[The use of verapamil in the treatment of hemicrania without aura]. / Uso del verapamil nel trattamento dell'emicrania senza aura.

The efficacy of verapamil CR in migraine prophylaxis has been tested in an open study with 64 patients. The group of patients showed a significant decrease of the frequency, duration and severity score of their headache. All patients were treated for 3 months; thirty patients extended the treatment for 6 months without further improvement. In conclusion, verapamil CR is a useful drug with few side effects for migraine prophylaxis.

Risk factors in lacunar syndromes: a case-control study.

The association between some hypothetical risk factors (previous TIA, hypertension, ECG ischemic abnormalities, diabetes, cigarette smoking, atrial fibrillation, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, high hematocrit) and lacunar syndromes has been evaluated by a matched sample case-control study involving 108 consecutive, incident cases with lacunar syndrome and 216 hospital control subjects, matched for sex and age. A significant increase of Relative Risk (RR) has been shown for: 1. Previous history of TIA; 2. Hypertension; 3. Smoking; 4. Diabetes. No relevance was shown for: 1. Atrial fibrillation; 2. Hypercholesterolemia; 3. Hypertriglyceridemia; 4. High hematocrit. The analysis of the triplets of subjects (1 case + 2 controls) without hypertension showed a significant RR increase for: 1. Previous history of TIA; 2. Ischemic cardiac abnormalities; 3. Atrial fibrillation. Such findings support the hypothesis that, in a minority of cases with lacunar syndrome, the pathogenetic mechanism could be different from occlusion of penetrating arteries in hypertensive patients.

[Hemispheric cerebrovascular lesions with secondary brain stem involvement. Anatomo-clinical study]. / Lesioni emisferiche cerebrovascolari con secondario interessamento troncale. Studio anatomo-clinico.

The authors studied incidence, nature and place of vascular injuries of brainstem secondary to acute hemispheric vascular injuries. In a large number of 363 patients deceased and submitted to autopsy, incidence was 10.2%, higher in haemorrhagic primitive injuries (13.4%) in comparison with ischemic ones (4.9%). The nature of brainstem secondary injuries appears to be above all of haemorrhagic type and pons the favourite place. Such injuries are determined not only by compression but also by distorsion of brainstem.

[Transitory global amnesia]. / Amnesia globale transitoria.

The authors studied 18 cases of transient global amnesia, a syndrome occurring in middle age, characterized by a sudden memory loss of recent events and transient inability to acquire new knowledge, while consciousness and personal identity are preserved. Chemical and laboratory findings indicates that TGA is probably due to transient ischemia in the temporal lobe and hippocampus.

[Tolosa-Hunt syndrome. Observations in 11 cases]. / La sindrome di Tolosa-Hunt. Osservazioni su undici casi.

The authors report 11 cases of Tolosa-Hunt syndrome, a painful ophthalmoplegia due to an aspecific, benign, steroid-responsive inflammation of the cavernous sinus. Other causes of painful ophthalmoplegia, diagnostic findings and etiological hypothesis are discussed.