Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D Boisson.
The increasing prevalence of traumatic brain injury is becoming an enormous problem for health care. Reports about social and vocational outcome are becoming more abundant. At the same time, a better evaluation of the neuropsychological outcome of brain-injured patients, essential for realistic functional treatment in rehabilitation, is developing.
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The timing of mentally executed movements was measured in ten patients with hemiplegia, tetraplegia and paraplegia. In hemiplegic patients a significant difference in mental duration times was found between the paralysed and the normal "represented limb". The paralysed limb was mentally much slower than the healthy one. In contrast, movement times in tetraplegic and paraplegic patients did not differ from those in normal subjects. All patients reported a sensation of subjective effort accompanying the execution of the mental tasks. These observations are compatible with an outflow processing underlying motor imagery.
A multi-centre, double-blind study was carried out in 100 patients suffering from chronic spasticity due to multiple sclerosis to compare the effectiveness of tizanidine hydrochloride with that of baclofen. Patients were allocated at random to receive treatment initially with daily doses of either 6 mg tizanidine or 15 mg baclofen and the dose was increased during the first 2 weeks up to a maximum of 24 mg tizanidine or 60 mg baclofen per day. Patients were then treated with the optimum dose for 6 weeks. Efficacy and tolerability parameters were evaluated after 2 and 8 weeks. Tizanidine and baclofen improved the functional status of patients in 80% and 76% of cases, respectively, but there were no significant differences between the two drugs. The antispastic efficacy of tizanidine was greater after 8 weeks than after 2 weeks, whereas the efficacy of baclofen decreased slightly with time. Both drugs showed good overall tolerability in more than 60% of patients. Thus, tizanidine is a well tolerated and effective muscle relaxant, the antispastic efficacy of which is well maintained over time, and it promises to be particularly useful in the treatment of spasticity due to multiple sclerosis.
A 31 year-old patient suffered from a subacute and major dementia, sixty months after whole brain irradiation with 54 grays for a pinealoma. Clinical features and biological investigations led to a diagnosis of hypothalamic insufficiency. A dramatic clinical recovery followed therapy with hydrocortisone and thyroxine. An hypothalamic radionecrosis and a vascular mechanism are presumed.
SPR in the DREZ, which was introduced in 1972 by the senior author on the bases of anatomical studies in humans, selectively interrupts the (lateral) nociceptive and the (central) myotatic fibers, while sparing the (medial) lemniscal fibers. In addition it enhances the inhibitory mechanisms of the Lissauer's tract and dorsal horn. The procedure was effective--with a follow-up ranging from 1 to 14 years--in 93% of the paraplegic patients with flexion-adduction postures (50 cases) or severe hyperextension (3 cases) and in 89% of the hemiplegic patients with irreducible flexion of the upper extremity (23 cases) or lower limb (5 cases).
The authors report a series of 16 hemiplegic patients suffering from harmful spasticity in the upper limb and treated with selective posterior rhizotomy (SPR) in the dorsal root entry zone (DREZ). This severe spasticity was associated with irreducible abnormal postures in flexion in 11 cases and painful manifestations in 12. The method was introduced in 1972 on the basis of anatomical studies of the DREZ in humans, in which a topographical segregation of the root afferents, according to their anatomicofunctional destinations, has been shown. It consists of a DREZ microsurgical lesion 1 to 2 mm in depth and directed at a 45 degree angle, performed ventrolaterally in the posterolateral sulcus of the spinal cord and into the internal part of the Lissauer's tract. The procedure is carried out in each rootlet of the posterior roots considered to be responsible for the harmful spasticity. SPR interrupts selectively the (lateral) nociceptive and (central) myotactic afferent fibers connecting the motor neurons, while sparing most of the (medial) lemniscal fibers and the inhibitory circuitry of Lissauer's tract and the dorsal horn. The results were evaluated after a 1- to 12-year follow-up. There were no deaths and no general complications; in 1 case a loss of motility in the leg ipsilateral to the procedure occurred. The excess of spasticity was slightly diminished (2 cases), markedly reduced (9 cases), or totally abolished (5 cases), making possible an improvement in voluntary movements in 8 patients and at least a good passive mobilization in 7 further cases. In 1 case only, a marked tendency for spasticity to return was observed. Of the 12 patients with painful manifestations, 9 were completely relieved and 3 improved. These beneficial effects on both spasticity and pain led to a gain in functional status in 93% of cases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A 47 year-old male was found in coma and upon awakening 36 hours later, he showed a selective paralysis of downward gaze and convergence associated to an intellectual impairment. He was euphoric, unconcerned, poorly attentive, and had a severe amnesia for both anterograde and retrograde material. CT scan and NMR demonstrated a bilateral lacunar lesion of thalamic and subthalamic paramedian region. Over the 5 years follow-up, behavioral, personality and amnestic changes remained. On the other hand, supranuclear gaze paralysis improved as documented by EOG recordings with persisting limitations in voluntary down movements amplitude and dramatic reduction of fast components velocity.
A 68 year-old man with a history of right thalamic hemorrhage demonstrated radiologically in the pulvinar and posterior portion of the dorsomedian nucleus developed a clinical picture of severe physical sequelae associated with major affective, behavioral and psychic disorders. Affective manifestations were a permanent anxiety-depression state contrasting with indifference to his surroundings. Behavioral changes included marked apathy, inertness and hypersomnia, together with occasional clastic agitated episodes and verbal and gestural stereotypies and soliloquies. Psychic sequelae were psychotic in nature: depersonalization crises, delusions of persecution, multisensorial hallucinations and absurd acts.
31 control subjects and 14 patients with dorso-lumbar spinal cord lesions were studied using the spEP (spinal evoked response). The presented responses were recorded by subcutaneous needle electrodes following stimulation of the peroneal nerve. Results from control subjects are presented first (triphasic negative potential, latency increasing with level of recording). The 14 patients were grouped according to their clinical symptoms. The prognostic value of the spEP response was considered. Results were as follow: flaccid paraplegia with no motor response to stimulation: no spEP was recorded; complete anatomoclinical paraplegia: the spEP was normal caudal to the lesion and negative rostral to the lesion; complete paraplegia with minor anatomical lesions: prognosis was good when spEP rostral to the lesion was recorded and poor when no response was detected; motor paraplegia: the spEPs rostral and caudal to the lesion were normal. In all cases, the levels of the lesions were in accordance with the upper level at which changes in spEPs were observed.
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A large number of patients suffering from various neurological diseases remain disabled because of spastic disorders in their foot. These disorders--which are responsible for abnormal postures and painful disturbances for walking and standing--can be corrected by an effective procedure: the so-called Selective Neurotomy of the Tibial Nerve (T.N.), developed in its modern form by Gros in 1972. The procedure aims at sectioning the T.N. branches corresponding to the muscles, the spasticity of which is considered harmful, i.e. the soleus (and/or gastrocnemius) nerves for equinus and ankle clonus, the posterior tibialis branch for varus, and the flexor fascicles for tonic flexion of the toes. After dissection of each T.N. branches at the lower part of the popliteal region and their identification with bipolar electro-stimulation, the selected nerves are sectioned partially (about two-third of their caliber) under the operative microscope. The present series consists of 37 operations--performed 25 times unilaterally and 6 bilaterally--in 31 patients, 17 to 68 year old (39 on average). In 11 patients spasticity was from spinal cord origin and in the 20 others from vascular or traumatic cerebral damages. The spastic disorders--installed for 2 to 17 years (4 on average)--were due to one, several or all the following components: equinus, ankle clonus, varus, flexion of the toes. Surgery obtained complete suppression of the disabling spastic components, total pain relief and consequently improvement of the residual voluntary movements by achieving balance between agonist and antagonist muscles, in 33 out of the 37 cases, i.e. in 91% of the patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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A further case of apparently primary sensorimotor neuropathy is reported. The patient, a 31-year-old man, developed the syndrome after a 4-year history of a solitary vertebral plasmocytoma revealed by post mortem examination. Circulating monoclonal immunoglobulin and specific anomalies on nerve biopsy were absent. The condition became progressively worse, with initial and predominant autonomic nervous system anomalies. After 3 years, contractures of the limbs and paravertebral muscles, with painful paroxysmal attacks suggestive of the stiff-man syndrome appeared. Pathology confirmed the severity of the root lesions with diffusion to the cranial nerves. Reflex tests could not be conducted but the semiologic characteristics and the efficacity of baclofen were distinctive of continuous muscle fiber activities reported in some peripheral neuropathies. This case was comparable to some reported ones of interneuron rigidity.
The authors report seventy-three cases of spinal cord injuries resulting from the practice of sports. The frequency of these accidents has not increased over the past ten years, and these accidents, resulting in paraplegia, only account for 7.3% of a population of one thousand spinal cord injuries. The victims are mainly young men, and the principal cause is diving. Tetraplegia predominates, and recovery is highly improbable.
This study involved 69 patients with occlusion of the internal carotid artery in the neck confirmed by angiography. Ten patients were operated upon and 59 were treated medically. The clinical course was roughly the same in both group. Of the 62 patients who survived the initial stroke, 50 could be followed-up for a mean period of 57 months at the end of which 12% had died, 16% remained with a major degree of functional impairment and 72% had little or no residual symptoms. All but one deaths were of non-vascular origin. New cerebral vascular accidents occurred in 16% of the cases, always in the territory of the occluded artery. The long-term benefits of surgical cerebral revascularisation are discussed in the light of these findings.
From November 1969 to December 1979, 1234 patients with spinal cord lesions were treated at the Henry Gabrielle Hospital. Of these 386 were from medical causes and 848 from trauma. The computer study of these cases brings out statistical differences between the sexes as the overall incidence in females is 30 per cent and even lower if one considers traumatic cases only 22.4 per cent out of the 848 cases. Furthermore, the average female paraplegic is two years older and it was noted that more females are married. In females the causes of spinal cord injuries are more frequently car accidents and suicidal falls from high places, whereas in males the causes are related to direct blows, that is sport injuries, motorcycle accidents and industrial falls. Clinical symptoms are similar in the two groups with the exception that there is less heterotopic ossifications and fewer bladder stones in females. The duration of hospitalisation is shorter in females. A well equipped household is more important for the handicapped females than for males.
A particular semiologic feature of a case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy was the existence of utilization behavior as described by Lhermitte. The affection developed in a patient with myeloid leukemia treated by cytotoxic drugs. Multifocal low density areas were shown by CT Scan examination. The course of the disease was not altered by isoprinozine therapy.