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Nonneoplastic demyelinating processes of the brain with mass effect on magnetic resonance imaging can cause diagnostic difficulties. It requires differential diagnosis between the tumefactive demyelinating lesion and the coexistence of neoplasm. We document the case of 41-year-old woman with clinical and radiological findings suggestive of multiple sclerosis. Additional investigations confirmed the coexistence of astrocytoma. This report emphasizes the importance of considering brain tumors in the differential diagnosis of primary demyelinating disease presenting with a cerebral mass lesion.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common entrapment neuropathy. Diagnosis of CTS is usually based on a combination of clinical symptoms and electrodiagnostic study (EDS). Ultrasonography (US) also has been shown to be a useful diagnostic tool in CTS and is based on an increase in the median nerve cross-sectional area (CSA) at the level of the pisiform bone. In this study we assessed findings in US in correlation with severity of CTS. MATERIALS AND METHOD: This was a cross-sectional case-control study, which was carried out on November 2012 to July 2013. Subjects were chosen from patients who referred to the Alzahra Hospital (Isfahan, Iran). Patients were classified as having mild, moderate, and severe CTS according to EDS and high-resolution US was performed for CSA measurement at the tunnel inlet. RESULTS: A total of 87 individuals screened and 52 subjects (81 hands) met all inclusion and no exclusion criteria. The mean ± SD of the CSA was 0.12 ± 0.03 cm(2) (range, 0.08-0.18) in mild, 0.15 ± 0.03 cm(2) (range, 0.08-0.19) in moderate, and 0.19 ± 0.06 cm(2) (range, 0.11-0.32) in severe CTS. We detected a significant correlation between MN CSA and the severity of CTS (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In conclusion it is expected that sonography may serve as an additional or complementary method which is useful and reliable in assessing the severity of CTS.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Electrophysiologic (EDX) study is the most valuable method in grading the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), but it is invasive and painful. We evaluated the efficacy of ultrasound for this purpose. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-one wrists of 52 consecutive patients with clinical evidences of CTS, confirmed and graded by EDX as mild, moderate, and severe, were examined by ultrasonography. Cross-sectional area (CSA) of the median nerve was measured at the distal wrist (CSA-D), and proximal forearm (CSA-P), and wrist-to-forearm ratio (WFR) was calculated for each hand. RESULTS: The mean CSA-D was 0.12 cm(2) ± 0.03, 0.15 cm(2) ± 0.03 and 0.19 cm(2) ± 0.06 and the mean WFR was 2.77 ± 1.14, 3.07 ± 1.07 and 4.07 ± 1.61 in mild, moderate and severe groups respectively. WFR showed significant differences between the severe and none severe CTS groups (P < 0.001), but there was no significant difference between mild and moderate CTS groups (P < 0.381). CSA-D showed a significant difference between all groups (P < 0.0001). In the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve analysis, the optimal cut-off value of the CSA-D and WFR for detecting severe CTS were 0.15 (area under the curve 0.784, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.662-0.898, P < 0.001, sensitivity of 68.2% and specificity of 70.9%) and 3 (area under the curve 0.714, 95% CI: 0.585-0.84, P = 0.001, sensitivity of 68.2% and specificity of 64.8%) respectively. All values were superior in CSA-D. CONCLUSION: Ultrasonography, can be complementary but not conclusive to the classification of CTS severities. CSA-D and WFR both increased in proportion to CTS severity, but neither parameter exhibited excellent performance in grading the severities.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: This study tried to develop an Asian Stroke Disability Scale (ASDS) and compared its interrater reliability with modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and Barthel Index (BI). METHODS: Three items including self-care, mobility, and daily activities were selected as variables for development of the ASDS. The variables were provisionally graded on a 2- to 4-point scale based on the importance of each item. Each of the variables was categorized into 3 categories. Afterward, 125 rater-patient assessments for each scale (mRS, BI, and ASDS) were performed on 25 stroke patients by 5 raters. For categorization of functional impairment as minor or major, the scores of mRS, BI and ASDS were categorized as ≤ 2 and > 2, < 90 and ≥ 90, and < 3 and ≥ 3, respectively.125 rater-patient assessments for each of the mRS, BI, and ASDS were performed on 25 stroke patients by five raters. RESULTS: The quantitative variability of BI, mRS, and ASDS scores was not significant (P = 0.379; P = 0.780; and P = 0.835, respectively). Interrater variability of mRS, BI, and ASDS scores based on qualitative categorization was not significant (P = 1.000; P = 0.978; and P = 0.901, respectively). Paired interrater variability of mRS, BI, and ASDS scores based on qualitative categorization was not significant (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The ASDS is easy to use, requires less than 1 minute to complete and is as valid as mRS and BI in assessment of functional impairment of patients with stroke.
