Neurology Research International最新文献

Introduction: Guillain-Barre syndrome is the most common cause of acute flaccid paralysis in the adult population. It occurs at the rate of 0.34 to 4 per 100000 individuals. This study was conducted to determine the clinicoepidemiological profile and outcome of the patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Materials and methods: We conducted a retrospective study of patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome, presented at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, a tertiary care centre in eastern Nepal, from January 2013 to December 2017. All patients diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome were included in this study. The handwritten case record files of the study population were retrieved from medical record section of the institute.

Results: Of 31 patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome, the mean age of patients was 17±12 years. The most common presenting symptom of study population was ascending paralysis (93.5%). Respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation occurred in 16.1%. The common variants are AIDP and AMAN. Respiratory tract infection (29%) was the most common antecedent event. The in-hospital mortality of Guillain-Barre syndrome was 6.45%.

Conclusion: Guillain-Barre syndrome is commonly seen in the young population. The most common symptom of Guillain-Barre syndrome was ascending paralysis. The in-hospital mortality rate of patients with GBS was 6.45%.

Introduction: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most common types of anxiety disorder in epilepsy population, comprising 21.9%, that would further impair patients' quality of life. Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) is the only screening tool for GAD that has been validated in patients with epilepsy (PWE). It is a self-reporting instrument that can be completed in less than three minutes; hence, its usage is appropriate in primary healthcare and neurology outpatient clinic. This study aimed to obtain a valid and reliable Indonesian version of GAD-7, assess its accuracy, and finally evaluate the prevalence of GAD in Indonesian PWE along with its contributing factors.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, Jakarta. The GAD-7 was translated and adapted using World Health Organization (WHO) steps. Validity, reliability, test-retest reliability, and diagnostic accuracy were evaluated. Then, epilepsy outpatients were screened for GAD using the Indonesian version of GAD-7.

Results: Internal validity and reliability for Indonesian version of GAD-7 were satisfactory with validity coefficient of 0.648 to 0.800 (p<0.01) and Cronbach's alpha value of 0.867. The best cutoff value to detect GAD in Indonesian PWE was >6 with the sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value of 100%, 84.4%, 100%, and 55.8%, respectively. ROC analysis showed the area under the curve of 0.98 (95% CI: 0.96-0.99). The total subjects screened with the validated Indonesian version of GAD-7 were 146, and 49% were screened as having GAD. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics had no statistically significant association with the presence of GAD.

Conclusion: The Indonesian version of GAD-7 was a valuable screening tool to detect GAD in PWE. GAD was screened in a quite high proportion of PWE. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were not proven to play role in its development.

Introduction: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) can affect cognitive function that might interfere with quality of life. Processing speed and memory are the most common area of cognitive impairment. Cognitive evaluation in daily practice is often difficult to be performed since it needs neuropsychological expert and is time-consuming. Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS) is valid and practical for cognitive evaluation. This study aims to validate BICAMS in Indonesian MS patients and healthy controls (HC) and to analyse the effect of cognitive impairment on quality of life.

Methods: BICAMS, which composes Symbol Digits Modalities Test (SDMT), California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition (CVLT-II), and Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R), was translated and cross-culturally adapted to Indonesian from the original BICAMS and then administered to 40 Indonesian MS patients and 66 HC matched by sex, age, and education. Test-retest reliability was performed on 16-MS patients and 42 HC. Quality of life was measured using Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life (MSQOL-54) instrument.

Results: The SDMT, CVLT-II, and BVMT-R score in MS patients were significantly lower than those in HC (effect size, r: 0.61, 0.36, and 0.47, respectively). Test-retest reliability for all tests was satisfactory with correlation coefficient for SDMT, CVLT-II, and BVMT-R in MS subjects 0.86, 0.81, and 0.83, respectively. Using 5th percentile of HC score as cut-off, 15% MS subjects had impairment in one test, 27.5% in two tests, and 40% in three tests. BICAMS was moderately correlated with EDSS but was not correlated with disease duration and relapse rate. SDMT score correlated with physical function and physical and mental role limitation.

Conclusion: BICAMS is valid and reliable for assessing cognitive function of Indonesia MS patients.

To determine the prevalence, clinical profile, causes, and mortality risk factors of spontaneous arachnoid haemorrhage at Yalgado Ouedraogo University teaching Hospital, we conducted a 5-year retrospective study of 1803 stroke patients admitted to Neurology Department during the period from January 2012 to December 2016. During the study period, spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage accounted for 3.2 % of all stroke. The mean age of patients was 60 years (range 20-93 years). There was a female predominance in 55.9%. The common vascular risk factors were hypertension (79.7%) and chronic alcohol consumption (16.9%). The main symptoms were headache (76.2%), motor weakness (74.5%), and consciousness disorders (62.7%). Neurological examination revealed limb weakness in 76.2% and meningeal irritation in 47.4%. The best admission Glasgow Coma Scale score of 15 was found only in 37.3 % of patients. About 50.8% of patients were admitted to Hunt and Hess moderate grade (III) resulting in a mortality of 24.80%. The main cause of spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage was hypertension (77.9%). Cause could not be determined in 8.5 % of cases. The mortality rate was 37.3%. There was high mortality in patients with intraventricular haemorrhage and in patients with disturbances of consciousness. In conclusion, our study showed a poor frequency of spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage with high mortality. Hypertension was the most common cause of spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Background: Paroxysmal dyskinesias (PxD) are a group of heterogeneous disorders characterized by intermittent episodes of involuntary movements. PxD include paroxysmal kinesigenic (PKD), nonkinesigenic (PNK), and exercise-induced (PED) varieties.

Objectives: To define the phenotype of primary and secondary PxD forms.

Methods: Twenty-two patients with PxD (9 men/13 women) were evaluated in two hospitals in south-west Castilla y Leon, Spain. Clinical features of the episodes, causes, family history, and response to treatment were collected.

Results: Thirteen participants with primary PxD (6 men/7 women) and 9 with secondary PxD (3 men/6 women) were recruited. Nine patients belong to three nonrelated families (2 had PKD and 1 had PED). Mean age at onset in primary PKD cases was 10 years (range 5-23 years), earlier than in PNKD (24 years) and PED (20 years). Most primary PKD cases experienced daily episodes of duration <1 minute, which are more frequent and shorter attacks than in PNKD (1-2 per month, 5 minutes) and PED (1 per day, 15 minutes). The location of the involuntary movements varied widely; isolated dystonia was more common than mixed chorea and dystonia. All PKD patients who received antiepileptic treatment significantly improved. Levodopa and ketogenic diet proved to be effective in two patients with PED. Secondary forms presented a later mean age of onset (51 years). Six cases had PNKD, 1 had PKD, 1 both PNKD and PKD, and 1 had PED. Causes comprised vascular lesions, encephalitis, multiple sclerosis, peripheral trauma, endocrinopathies, and drugs such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

Conclusion: The knowledge of the clinical features and spectrum of causes related to PxD is crucial to avoid delays in diagnosis and treatment, or even a nonorganic disorder diagnosis.

Functional MRI (fMRI) has emerged as a safe alternative to invasive procedures for determining hemispheric language dominance prior to neurosurgery. Despite this, there are currently no standardized fMRI protocols that have been explored in healthy controls to determine the influence of individual patient variables on the results, which poses challenges in clinical interpretation of ambiguous findings in patient populations. In addition, most fMRI protocols are not suitable for individuals with visual or intellectual disabilities (IQ<70). In the current study, 61 healthy adults (ages: 18-74 years) completed two fMRI paradigms for language mapping. One paradigm used visually based stimuli and has shown good face validity to date in our center. The second paradigm used auditory stimuli presented at slowed speed and was designed for individuals with visual or cognitive dysfunction but has not yet been used clinically. The paradigms demonstrated 97% agreement in classifying individuals as left-hemisphere, right-hemisphere, and bilaterally dominant. Cases that were classified differently showed bilateral dominance in response to either paradigm. Dominance classification rates for right- and left-handed individuals were largely in keeping with published data. Within the left-handed group, IQ and education were positively correlated with laterality indices generated by both paradigms (r values range: 0.44-0.95, p<0.01), suggesting that individuals with higher IQ and formal education were more likely to be classified as left-hemisphere dominant in the current sample. This study will help improve clinical interpretation of language fMRI maps by identifying factors that might impact results (like IQ). It also offers an alternative paradigm to make this procedure more accessible to a broader range of patients. Future studies will replicate results with a sample of patients with epilepsy across a broad range of intellectual abilities.

Presymptomatic genetic testing (PGT) for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is available for at-risk individuals. This study aimed to investigate the public perception of PGT in Saudi Arabia and determine variables that might influence the decision to undergo PGT. A questionnaire link was posted on Twitter by the Saudi Alzheimer's Disease Association and was made publicly available on social media networks. A total of 2935 people participated, of which 59.9% were willing to undergo PGT. Of these, 26.8% reported having a family history of AD, and 0.24% had two family members with early onset AD. The reasons cited for willingness to undergo PGT included the following: to adopt a healthier lifestyle, to ensure appropriate family and financial planning, to seek early treatment, and to relieve anxiety. In multiple logistic regression analysis, willingness to undergo PGT was negatively associated with having a self-reported family history of dementia (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.68-0.96) and was positively associated with marital status (OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.13-1.70). In conclusion, PGT for AD seems to be well accepted in this large Saudi cohort. The reasons cited are similar to those reported elsewhere in the literature.