Neoplastic meningitis: a retrospective review of clinical presentations, radiological and cerebrospinal fluid findings.

OBJECTIVE: To review the clinical, radiological, and laboratory presentations of patients with neoplastic meningitis. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Patients with neoplastic meningitis were recruited by a retrospective search of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytopathological report database of Siriraj Hospital between 1997 and 2006. Clinical information and CSF result of these patients were extracted from their medical records. Neuroimagings were reviewed by a neuroradiologist. RESULTS: The present study revealed 40 cases of neoplastic meningitis, which comprised of 17 cases with carcinomatous meningitis (CM) and 23 lymphoma/leukemia meningitis (LM) cases. In patients with CM, the majority (70%) had adenocarcinoma of lung or breast. Three of 17 cases with unknown primary tumor had carcinomatous meningitis as an initial presentation. In LM most of the cases (70%) were diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The most common symptom among patients with CM and LM was headache follow by cranial nerve palsy. In CM cases, CSF cytology was positive in the first specimen in 15 cases (82.35%) and in 22 from 23 cases (95.7%) in LM cases. Overall CSF showed pleocytosis in 36 cases (90%), most of which were lymphocyte predominant. The most common findings from brain imagings were leptomeningeal enhancement and hydrocephalus. CONCLUSION: The common primary sites were lung and breast cancer in the CM group and ALL and NHL in the LM group. The common symptoms were headache and cranial nerve palsy. Routine CSF examination was abnormal in virtually all cases. Positive CSF cytology was a gold standard for a diagnosis of leptomeningeal metastasis. High index of suspicious and awareness were required to avoid miss diagnosis.

A randomised double-blind, cross-over trial of 4-aminopyridine for downbeat nystagmus--effects on slowphase eye velocity, postural stability, locomotion and symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: The effects of 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) on downbeat nystagmus (DBN) were analysed in terms of slow-phase velocity (SPV), stance, locomotion, visual acuity (VA), patient satisfaction and side effects using standardised questionnaires. METHODS: Twenty-seven patients with DBN received 5 mg 4-AP four times a day or placebo for 3 days and 10 mg 4-AP four times a day or placebo for 4 days. Recordings were done before the first, 60 min after the first and 60 min after the last drug administration. RESULTS: SPV decreased from 2.42 deg/s at baseline to 1.38 deg/s with 5 mg 4-AP and to 2.03 deg/s with 10 mg 4-AP (p<0.05; post hoc: 5 mg 4-AP: p=0.04). The rate of responders was 57%. Increasing age correlated with a 4-AP-related decrease in SPV (p<0.05). Patients improved in the 'get-up-and-go test' with 4-AP (p<0.001; post hoc: 5 mg: p=0.025; 10 mg: p<0.001). Tandem-walk time (both p<0.01) and tandem-walk error (4-AP: p=0.054; placebo: p=0.059) improved under 4-AP and placebo. Posturography showed that some patients improved with the 5 mg 4-AP dose, particularly older patients. Near VA increased from 0.59 at baseline to 0.66 with 5 mg 4-AP (p<0.05). Patients with idiopathic DBN had the greatest benefit from 4-AP. There were no differences between 4-AP and placebo regarding patient satisfaction and side effects. CONCLUSIONS: 4-AP reduced SPV of DBN, improved near VA and some locomotor parameters. 4-AP is a useful medication for DBN syndrome, older patients in particular benefit from the effects of 5 mg 4-AP on nystagmus and postural stability.

Siriraj Acute Stroke Unit: 10 years experience.

BACKGROUND: Stroke is the second most common cause of death and leading cause of adult disability worldwide. The recent publication guidelines suggest that there are treatment strategies for optimizing the management of acute stroke patients including thrombolytic therapy, antiplatelet drugs and the establishment of a stroke unit. In Thailand, the first stroke unit has been established since May 1997 and was named Siriraj Acute Stroke Unit (SASU). MATERIAL AND METHOD: The authors retrospectively analyzed the data of stroke patients who were admitted in the SASU from May 1997 to May 2007, as well as hyper acute stroke (within 3 hours after onset). The statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS 11.0. RESULTS: There were 2,109 patients admitted to the SASU during 10 year-period. The mean age of all patients was 65.35 years (range 14-94 years, median 69.2 years). Stroke subtypes were classified as infarction (including transient ischemic attack) in 1799 patients (86.7%) and hemorrhage in 310 patients (13.26%). The most common stroke mechanism was small vessel disease (38.97%). The mainly ischemic stroke distribution was middle cerebral artery territory (77.14%). Risk factors of stroke were as follow: hypertension (61.79%), diabetes mellitus (35.47%), hyperlipidaemia (46.58%), smoking (21.02%) and prior stroke or coronary heart disease (23.74%). Mortality rate was 3.4% mainly due septicemia (26 patients). The mean total hospital stay of stroke patients at the SASU was 13.81 days (ranging from 1-120 days). There were thirty hyper-acute ischemic stroke patients who received intravenous thrombolytic therapy (between August 2005 and May 2007) for which the mean age was 70.7 years (ranges 48-88 years, median 74.5 years). Mean initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was 14.27. Intracranial hemorrhage after intravenous thrombolytic therapy was found in 8 patients which include 3 patients with symptomatic hemorrhage. CONCLUSION: The standard of care in SASU is not inferior to other stroke unit worldwide. Admission of acute stroke patient to the SASU provides a better chance of survival as well as a shorter length of hospital stay.

Retrospective study of patients with herpes simplex encephalitis and positive CSF PCR.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the clinical presentations, laboratory and imaging findings of patients with HSE and positive CSF PCR then compare these with information from other viral encephalitis patients in order to find clinical clues that might help clinicians in early diagnosis and treatment of HSE while awaiting for the CSF PCR result. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A patient group with both HSE and positive CSF PCR and a control group of patients with other viral encephalitis were identified from Siriraj Hospital database within the period of 1997-2006. Medical notes of these patients were reviewed and relevant information, including clinical, laboratory and imaging study, were extracted. Then, descriptive statistics, unpaired t-test and Fisher's exact test were performed with the purpose to determine any clinical or laboratory clues that are significantly different between these two groups, which might help clinicians in making an early diagnosis of HSE. RESULTS: Seven HSE cases and 22 cases in control group were included. Fever, headache, alteration of consciousness, behavioral change, neck stiffness are the most commonly found clinical presentations in HSE patients with CSF PCR positive. CSF examination show CSF leukocytosis with lymphocyte predominate, decreased CSF:blood glucose ratio and elevated CSF protein in all cases. However, no single clinical or laboratory finding helps in differentiating HSE with positive CSF PCR from other viral encephalitides, except radiological abnormalities of temporal lobe, which yields a positive predictive value of 0.5 and a negative predictive value of 0.93. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that HSE shares common clinical and laboratory findings with other viral encephalitides, except for temporal lobe involvement. Early diagnosis is important and empirical acyclovir should be commenced early in patients with viral encephalitis, especially for those with radiological abnormalities on the temporal lobe.