Hispanic registry of graft procedures for Parkinson's disease.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to I Madrazo.
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Swines with cysticercosis are a useful model to study human disease. A multidisciplinary approach was undertaken to study in detail the effect of praziquantel treatment on hosts and parasites. Computerised tomographic scans showed changes in the number and size of parasites in treated pigs. These changes were more apparent in muscle than in brain cysticerci. Neurophysiologic data were normal in cysticercotic pigs before and after drug treatment. An increase in antibody response was seen immediately after treatment regarding the amount of antibodies and number of antigens recognised. A lower number of polyploid lymphocytes was seen after treatment in cysticercotic pigs as compared to untreated pigs. At different times after treatment pigs were humanely euthanised. Oxygen consumption rate of cysticerci decreased after treatment and evagination was abolished. The inflammatory reaction that surrounded parasites increased in number and type of cells. This was more apparent around cysticerci obtained from muscle than from the brain.
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Human and porcine cases of neurocysticerosis were compared by computed tomography in regard to the morphological characteristics of the parasites and the impact of the infection on the brain. In pigs and young people many parasites were usually found, but this was seldom the case in adult humans. These parasites were small and located mainly in the parenchyma and the subarachnoid space; no calcified cysticerci were found. In contrast, in adult humans cysticerci were heterogeneous in appearance and distribution. The brain of the pigs showed no evidence of inflammatory reaction while young people had oedema, enhancement and hydrocephalus; in contrast, adults showed diverse tomographic characteristics of brain response. Thus, the disease has at least 2 different forms. It may be mild with short development and parasites of similar appearance, as occurs in young hosts. In contrast, a long lasting disease occurs in adults, with diverse tomographic, neurological and parasitological features.
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We describe the pre- and postoperative neuropsychological profiles of seven patients who received an autograft of adrenal medullary tissue to the caudate nucleus for the treatment of Parkinson's Disease (PD). The preoperative neuropsychological evaluations revealed specific cognitive deficits of varying degree. The patients showed frontal lobe-type deficits with alterations in behavioral programming leading to difficulties in the organization of motor sequences and alternating programs. They also showed memory disorders and visuospatial and visuoperceptual deficiences such as a loss of figure-ground perspective and fragmentation. Postoperative evaluations, carried out 3 months after neurosurgery, revealed a significant amelioration of the frontal lobe-type symptoms and visuospatial deficits, as well as an improvement in memory tasks that require an active organization of the response. Immediate and delayed memory difficulties remained unchanged. These observations were compared to neuropsychological data obtained from neurologically intact subjects and from unoperated PD patients. The improvements of the operated PD patients resulted in performance levels close to normal values and clearly distinguishable from those of unoperated PD patients, and were unrelated to improved mood, increased alertness, or sustained attention. Autotransplantation of adrenal medullary tissue to the caudate nucleus of PD patients showing a decreased effective response to L-dopa therapy can partially restore motor functions and frontal-type cognitive symptoms.
Recent experimental studies and one clinical case have suggested that grafting tissue from the adrenal medulla into the brain may ameliorate the signs of Parkinson's disease. We describe the treatment of two young patients (35 and 39 years old) with intractable and incapacitating Parkinson's disease, in whom fragments of the adrenal medulla were autotransplanted to the right caudate nucleus. Clinical improvement was noted in both patients at 15 and 6 days (respectively) after implantation and has continued in both. Rigidity and akinesia had virtually disappeared in the first patient at 10 months after surgery, and his tremor was greatly reduced. A similar degree of improvement was present in the second patient at three months. We conclude that autografting of the adrenal medulla to the right caudate nucleus was associated with a marked improvement in the signs of Parkinson's disease in two patients, but our results are preliminary and further work is necessary to see whether this procedure will be applicable over the long term in other types of patients with Parkinson's disease.
The analgesic effect of intraventricular somatostatin-14 (SOM-14), arginine vasopressin (AVP), and oxytocin (OT) were tested in one terminally ill cancer patient with a diffuse mesothelioma suffering intractable continuous and incapacitating thoracic pain. SOM-14 reduced pain by 90% for 48 min; AVP reduced pain by 95% for 75 min, and OT reduced pain by 88% for 77 min. The only notable side effects were seen after the administration of AVP, which induced anesthesia and flaccid paralysis of the lower limbs, from which the patient fully recovered after 20 h.
New levels of reproducibility and sensitivity have been achieved in the detection of anticysticercus antibodies in human sera by using cysticercus vesicular fluid as the source of antigens for both ELISA and hemagglutination assays. Reproducibility both between tests on a serum and between similar sera was significantly improved over typical results using antigens from whole parasite extracts. Sera collected from uninfected individuals in endemic areas gave somewhat elevated values over those collected in nonendemic areas. This necessitated the use of a higher threshold in endemic areas to avoid false positives. With the threshold appropriate for a nonendemic area, both ELISA and hemagglutination were sensitive enough to detect infection in 95% of cases. With the threshold value for sera from an endemic area, these sensitivities were reduced to 80%-90%. A prominent 103-Kd protein of vesicular fluid, not related to antigen B, elicited the strongest antibody response in neurocystercotic patients.
Twelve Taenia solium cysticerci, obtained from several human organs, were examined by immunofluorescence for IgG, IgM, IgA, IgE and C3b on their surfaces. Anti-cysticercus antibodies of the 4 classes of immunoglobulins were looked for in the cerebrospinal fluid of most neurologic patients, in the intraocular humors of a patient with eye cysticercosis, and in the serum of some other patients. The morphological appearance of the parasites as well as the clinical features of the patients were recorded. The distribution of components was heterogeneous among the different parasite surfaces. IgG was the most frequent, followed by IgA, IgM, C3b and IgE. No correlation was found between the presence of these molecules and signs of damage in the cysticerci, or with the classes of immunoglobulins found as anti-cysticercus antibodies. Possible explanations of these findings as well as the implications of heterogeneity in cysticercosis are discussed.
The authors review their experience with 21 cases of intraventricular cysticercosis, which corresponded to 28% of all cases of neurocysticercosis in their department during an 18-month period. The surgical approach depends on the cyst's location; one uses the transcortical microsurgical approach to reach the lateral ventricles, the transcortical or transcallosal approach to reach the 3rd ventricle, and direct exploration to reach the 4th ventricle. Cysticercus cysts should be removed because they may produce acute or chronic hydrocephalus and, if the parasite dies within the ventricles, it will generate an inflammatory reaction with local and generalized ventriculitis, which produces irreversible neurological damage.
Computerized tomography (CT) has replaced pneumoencephalography and ventriculography in the diagnosis of intraventricular cysticercosis. The authors present a refinement in the use of CT by introducing a positive contrast medium into the ventricles to increase the definition of plain and contrast-enhanced scans in the diagnosis of intraventricular cysticercosis. Eleven cases of Cysticercus cyst are presented, 10 or which were precisely delineated by CT-iodoventriculography. In the remaining case, lack of definition was due to obstruction of the cerebral aqueduct. Surgical confirmation was obtained in all cases.
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Four patients with hydrocephalus secondary to neurocysticercosis, were evaluated making a comparative analysis of their pre- and post-operative state. The results showed that intracranial hypertension "per se" does not generate changes in the hypothalamopituitary axis function. The cortisol response to its appropriate stimulus was subnormal indicating that the intracranial hypertension affects the adrenocorticotrophic or the ACTH system.
Five patients were studied with the diagnosis of secondary hydrocephaly to neurocysticercosis. Valvular dysfunction was observed due to the obstruction of the ventricular catheter caused by cysticercus cysts. The Biomed System was used in four cases and the Hakim System in one. Valvular dysfunction was observed in patients within a period of 18 to 24 months after derivation, they also had a history of several valvular dysfunctions. The diagnosis was made upon extraction of the catheter where the cyst was found to be attached to the ventricular brush. Subsequent evolution has not been satisfactory. The reasons for this complication are of a hydrodynamic and pharmacological nature and are also due to the growth of the cyst. This complication is not often suspected, therefore we recommend that in cases of frequent valvular dysfunction and asymmetrical hydrocephaly, studies like iodine-tomography or magnetic resonance be carried out in order to rule out this factor.
We wish to confirm the hypothesis that the hydrodynamics of brain aneurysms depend partially on their position, with respect to the force of gravitation, and so developed an experimental model of latex aneurysms, which was subjected to a pulsatile flow. Four different registers were made with an injection of ink and radioisotopes. A physical model was designed which allowed a quantitative analysis of the results and which allows a mathematical analysis of the aneurysm's hydrodynamics. The results suggest that when an aneurysm is oriented against the force of gravity, it has a very low risk of thrombosis, and the scarce turbulence of the flow condition a lower risk of growth and rupture, in comparison with other conditions. The greatest flow turbulence against the wall is found in the aneurysm oriented downwards, that is parallel to the force of gravity. Due to its hydrodynamics, the downwards aneurysm has the highest probability of complication, since it has; a) higher risk of rupture due to the impact of the stream upon the wall and to the turbulence this impact produces, b) a higher risk of thrombosis produced by the circulatory stasis which has a dome. This combination of factors (rupture and thrombosis) allows these aneurysms to grow more than others.
The cerebral vasospasm secondary to subarachnoid hemorrhage due to the rupture of an intracranial aneurysm has a high morbidity/mortality. Its cause is still unknown, so we obtain controversial results after prevention and treatment. We studied two groups, of 29 patients each one, where the first was treated with systemic nimodipine, and the second was the control group. We did not observed any correlation between the clinic vasospasm or the symptomatic, and the radiographic one. There was no difference between the final results of both groups. No collateral effects were shown in other organs with the use of this agent.