ABSTRACT
Between September 1986 and November 1988, 17 patients were hospitalized and treated for neuro-borreliosis. Ten of them had been admitted with suspected lumbar or cervical root or compression syndrome. Only four patients recalled a tick bite, only three an erythema migrans. Uni- or bilateral facial paresis was a prominent feature in six patients. Three of 14 patients had no IgG antibodies against Borrelia, either in serum or cerebrospinal fluid at the initial examination, two had positive titres in serum only. Despite antibiotic treatment (usually 10 mega U penicillin three times daily) six patients had a recurrence by April, 1989, treated with penicillin again or with twice daily 100 mg doxycycline or 2 g ceftriaxon. In four of them a residual painful polyneuropathy remains.
Subject(s)
Intervertebral Disc Displacement/diagnosis , Lyme Disease/diagnosis , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Antibodies, Bacterial/analysis , Borrelia burgdorferi Group/immunology , Diagnosis, Differential , Female , Humans , Immunoglobulin G/analysis , Lyme Disease/drug therapy , Lyme Disease/immunology , Male , Middle Aged , RecurrenceABSTRACT
Lumbar myelographies were carried out with lopamidol and locarmat of identical concentrations of iodine in 2 groups of 20 patients each. In about one-third of the cases, clinical side effects and EEG changes were found after the examination without difference with the exception of one seizure and one state of confusion which occurred only after locarmat. Resorption of the contrast media was judged by CT examinations of the lumbar spine and the head. There was a more rapid decrease of lumbar contrast density in patients with a narrow lumbar sac which was accompanied by a more rapid intracranial accumulation of the contrast medium. This may be due to a more active transport of cerebrospinal fluid in this group of patients.
