ABSTRACT
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is the most common form of human prion diseases. A 57-year-old woman was transferred to our Department from a local hospital, where she had been treated for two weeks due to consciousness disorders and convulsive epileptic attacks that progressed to refractory status epilepticus. Electroencephalography showed diffuse spike-wave complex discharges and development of nonconvulsive status epilepticus. The causes of metabolic encephalopathy and paraneoplastic syndrome were ruled out. A combination of clinical features and findings of diagnostic procedures including electroencephalography, biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid and magnetic resonance imaging suggested with great probability that the patient was affected with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Subject(s)
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome/diagnosis , Status Epilepticus/complications , Brain/pathology , Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome/complications , Electroencephalography , Female , Humans , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Middle Aged , Status Epilepticus/diagnosisABSTRACT
Thrombolysis with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) is the first evidence based treatment for acute ischemic stroke, which aims to reduce the cerebrovascular lesion. At University Department of Neurology, Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital, Zagreb, thrombolytic therapy with intravenous rtPA (alteplase) (Actilyse) for acute ischemic stroke was introduced in 2004. We present our results referring to demographic, time logistics and clinical outcome data as part of SITS-MOST (Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke - MOnitoring STudy) and compare them with the results from other centers in Croatia and all other participating centers. Up to now, 56 patients (61% of male and 39% of female, average age 67 years) have been treated at our department with intravenous rt-PA (0.9 mg/kg body weight, maximum 90 mg), with 10% of the dose given as a bolus followed by 60-minute infusion. Our experiences with thrombolytic therapy with intravenous rt-PA (alteplase) (Actilyse) for acute ischemic stroke confirm the safety and the efficacy of this therapy.
