciente com DA e 11 pacientes com DP, com um grupo controle composto por 12 pacientes com depressao maior crônica leve a moderada (DSM-III-R, 1987). Nos três grupos, através de análise espectral, foi obtida a mediana da frequência da energia da atividade dominante posterior. O grupo controle apresentou atividade posterior com frequência de 8,79 ñ O,52 (mñdp). No grupo com DA este valor foi 6,65 ñ O,8O (mñdp) e no grupo com DP 7,69 + 1,39 (mñdp). A hipótese experimental de que pacientes com DA e DP diferem dos controles em relaçao à atividade de fundo (definida como anormal sendo <8) foi confirmada pelo teste do qui quadrado (p=O,Ol) e no teste t a média das frequências da energia posterior foi significativamente menor nos pacientes com DA (p=O,O1) e DP (p=O,O5) do que nos controles. Os resultados indicam que esta anormalidade possa ser correlacionada com o grau de comprometimento cortical e a gravidade da evoluçao da DA e da DP.

Timectomia e imunossupressäo em miastenia gravis: estudo prospectivo / Thymectomy and immunosupression in myasthenia gravis: a prospective study

Entre 1982 e 1988 24 mulheres e 6 homens com miastenia gravis foram submetidos a protocolo diagnóstico e terapêutico prospectivo e estandardizado. A idade variou de 10 a 74 anos (34 mais ou menos 16, média mais ou menos desvio padräo). Três com forma ocular foram tratados com piridostigmina. Quatro com forma generalizada, de idade avançada, receberam corticosteróide e/ou azatioprina. Vinte e três com a forma generalizada foram submetidos a timectomia seguida de prednisona e/ou azatioprina. Um paciente faleceu após a admissäo, em crise miastênica/colinérica. Dois outros tiveram complicaçöes menores da timectomia. De 19 pacientes seguidos por 1-60 (média 24) meses, 11 (58%) têm frqueza residual mas levam vida normal e 8 (42%) estäo em remissäo completa, um sem medicaçäo