Paediatric migraine with visual hallucination auras appearing in the form of a human body.

The most common type of migraine aura is multifaceted visual aura, such as scintillating scotoma or geometrical patterns, visual hallucinations in which a physical body is extremely rare. We report a paediatric case of migraine in which visual hallucinations appeared as auras in the form of a human body. The patient was an 11-year-old girl suffering from migraine with curious visual aura. The auras were atypical visual hallucinations that were sometimes accompanied by auditory hallucinations. Approximately 5-20 min before the headache, the patient would see a middle-aged man wearing sunglasses in her field of vision. Acetaminophen (10 mg/kg) and Japanese herbal medicine administered when necessary effectively treated the headaches. Finally, the patient was no longer complaining of her hallucination auras. Although the pathophysiology of migraines accompanied by auras is unclear, it appears that cerebral blood flow and cortical spreading depression are involved in auras.

Analysis of incidence and risk factors for progression in patients with intracranial steno-occlusive lesions by serial magnetic resonance angiography.

OBJECTIVES: Conventional angiography and transcranial Doppler ultrasonography have usually been used for serial observation of cerebral atherosclerotic diseases. This study used magnetic resonance (MR) angiography to monitor serial changes in steno-occlusive lesions of the major intracranial arteries to elucidate the incidence of progression and investigate the risk factors for progression. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The 151 consecutive patients, 78 males and 73 females aged 42-92 years (mean 71.1+/-10.2 years), were followed up by serial MR angiography for 5-34 months (mean 14.4+/-5.78 months). Progression was defined as increased stenosis or occlusion, or new stenotic lesion. Age, sex, duration of MR angiography follow up, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hyperuricemia, current smoking, and atrial fibrillation were chosen as risk factors for multiple logistic analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-three of the patients (15.2%) had progression, caused by total occlusion in 10, increased stenosis in 10, and new stenosis in 3, 15 patients had regression, and 113 patients had no change. Diabetes (odds ratio: 6.771, p value: 0.0004) and current smoking (odds ratio: 7.574, p value: 0.0019) were determined as significant risk factors for progression. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with intracranial steno-occlusive lesion and either diabetes or smoking habit should be carefully followed up by serial MR angiography.

Risk factors for growth of unruptured intracranial aneurysms: follow-up study by serial 0.5-T magnetic resonance angiography.

OBJECTIVE: The independent risk factors for aneurysm growth were retrospectively investigated in 130 patients with unruptured aneurysms who were followed up by 0.5-T serial magnetic resonance angiography with stereoscopic images. METHODS: Age, sex, site of aneurysm, size of aneurysm, multiplicity of aneurysms, type of circle of Willis, length of follow-up period, cerebrovascular event, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, smoking habit, and family history of subarachnoid hemorrhage were investigated using multiple logistic analysis. RESULTS: Fourteen patients (16 aneurysms) among the 130 patients (159 aneurysms) showed aneurysm growth (10.8%) during follow-up of 10 to 69 months (mean 29.3 +/- 10.5 mo). Multiple logistic analysis disclosed that location on the middle cerebral artery (odds ratio [OR] 0.08, P < 0.01), multiplicity of aneurysms (OR 68.5, P < 0.01), aneurysm size of 5 mm or larger (OR 1.17, P = 0.05), and family history of subarachnoid hemorrhage (OR 10.9, P < 0.01) were independent risk factors. CONCLUSION: Location on the middle cerebral artery, multiplicity, aneurysm size of 5 mm or larger, and family history of subarachnoid hemorrhage are independent risk factors for aneurysm growth. These results may help to determine the treatment choice for unruptured aneurysms.

Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis associated with risk factors for stroke: a case-control study.

STUDY DESIGN: The incidence of risk factors for cerebrovascular diseases was investigated in patients with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) and patients with cervical spondylosis. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between DISH and cerebrovascular disease. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: DISH is a common skeletal disease mainly affecting the anterior and lateral spinal longitudinal ligaments. The principal clinical features are nonradicular pain, stiffness, dysphagia (cervical portion), and associated ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament. METHODS: Age- and sex-matched patients were divided into three groups: 45 patients with DISH, 45 patients with cervical spondylosis Grade I and II, and 45 patients with cervical spondylosis Grade III and IV. Anthropometric, laboratory, and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings were analyzed. RESULTS: The values of uric acid (P = 1.60 x 10) and alkaline phosphatase (P = 2.00 x 10) were significantly greater in patients with DISH than in the other groups. Patients with DISH had a significantly higher incidence of ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (P = 5.21 x 10). Stiffness was significantly more common in patients with DISH and patients with spondylosis Grade III and IV than in patients with spondylosis Grade I and II (P = 0.000232). The incidence of infarction on MR imaging was significantly higher in patients with DISH than in the other groups (P = 0.0120). The incidence of stenosis or occlusion of a major cerebral artery on MR angiography was significantly higher in patients with DISH than in the other groups (P = 0.00264). CONCLUSIONS: DISH is associated with increased incidences of risk factors for stroke and cerebrovascular disease.

COL6A1, the candidate gene for ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament, is associated with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis in Japanese.

STUDY DESIGN: Genetic screening of collagen 6A1 gene (COL6A1) in patients with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) recruited in Japan and the Czech Republic. OBJECTIVE: To investigate allelic associations between DISH and nucleotide variants of COL6A1. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: DISH is a skeletal hyperostotic disease characterized by ligamentous ossification of the anterolateral side of the spine. Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) is a related disorder with DISH, and COL6A1 was identified as a susceptibility gene to OPLL. COL6A1 was examined for susceptibility in DISH patients from Japan and the Czech Republic. METHODS: Seven single nucleotide polymorphisms of COL6A1 were genotyped by direct sequencing. The allele frequencies were compared between 97 Japanese DISH patients and 298 Japanese controls, and between 96 Czech DISH patients and 96 Czech controls by chi2 test. RESULTS: The intron 32 (-29) single nucleotide polymorphisms of COL6A1 was significantly associated with the Japanese DISH patients (chi2 = 9.33; P = 0.0022), but not with the Czech DISH patients. CONCLUSIONS: Because COL6A1 could be a susceptibility to the occurrence of DISH and OPLL in the Japanese population, we consider that COL6A1 could be responsible for the hyperostotic state, leading to ectopic bone formation in the spinal ligament.

Perfusion CT investigation of chronic internal carotid artery occlusion: comparison with SPECT.

This study investigated the usefulness of perfusion computed tomography (CT) for the evaluation of patients with chronic internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusion by comparing the findings with those of iodine-123 iodoamphetamine ([(123)I]IMP) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Twenty five patients with chronic ICA occlusion were investigated on the same day by perfusion CT to measure the cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), and mean transient time (MTT), and [(123)I]IMP SPECT to measure the regional CBF, significant correlations were observed between regional CBF measured by SPECT and CBF measured by perfusion CT (r = 0.659, R(2) = 0.434, p < 0.001), regional CBF and CBV (r = -0.406, R(2) = 0.165, p < 0.001) and regional CBF and MTT (r = -0.592, R(2) = 0.350, p < 0.001). Significant correlations were also observed between CBF and CBV (r = -0.153, R(2) = 0.023, p < 0.001), CBF and MTT (r = -0.580, R(2) = 0.337, p < 0.001) and MTT and CBV (r = 0.763, R(2) = 0.582, p < 0.001). Perfusion CT is useful to evaluate the hemodynamic state of patients with chronic major cerebral artery occlusive disorders.

Supernumerary phantom limbs associated with left hemispheric stroke: case report and review of the literature.

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: Supernumerary phantom limb (SPL) is extremely rare. Literature reports noted 17 cases that occurred after right cerebral hemispheric stroke and 2 cases that occurred after left cerebral hemispheric stroke, but without imaging diagnoses. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: A 45-year-old male patient complained of SPLs on the right side after recurrent left thalamic hemorrhage. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated the lesion causing the left hemispheric stroke. INTERVENTION: The patient was treated conservatively. Computed tomographic scans demonstrated that the lesion had disappeared by 15 days after admission. The sensation of SPLs disappeared after 28 days. CONCLUSION: SPL may occur among patients with left hemispheric stroke, especially those with lesions in the thalamus, spastic paresis on the right side immediately after stroke, and psychiatric disorders such as alcohol and tobacco intoxication.

[Clinical and radiological study of ossification of the anterior longitudinal ligament in the cervical spine].

Twenty-seven patients with ossification of the anterior longitudinal ligament (OALL) in diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) in the cervical region were diagnosed among 2000 individuals during 10 months and analyzed clinically and radiologically by two neurosurgeons. Sex distribution was 20 men and 7 women with ages ranging from 57 to 82 years (average: 72.3 y.o.). Main signs and symptoms were dysesthesia of the upper extremities, stiff neck, dizziness and dysphagia (33%). Three patients had diabetes mellitus, 14 had hypertension, and 15 had hyperuremia. Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) co-existed in 18 patients (66%). Number of vertebral bodies with cervical OALL ranged from 4 to 6 (average: 4.8) and thickness of ossification of the anterior longitudinal ligament was from 2 to 6 (average: 3.1) mm. Originally we divided OALL in the cervical region into 3 types, nodular-type; 16 cases, continuous-type; 7 cases, and mixed-type; 4 cases. Small OPLL can be diagnosed by either cervical CT or myelo-CT. DISH is thought to be a benign clinical entity, but patients with OALL in DISH, accompanied by OPLL and those accompanied by dysphasia are frequently encountered and sometimes may be treated surgically.

Magnetic resonance angiographic evidence of sex-linked variations in the circle of willis and the occurrence of cerebral aneurysms.

OBJECT: In this study the authors investigated the relationship between variations in the circle of Willis observed on magnetic resonance (MR) angiograms and locations of cerebral aneurysms, and evaluated the risk of aneurysm formation. METHODS: One hundred thirty-one patients with cerebral aneurysms were retrospectively selected from a series of 4518 patients who underwent MR angiography at one neurosurgical institute. Variations in the anatomy of the circle of Willis were simply classified into Type A, in which there was no visualization of a unilateral A1 segment, and Type P, in which there was a fetal type of posterior cerebral artery that was continuously delineated from the internal carotid artery (ICA) through the posterior communicating artery. All other variations in the circle of Willis were defined as Type O (ordinary type of variations). An additional 440 patients who did not harbor cerebral aneurysms were randomly selected for a comparison. Anterior communicating artery aneurysms were significantly related to the Type A anatomy and ICA aneurysms to Type P anatomy. Male patients who did not harbor aneurysms tended to have Type A anatomy, whereas women had a significantly greater incidence of Type P. CONCLUSIONS: This sex-linked difference in anatomical variations may be correlated to the well-known sex-linked difference in aneurysm distribution.

Retrospective analysis of the prevalence of asymptomatic cerebral aneurysm in 4518 patients undergoing magnetic resonance angiography--when does cerebral aneurysm develop?

The natural history of cerebral aneurysms was investigated by measuring the prevalence of incidentally found unruptured aneurysms in the general population and evaluating the characteristics including risk factors. 'De novo' formation of aneurysm was also demographically estimated. The prevalence of incidental aneurysm was evaluated among 4518 patients who underwent magnetic resonance (MR) angiography for various reasons in a neurosurgical institute. Double the number of patients were randomly selected from the remaining patients without aneurysm as the Control group so that sex and age group were matched to the Aneurysm group. 127 patients (2.8%) had diagnoses of aneurysm. The prevalence of asymptomatic aneurysm among middle-aged and elderly patients was predominant in women and increased with age in both sexes. Patients with aneurysms had significantly more hypertension and family history of subarachnoid hemorrhage compared to the controls. The prevalence was markedly increased in the 8th decade in men and the 7th decade in women, and new aneurysms seemed to develop predominantly around these decades. Cerebral aneurysms become detectable on MR angiography in the middle or later decades, and women tend to develop aneurysm earlier than men. Hypertension and family history of subarachnoid hemorrhage are probably risk factors for the development of aneurysm.