ABSTRACT
Intracerebral hematomas producing chronic neurological disability are reported rarely. Two cases of chronic intracerebral hematoma are described. Each case was associated with a thick, fibrous capsule found histologically to arise from an occult vascular malformation. When such encapsulation is discovered surgically, a vascular anomaly must be suspected.
Subject(s)
Cerebral Hemorrhage/diagnosis , Hematoma/diagnosis , Aged , Cerebral Hemorrhage/diagnostic imaging , Cerebral Hemorrhage/pathology , Chronic Disease , Hematoma/diagnostic imaging , Hematoma/pathology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
Computerized transaxial tomography was carried out on 50 consecutive unselected patients referred to a neurologic practice for evaluation of focal epilepsy. Structural abnormalities were defined in 35.3 percent of these studies: porencephalic cysts in six patients, diffuse cerebral atrophy in five, cerebral hemiatrophy in three, focal cortical atrophy in two, neoplasms in two, hydrocephalus in one patient, and cerebeller hypoplasia in one. Computerized transaxial tomography is a useful outpatient procedure for evaluation and follow-up of patients with focal seizure disorders.
Subject(s)
Epilepsies, Partial/diagnostic imaging , Tomography, X-Ray , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Child , Child, Preschool , Computers , Electroencephalography , Epilepsies, Partial/diagnosis , Epilepsies, Partial/etiology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
A patient who abused multiple drugs developed a rapidly progressive mononeuropathy multiplex, which appeared to respond to corticosteroid therapy with partial resolution. Intravenous methamphetamine had been used almost exclusively from the fourth month prior to the onset of symptoms. Biopsy material revealed a necrotizing angiitis involving medium and small sized arteries, capillaries, and venules, typical of a hypersensitivity-type angiopathy, rather than the previously reported polyarteritis nodosa-type lesions secondary to illicit drugs. The apparent response to corticosteroids suggests that these agents might be useful in the treatment of some complications of drug abuse.
