The relationship of serotonin to depression in Parkinson's disease

We have previously reported a correlation between depression in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and decreased concentrations of the cerebrospinal fluid content of the serotonin metabolite, 5-HIAA. To further examine this relationship, we repeated the study in a new cohort of patients while they remained on dopaminergic medications, conducted follow-up interviews and examinations in our original cohort, and conducted an open trial of the serotonin precursor, 5-hydroxytryptophan in a group of new patients with depression. We were again able to demonstrate a significant reduction in cerebrospinal 5-HIAA in depressed patients in comparison to controls and patients without depression. Demented patients with Parkinson's disease, particularly those with concurrent depression, had the lowest values of 5-HIAA. No new cases of depression occurred in our original cohort after 2 1/2 years of follow-up, and depression remitted following conventional or experimental treatment in four patients. Depression improved in six of the seven new patients following oral 5-hydroxytryptophan. Three of these patients allowed a repeat lumbar puncture, and the concentration of 5-HIAA increased following 5-hydroxytryptophan. These three studies support our hypothesis that depression in idiopathic Parkinson's disease is associated with a reduction in brain serotonin. However, it also suggests that other factors, biological or environmental, may be causal factors.     

Cognitive impairment after stroke: frequency, patterns, and relationship to functional abilities.

Cognitive function was examined in 227 patients three months after admission to hospital for ischaemic stroke, and in 240 stroke-free controls, using 17 scored items that assessed memory, orientation, verbal skills, visuospatial ability, abstract reasoning, and attentional skills. After adjusting for demographic factors with standardised residual scores in all subjects, the fifth percentile was used for controls as the criterion for failure on each item. The mean (SD) number of failed items was 3.4 (3.6) for patients with stroke and 0.8 (1.3) for controls (p < 0.001). Cognitive impairment, defined as failure on any four or more items, occurred in 35.2% of patients with stroke and 3.8% of controls (p < 0.001). Cognitive domains most likely to be defective in stroke compared with control subjects were memory, orientation, language, and attention. Among patients with stroke, cognitive impairment was most frequently associated with major cortical syndromes and with infarctions in the left anterior and posterior cerebral artery territories. Functional impairment was greater with cognitive impairment, and dependent living after discharge either at home or nursing home was more likely (55.0% with, v 32.7% without cognitive impairment, p = 0.001). In a logistic model examining the risks related to dependent living after stroke, cognitive impairment was a significant independent correlate (odds ratio, OR = 2.4), after adjusting for age (OR = 5.2, 80 + v 60-70 years) and physical impairment (OR = 3.7, Barthel index < or = 40 v > 40). It is concluded that cognitive impairment occurs frequently after stroke, commonly involving memory, orientation, language, and attention. The presence of cognitive impairment in patients with strike has important functional consequences, independent of the effects of physical impairment. Studies of stroke outcome and intervention should take into account both cognitive and physical impairments.     

Surgical strategies for treatment of giant or large intracranial aneurysms: our experience with 139 cases.

Giant or large intracranial aneurysms are the vascular neurosurgeon's greatest challenge. At our department, we have treated one hundred and thirty nine patients with giant or large intracranial aneurysms between 1975 and 2001. These included 37 partially thrombosed giant aneurysms. 75 aneurysms were giant (> 2.5 cm) and 64 were large aneurysms (2-2.5 cm). Three-dimensional computed tomography angiograms were performed in patients besides MRI angiography and digital subtraction angiography. These were found to be very valuable in the preoperative assessment of surgical anatomy of the aneurysm with respect to the branch arteries and perforators origin besides knowing the relations to the skull base. With our experience in surgical treatment of these 139 cases, we find that the basic technique is trapping and evacuation and not just clipping of the aneurysm neck but also reconstruction of the artery bearing the aneurysm, especially with wide-necked aneurysms. Use of multiple clipping, tandem clipping or dome clipping as per the intraoperative situation, is very helpful in dealing with giant aneurysms as also is the use of different types of clips like fenestrated clip with straight clip (combination clipping), booster clip, dome clips etc. While selecting surgical strategy for partially thrombosed giant aneurysm, securing the neck is most important. If the neck is too narrow to reconstruct, aneurysmectomy with anastomosis is one of the surgical strategies. An extracranial intracranial bypass should be considered in cases where clipping or parent artery ligation is expected to be associated with compromise of cerebral circulation.     

ENDOSCOPIC MUCOSAL RESECTION AND SUBMUCOSAL DISSECTION METHOD FOR LARGE COLORECTAL TUMORS

The goal of endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) is to allow the endoscopist to obtain tissue or resect lesions not previously amenable to standard biopsy or excisional techniques and to remove malignant lesions without open surgery. In this article, we describe the results of conventional EMR and EMR using an insulation‐tipped (IT) electrosurgical knife (submucosal dissection method) for large colorectal mucosal neoplasms and discuss the problems and future prospects of these procedures. At present, conventional EMR is much more feasible than EMR using IT‐knife from the perspectives of time, money, complication, and organ preservation. However, larger lesions tend to be resected in a piecemeal fashion; and it is difficult to confirm whether EMR has been complete. For accurate histopathological assessment of the resected specimen en bloc EMR is desirable although further experience is needed to establish its safety and efficacy. Further improvements of in EMR with special knife techniques are required to simply and safely remove large colorectal neoplasms.     

A case of surgical excision of intracerebral cavernous angioma in a patient with thrombasthenia

A case of thrombasthenia (Glanzmann) associated with an intracerebral cavernous angioma in a 32-year-old woman is reported. Since her childhood, the patient had experienced a tendency to develop purpura following minor trauma. But she had not had major bleeding even during pregnancy and delivery. On April 4, 1987, she presented generalized convulsion. A high density mass in the right temporal lobe was demonstrated with CT scan. Carotid angiogram was normal except that the right anterior choroidal artery was stretched. Inhomogeneous signal intensities in T1- and T2-weighted MRI images were seen in the tumor locus. The clinical diagnosis was cavernous angioma which was complicated with intracerebral hemorrhage. The patient had a disorder of platelet function without thrombocytopenia. Her bleeding time was markedly prolonged. Because of this, we did not try surgical excision at first. During the 13-month observation period, however, intracerebral bleeding occurred 5 times. We decided to operate on the patient using fresh blood and platelet transfusion. The postoperative course was uneventful and pathological diagnosis confirmed cavernous angioma. We would like to emphasize possible pitfalls in treating cases of intracerebral angioma with thrombasthenia.     

Small Cell Carcinoma of the Prostate: A Case Report

A case of small cell carcinoma of the prostate without a primary lesion in the lung was reported. The cancer was diagnosed after the patient complained of lumbago caused by bone metastasis. The tumor was 5.9 times 5.0 times 4.6cm. The patient was treated with 4 courses of chemotherapy using cisplatin and etoposide. The tumor diminished to 4.0 times 4.0 times 3.5 cm after completion of the 4 courses of treatment. Prostatic antigen levels were less than 1.0ng/mL during the therapy. Neuron-specific enolase levels were 35.9ng/mL at the beginning of therapy, and decreased to 7.4 ng/mL after completion of 4 courses of treatment. The patient died 3 months after the completion of treatment. This regimen had some value for inhibiting the growth of small cell carcinoma.     

AMP deaminase activity of skeletal muscle in neuromuscular disorders in childhood. Histochemical and biochemical studies

We studied the histochemical staining and biochemical activity of AMP deaminase in biopsied muscle in Becker-type muscular dystrophy (BMD), Fukuyama-type congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD), Duchenne-type muscular dystrophy (DMD), Werdnig-Hoffmann disease (WH) in order to elucidate the change of AMP deaminase activity in muscle with neuromuscular disorders in childhood. The intensity of AMP deaminase staining did not decrease in BMD with mild pathologic change, but in DMD, FCMD and WH it decreased in parallel with the severity of the pathologic change. The biochemical activity of AMP deaminase did not decrease in muscle with mild pathologic change in patients with DMD and tended to decrease according to the progress of the disease. The activity of AMP deaminase in muscle of patients with FCMD and WH which showed severe pathologic change was remarkably low. It was demonstrated that the decrease in the activity of AMP deaminase was related to the intensity of pathologic change rather than diagnosis of a neuromuscular disorder.