ABSTRACT
UNLABELLED: Reports about the impact of cerebrovascular disease (CVD) on clinical status in Parkinson's disease (PD) are rather controversial. There have been a few studies and inconsistent results regarding the coincidence of Parkinson's disease (PD) and atherosclerotic diseases, such as cerebrovascular disease. Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) is a known marker for subclinical atherosclerosis. AIM: This study was done to investigate the carotid IMT between PD patients and controls. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 54 PD patients and 50 controls were examined. The duration of Parkinson's disease, the severity of Parkinson's disease (the Hoehn-Yahr stage) and carotid IMT were examined. RESULTS: The mean Hoehn and Yahr stage was 2.78 (range 2-4). Duration of disease had a mean of 7.59 +/- 0.85 years. The left CCA mean IMT was 0.900 +/- 0.147 in Parkinson group and 0.828 +/- 0.118 in control group (p = 0.007). The right CCA mean IMT was 0.891 +/- 0.176 mm in the Parkinson group and 0.860 +/- 0.164 in control group (p = 0.360). No relationship between the Hoehn and Yahr stages or the duration of PD with the IMT were found by the Pearson's correlation test. CONCLUSIONS: The carotid IMT was higher in PD patients than in controls.
Subject(s)
Carotid Intima-Media Thickness , Parkinson Disease/pathology , Adult , Age Factors , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Case-Control Studies , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Parkinson Disease/diagnosis , Parkinson Disease/diagnostic imaging , Predictive Value of Tests , Prospective Studies , Risk Factors , Sensitivity and Specificity , Severity of Illness Index , Time FactorsABSTRACT
A 39-years-old woman was admitted to our hospital with musculoskeletal complaints (myalgias and symmetric arthralgias in proximal interphalangeal, metacarpophalangeal joints of the hands and in knees), systemic symptoms like fever, fatigue, malaise and a six months previous history of a transient ischemic attack. The presence of antibodies to double-stranded deoxyribonucleic-acid (DNA) and antiphospholipid antibodies led to the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus with secondary antiphospholipid syndrome. Cerebral infarction develops significantly more often in patients with lupus and antiphospholipid antibodies, but other clinical syndromes are associated with lupus anticoagulant: cognitive dysfunction, seizures, polyneuropathy, aseptic meningitis, myelopathy.
