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C Vilela

Publications and source records attributed to C Vilela.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
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[P300 and neuropsychological tests in schizophrenia and bipolar patients].

INTRODUCTION: A smaller P300 amplitude has been found in schizophrenic patients in the majority of the studies done. And this occur in spite of treatment, sex, clinical stage and evolution time of the illness. It has been already described an association between this amplitude reduction and a poor result on the neuropsychological tests. But these changes in the P300 amplitude are not specific of the schizophrenic patients and they can be found in affective patients. OBJECTIVES: This study try to value the influence of the clinical stage and the cognitive results on the P300 values in the bipolar patients and to compare these results with the schizophrenic patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: It has been evaluated the evoked potentials and the results of a neuropsychological battery of tests in three patient groups: schizophrenics in patients with acute symptomatology (n = 18), schizophrenic out patients without acute symptomatology (n = 15) and bipolar in patients during a maniac period (n = 16). RESULTS: It has not been found any differences between schizophrenic and maniac patients nor in the amplitude or in the latency of the P300. The results of the neuropsychological tests have not any relation with P300 amplitude and latency except for the verbal fluidity (VF) which has a good correlation with a longer P300 latency. At the same time this was the only test in which schizophrenic patients have smaller results than affective patients with a good correlation. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest a similar pattern of neuropsychological and neurophysiological damage in schizophrenic and affective patients in acute period of mania.

Adult↗
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[The electroretinogram and visual evoked potentials in patients with Parkinson's disease].

Whether Parkinson's disease patients have been shown to have abnormal visual evoked cortical potentials (VEPs) to flash and pattern stimulation or not, is a matter widely discussed. Actually it is said that this variability may be due to the stimulus method used and how the patients were selected. The retina is rich in dopamine and together with previous animal and human studies, this suggests that the abnormal VEPs in Parkinson's disease patients may be due to a biochemical and electrophysiological disorder in the retina. This hypothesis has been examined by studying the flash VEPs, pattern VEPs and with light electroretinogram in 29 Parkinson's disease patients and matched control subjects. We have found: a) Slower FVEPs and PEVPs latencies in Parkinson disease patients. Flash VEPS were more frequently abnormal than pattern VEPs. We have only found a significant relationship between slow flash VEPs and the patient age. b) Electroretinograms waves (a) and (b) amplitudes were smaller in Parkinson disease patients than in control subjects. b/a coefficient abnormal values must be due basically to wave (a) alterations. These values are statistically significant with respect to the number of years of L-Dopa in the evaluative stage and the evolutive stage of the illness. For all these reasons, we can deduce that an anomaly exists in the dopaminergic pathway in the retina, localized in the plexiform layer and neurophysiologically detectable by a study of the wave variations of the ERG and of the b/a coefficient.

Adult↗
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[Primary cancer of the gallbladder].

The records of 60 patients with gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) operatively treated between 1966 and 1993 at Belen Hospital, Trujillo, Perú, were retrospectively reviewed. The ratio of men to women was 1:7.5 and the average of age was 61 years. The accuracy of ultrasonography and oral cholecystograms for the specific diagnosis was 21% and 0% respectively. The surgical procedures employed were simple cholecystectomy (n = 56), right hepatectomy (n = 2). Whipple operation (n = 1) and extended cholecystectomy (n = 1), and our resectability rate for GBC is currently 50%. Simple cholecystectomy was a potentially curative surgical procedure in patients with in situ cancer (stage O) and early GBC (stage 1). In hospital mortality was 11.6% and 5-year survival rate for the total series was 15%. Gallstones were present in 95% of patients and most tumors (58%) had grown by diffuse infiltration or were associated with empyema (38%). Tumor stage, depth of invasion, tumor grade histologic type were all predictive of patient outcome. This report reinforces the difficulty in diagnosis and the poor prognosis for patients with GBC. We hold the view that more radical approaches for invasive cancers will enhance the operative results.

Adult↗