Project description:BackgroundTreatment options for chronic osmotic demyelination syndrome are limited to case reports and only a very few show complete recovery. We report a case of complete recovery of chronic osmotic demyelination syndrome with plasmapheresis.Case presentationA 43-year-old Sri Lankan man presented with fever, repeated vomiting, unsteady gait, increased tonicity of his right upper limb and paucity of speech for three days. He was treated in the local hospital with antibiotics and antivirals as per central nervous system infection. He had hyponatraemia, which was rapidly corrected with hypertonic saline from 97 to 119 mmol/L. He was transferred to our hospital because of progressive reduction of consciousness, rapidly worsening rigidity and bradykinesia of all four limbs and worsening dysarthria and bradyphrenia. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain was compatible with osmotic demyelination syndrome. He was commenced on plasmapheresis twenty-two days after rapid correction of sodium. He regained independent mobility with complete resolution of rigidity, bradykinesia and speech dysfunction after five cycles of alternate day plasmapheresis.ConclusionPlasmapheresis can be considered as an effective treatment modality in chronic osmotic demyelination syndrome.
Project description:ObjectiveTo investigate the etiology, clinical as well as neuroimaging characteristics, and outcomes after proper treatment in a series of 18 patients with osmotic demyelination syndrome.MethodsMedical records, including video records, of 18 patients with osmotic demyelination syndrome were retrospectively examined. Demographic and clinical information, imaging results, plans of management, and outcomes during the follow-up period were collected and analyzed.ResultsEighteen patients, including 10 males and 8 females, were included in the present study. The mean age at diagnosis of CNS insult was 47.4 ± 13.3 years (ranged from 30 to 78 years). Etiologies included rapidly corrected hyponatremia (50%), alcoholism (27.8%), and others. Neurological manifestations included encephalopathy (61.1%), dysphonia (50%), extrapyramidal symptoms (38.9%), and seizures (22.2%). Neuroimaging results showed that 6 patients (33.3%) had central pontine myelinolysis, 5 (27.8%) had extrapontine myelinolysis, and 7 (38.9%) had both. After treatment, 12 patients showed improvement and the other 6 did not. Among these patients, those who showed symptoms of encephalopathy had a favorable outcome. The majority of those who presented with mental retardation, seizures, and no other symptoms recovered better than their counterparts who had other symptoms. Nine out of 11 patients with pseudobulbar paralysis and/or extrapyramidal symptoms showed improvement, but the other 2 did not show improvement. Five patients who did not improve after treatment during admission were followed up for 1-3 months with rehabilitation training recommended, and it was found that 3 showed significant improvement after training, and the other 2 did not respond to this training.ConclusionsOsmotic demyelination syndrome is a complex disease entity due to a variety of etiologies, manifesting with symptoms involving diverse systems of the brain. Early identification and removal/correction of conditions leading to osmotic demyelination syndrome are the key to prevent and/or manage this disease.
Project description:BackgroundThe pathogenesis of osmotic demyelination syndrome is not completely understood and usually occurs with severe and prolonged hyponatremia, particularly with rapid correction. It can occur even in normonatremic patients, especially who have risk factors like alcoholism, malnutrition and liver disease. Bilateral tongue fasciculations with denervation pattern in electromyogram is a manifestation of damage to the hypoglossal nucleus or hypoglossal nerves. Tongue fasciculations were reported rarely in some cases of osmotic demyelination syndrome, but the exact mechanism is not explained.Case presentationA 32-year-old Sri Lankan male, with a history of daily alcohol consumption and binge drinking, presented with progressive difficulty in walking, dysphagia, dysarthria and drooling of saliva and alteration of consciousness. On examination he was akinetic and rigid resembling Parkinsonism with a positive Babinski sign. Clinical features were diagnostic of osmotic demyelination syndrome and MRI showed abnormal signal intensity within the central pons and basal ganglia. He also had tongue fasciculations. The electromyogram showed denervation pattern in the tongue with normal findings in the limbs. Medulla and bilateral hypoglossal nerves were normal in MRI.ConclusionWe were unable to explain the exact mechanism for the denervation of the tongue, which resulted in fasciculations in this chronic alcoholic patient who developed osmotic demyelination syndrome. The hypoglossal nuclei are located in the dorsal medulla and radiologically undetected myelinolysis of the medulla is a possibility. Hypoglossal nerve damage caused by methanol or other toxic substances that can contaminate regular ethyl alcohol is another possibility, as it is known to cause neurological and radiological features similar to osmotic demyelination syndrome with long-term exposure. So these toxic substances might play a role in chronic alcoholic patients with central pontine myelinolysis.
Project description:Abrupt osmotic changes during rapid correction of chronic hyponatremia result in demyelinative brain lesions, but the sequence of events linking rapid osmotic changes to myelin loss is not yet understood. Here, in a rat model of osmotic demyelination syndrome, we found that massive astrocyte death occurred after rapid correction of hyponatremia, delineating the regions of future myelin loss. Astrocyte death caused a disruption of the astrocyte-oligodendrocyte network, rapidly upregulated inflammatory cytokines genes, and increased serum S100B, which predicted clinical manifestations and outcome of osmotic demyelination. These results support a model for the pathophysiology of osmotic brain injury in which rapid correction of hyponatremia triggers apoptosis in astrocytes followed by a loss of trophic communication between astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, secondary inflammation, microglial activation, and finally demyelination.
Project description:The three approved cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors, including abemaciclib, have shown differences in their preclinical, pharmacological, and clinical data. Abemaciclib stands out for its broader target range and more rapid and intense activity. It has demonstrated efficacy as a monotherapy or in combination with tamoxifen in endocrine-refractory metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients with prior chemotherapy. However, the clinical data on abemaciclib after exposure to previous CDK4/6 inhibitors are limited. In this single-center retrospective case series, we identified all patients who received abemaciclib until February 2022 after experiencing documented progression on palbociclib or ribociclib. The safety profile and clinical outcomes of abemaciclib treatment in this specific patient cohort were evaluated. Eleven patients were included in this retrospective case series, nine receiving abemaciclib with tamoxifen. Eight patients had visceral involvement, and the median age was 69 (ranging from 42 to 84). The median time from the end of prior CDK4/6 inhibitor treatment to abemaciclib initiation was 17.5 months (ranging from 3 to 41 months). Patients had undergone a median of three prior therapies (ranging from 1 to 7), including chemotherapy in 54.5% of cases. The median follow-up time was six months (ranging from 1 to 22 months). The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 8 months (95% CI 3.9-12). Five patients continued abemaciclib treatment, and one patient with liver metastases achieved a complete hepatic response. The most common adverse events were diarrhea (72.7%, no grade ≥ 3) and asthenia (27.3%, no grade ≥ 3). Our preliminary findings suggest that abemaciclib could be an effective and safe treatment option for MBC patients who have previously received palbociclib or ribociclib.
Project description:Osmotic demyelination syndrome (ODS) is characterized by loss of myelin in various parts of the central nervous system. It is mainly caused by a rapid correction of hyponatremia, although other factors that may cause rapid rise in serum osmolality can also be associated with its development. Its prognosis is poor and the recovery rate is unknown. The authors report a rare case of a patient with multiple risk factors for ODS, without hyponatremia, who developed ODS and surprisingly recovered. This case report highlights the importance of recognizing risk factors for the development of ODS, even if the main one is not present.
Project description:Rapid correction of chronic hyponatremia can lead to osmotic demyelination syndrome (ODS), a severe demyelination disease. The microglia that accumulate in the demyelinative lesions may play a detrimental role in the pathogenesis of ODS by producing proinflammatory cytokines, suggesting that they may be a target for therapeutic intervention. Here, we investigated whether minocycline, a selective and potent inhibitor of microglial activation, could protect against ODS in rats. We induced hyponatremia by liquid diet feeding and dDAVP infusion. Rapid correction of the hyponatremia 7 days later resulted in neurologic impairment with severe demyelinative lesions. Activated microglia accumulated at the site of demyelination. Treatment with minocycline within 24 hours of rapid correction, however, was protective: rats exhibited minimal neurologic impairment, and survival improved. Histologic analysis showed that minocycline inhibited demyelination and suppressed the accumulation of microglia at the site of demyelination. Real-time RT-PCR and immunohistochemical analyses showed that minocycline inhibited the activity of microglia and the expression of inflammatory cytokines (e.g. IL-1β, inducible nitric-oxide synthase, and TNF-α), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and matrix metalloproteinase-12 in microglia. These results demonstrate that minocycline can protect against ODS by inhibiting the activation and accumulation of microglia at the site of demyelinative lesions, suggesting its possible use in clinical practice.
Project description:Jaw clonus, a fascinating, yet uncommon clinical sign, is suggestive of supranuclear lesions of the trigeminal nerve. It has previously been reported in association with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Hereby, we report an index case of jaw clonus in a patient of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder with subsequent osmotic demyelination syndrome with pseudobulbar palsy due to the involvement of pontine corticobulbar fibres.
Project description:BackgroundThe purpose of the study was to analyze and discuss the demographic, clinical, radiological, therapeutic and postoperative findings of the Cervico-mediastinal goiters (CMG) treated through a cervical approach admitted in the ENT department of Ibn Rochd university hospital, Casablanca, Morocco between January 2014 and January 2020.Materiels and methodsOver a period of 6 years, 116 patients underwent surgical treatment for CMG. It was defined as a goiter extending below the plane of superior thoracic aperture on CT scan. All our patients had clinical, biological and radiological assessment before surgery. A nasofibroscopy was carried out pre and postoperatively. All the CMG have been extracted trough a cervical approach by an experimented ENT surgeon.Results84,48% of the CMG was diving into the anterior mediastinum and 15.52% into the posterior. The CMGs extended above, at, and below the level of the aortic arch respectively in 76.72%, 18.10% and 5.17% of the patients. All of 116 goiters were successfully removed through a cervical approach. No patient required a sternotomy. Postoperatively, vocal cord paralysis was transient in 3 patients (2.58%) and permanent in 2 patients (1.72%). Hypocalcemia was transient in 10 patients (8.62%) and permanent in 2 patients (1.72%). Final histology found 106 benign multinodular goiters (91.37%), 7 papillary carcinomas (6.03%) and 3 vesicular carcinomas (2.58%). No death was noted.ConclusionsWith expertise in thyroid surgery, cervical approach for CMGs is safe and sufficient in the majority of the cases with low morbidity rate and no mortality.
Project description:BackgroundIn the year 1724, Hermann Boerhaave reported a case of a Dutch admiral who died due to spontaneous rupture of the esophagus following vomiting. The aim of this retrospective study is to analyze the therapeutic modality, morbidity and mortaliy of a group of patients with spontaneous esophageal rupture treated in our hospital.MethodsTen patients were treated from March 1990 to August 2016. Seven patients were males and three were females. The age range was, 52-72 years, with an average of 66.2 years. In four patients, the diagnosis and posterior treatment were performed within 24 h (Group I) and the remaining six patients after 24 h (Group II).ResultsThe mean hospital stay was 36.6 days (range 17-62 days). The mortality rate was 50%, which was due to septic shock and the morbidity of patients who survived was 40% due to pneumonia in one case and fistula in another.DiscussionsThis condition has a high mortality rate with a lethality that depends on the time between recognition of symptoms and proper surgical treatment.