Behavioral neurology of multi-infarct dementia

Multi-infarct dementia (MID) is a heterogeneous entity in which a variety of cerebrovascular disorders leads to intellectual impairment. A variety of patterns of behavioral changes may be observed in MID, depression, psychosis, and personality change are common. The neurobehavioral syndromes of MID are determined by the specific arteries involved and the location and extent of tissue infarction.     

Chronic hiccups

Patients with chronic hiccups should be carefully examined for an underlying disorder while receiving symptomatic treatment. Treatment includes physical maneuvers, drugs such as chlorpromazine, metoclopramide, anticonvulsants or quinidine, and other, less tested modalities such as hypnosis. Only those patients with disabling hiccups that do not respond to conservative treatment should be considered for phrenic nerve surgery.     

Three different pathogenic mechanisms for paraparesis in association with bacterial infections

Three different pathogenic mechanisms are apparent for paraparesis in association with a bacterial infection: a spinal cord compression caused by either an epidural abscess or a vertebral collapse due to spondylitis, an ischaemic spinal cord lesion as a result of septic thromboembolus in abdominal aorta, and a nonspecific, probably immunological, cause in association with reactive polyarthritis. An example of each of these mechanisms is described by means of case histories.     

Diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma of the thoracic spine--differential diagnostic difficulties

Spinal Ewing's sarcomas are rare and cause problems in differential diagnosis. The radiologic, nuclear medicine and CT findings in two children with histologically proven Ewing's sarcoma are presented and problems in differential diagnosis discussed. Biopsy should be done early.