[Treatment with intravenous rt-PA in a general hospital context: A review of the Saint-Jean Hospital experience from Perpignan, France]. / Utilisation du rt-PA intraveineux dans l'ischémie cérébrale en Centre Hospitalier Général: l'expérience de l'Hôpital Saint-Jean de Perpignan.

INTRODUCTION: Intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) has approval for use despite of its authorization for treatment of ischemic stroke within the 3-hour time window in 2003, is rarely used in community hospital (CH). It therefore remains questionable if the positive results of the key studies conducted in specialized centers may be extended to community hospitals less specialized in the management of stroke. METHODS: We report the results of an observational cohort study including 39 patients treated with intravenous rt-Pa (according to the NINDS rt-PA stroke trail treatment protocol) at St Jean Hospital (Perpignan, France) between March 1, 2002 and August 31, 2005. Results are compared to those of the treated arm of the NINDS study. RESULTS: 1.2p.cent of ischemic stroke were treated with intravenous rt-Pa. Results are similar to those of the NINDS study: The outcome was favorable (modified Rankin score (mRS) with 0 or 1) for 44p.cent of the patients (as compared to 39p.cent in the NINDS study (X2 = 0.34; p = 0.5)) and there was no significant difference in term of death or outcome as assessed by mRS at 3 months (X2 = 0.09; p = 0.75 and X2 = 0.77; p = 0.75, respectively). No symptomatic hemmorrhagic transformation related to the use of rt-Pa was observed. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that rt-PA therapy for ischemic stroke may be as safe and effective in the setting of a community hospital as it is in specialized centers.

[Role of immunity in the development of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy: a report of three patients with type B lymphoma and humoral immunodeficiency and six others with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome]. / Rôle de l'immunité dans le développement de la leucoencéphalopathie multifocale progressive.

INTRODUCTION: Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) caused by JC virus (JCV) mostly occurs in different conditions of impaired cellular immunity like acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and rarely when humoral immunity is involved. PML remains unusual although there is a high prevalence of JCV among the population and immunosuppression is not rare because of chemotherapies. METHODS: We present two groups of patients: first, we studied reports of three patients suffering from lymphoma type B who developed a PML, proved by cerebral biopsy. The second group included six HIV-infected patients who developed a PML. No biopsy was made but MRI and the physical examination suggested strong arguments for the diagnosis. RESULTS: In the first group, PML was furthered by humoral immunosuppression (rate of immunoglobulin G under 4 g/l). Average survival was five months. In the second group, HIV-infected patients had a survival range from 2 to 58 months after the first PML symptoms and one of them is still alive. CONCLUSION: Humoral immunosuppression in lymphoma can contribute to the development of PML. PML prognosis is often severe but prolonged survivals were described. So it is necessary to restore a sufficient immunity level. But immunity failure may be insufficient to lead to PML. In the case of lymphomas, the role of malignant lymphocytes in multiplication and mutation of JCV might be an interesting pathophysiological hypothesis.

Acute aphasia in multiple sclerosis: A multicenter study of 22 patients.

Aphasia is usually considered to be rare in multiple sclerosis (MS). To determine the clinical and radiologic characteristics of MS patients with acute aphasia, the authors investigated data from 2,700 patients from three MS centers and found 22 patients with acute aphasia (0.81%). Aphasia was the first clinical manifestation of MS in eight patients (36%). Brain MRI showed giant plaques in eight cases (40%). A full recovery was observed in 14 patients (64%). Furthermore, acute aphasia did not appear to be a criterion for poor prognosis.

[Emergency neurology consultations in the university hospital setting: contribution of the neurologist to inpatient management]. / Consultations de neurologie en urgence dans un centre hospitalier universitaire: apport du neurologue dans la prise en charge du patient.

While outpatient management for chronic neurological diseases is well-established, the impact of inpatient neurological examination in emergency room and university hospital remain largely underestimated. We prospectively studied the role of the neurologist in patient management, in a primary care university hospital. Over a period of 12 months, we prospectively recorded the demographics of patients requiring examination in the emergency room, the initial suspected neurological diagnosis of the emergency room, the final diagnosis of the neurology team, and the patients' outcomes. For each patient, the time between admission, the call and the neurological examination were recorded. Neurological examinations were performed in 2220 patients in whom 75.6 p.100 were performed in the emergency room. These latter patients corresponded to 14 p.100 of all patients admitted in the emergency room. Of examined patients, 52 p.100 were male and mean age was 56.9 +/- 21 years. The time between admission and examination was 32 min. (+/- 36 min), irrespective of the day of the week, and depended on the suspected diagnosis: shorter in stroke and status epilepticus (p<0.05), and longer in loss of consciousness and vertigo (p<0.01). Forty-four percent of the examinations took place in the evening and night. The reasons for examinations were: stroke (28.3 p.100), epilepsy (17.7 p.100), headaches (8.4 p.100), loss of consciousness (7.9 p.100), cognitive dysfunctions (4.1 p.100), neuropathies (4 p.100) and miscellaneous (8.1 p.100). Neurological examinations modified neurological diagnosis and treatment in more than 86 p.100 of the patients. Following neurological examination, 17.2 p.100 of the patients were able to go home, while the rest were admitted to the stroke unit (27.2 p.100), the general neurological unit (27.3 p.100) or in other departments (28.3 p.100), of which intensive care unit (5.3 p.100) or neurosurgery (5.9 p.100). Emergency neurologic examination improves neurological diagnosis and has a positive impact both on treatment and, more globally, in patient management.