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H Alvarenga

Publications and source records attributed to H Alvarenga.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

[Persistent alpha-vegetative state].

After briefly reviewing the concepts of "coma" and "alpha-coma", we report the case of a patient with presumable Pick's disease who spent several weeks in a vegetative state with a normal and reactive EEG in the alpha range in the later stages of her illness. We (a) emphasize some implications of the appearance of the eyes in such patients, b) stress the importance of distinguishing alpha activity from true alpha rhythm and (c) suggest the category "alpha-coma" should include only those individuals bearing evidence of disorders of the junctional tegmentum of the pons and midbrain. In a complementary way, we propose that patients in a persistent vegetative state displaying normal EEG should be separately classified as persistent "alpha-vegetative state".

Alpha Rhythm↗
PubMed1989

Bonnet syndrome and posterior parasagittal tumor: clues to neural mechanisms.

A case of Bonnet syndrome associated with blindness due to bilateral eye disease and a posterior parasagittal meningioma is reported. It is assumed that visual afferent deprivation alone is not enough to produce the syndrome and that, in most instances, a 'cerebral factor' must be operative if hallucinoses are to occur. The distinction between hallucinosis and hallucinations is favored and a common neural circuit for the mediation of hallucinotic imageries in general is suggested. One should not immediately put the blame on obvious eye or visual pathways affections when facing cases of Bonnet syndrome, as they are not likely to explain the complex array of images perceived by any given patient. On the contrary, the possibility of a clinically covert intracranial disease should be always raised and intensively looked for.

Aged↗
PubMed1976

[Sodium dantrolene (dantrium) in the treatment of neurogenic muscular spasm].

Forty patients, whose ages varied from 4 to 65 years, presenting skeletal muscle spascitiy as sequel of cerebral palsy, spinovertebral trauma and cerebral vascular diseases were treated with Dantrium (dantrolene sodium), a drug muscle relaxing. Laboratory data included: electromiography, chronaximetry, EEG and blood and urine tests. Clinical followup revealed subjective improvement in the patients and also objective decrease of spasticity in a satisfactory number. Patients who had improvement with this therapy also had no beneficial results with other drugs.

Adolescent↗