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Biomedical subjects

I T Ferguson

Publications and source records attributed to I T Ferguson.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Plasma exchange in the treatment of Guillain-Barré syndrome: experience in a sub-regional referral centre.

Plasma exchange became popular in the treatment of Guillain-Barré syndrome with the publication in 1985 of results by the Guillain-Barré Study Group. Since then we have treated 24 patients referred for plasma exchange. We have audited their outcome and compared this with the results of patients in the treatment arm of the USA Study. Our patients were of comparable age and clinical severity and had similar duration of illness before starting plasma exchange. Nine of our patients required ventilation for a median of 24 days. The median time to improve one clinical grade was 19 days which compared well with the Study Group results. We have shown that plasma exchange may be safely performed in a district general hospital in a setting appropriate to the patient's clinical condition. We concur with the central conclusion of the Study, that if treatment is started early in the disease, the patient's outcome is improved.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Electrical study of jaw and orbicularis oculi reflexes after trigeminal nerve surgery.

Trigeminal nerve ophthalmic and motor division function was assessed clinically and electrically in 32 patients who had undergone various surgical procedures for trigeminal neuralgia. Using known electrophysiological techniques, the orbicularis oculi and jaw reflexes were tested in all subjects. Abnormalities of the orbicularis oculi reflex were anticipated on the basis of ophthalmic division anaesthesia. However, jaw reflex abnormalities appeared in operated cases with no clinical or electromyographic evidence of masseter denervation. These results were unexpected, and imply that the proprioceptive fibres of the jaw reflex are mediated by a sensory and not a motor root as previously believed.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Habituation of the orbicularis oculi reflex in dementia and dyskinetic states.

The habituation index is a quantitative expression of the ability of the orbicularis oculi (blink reflex) to adapt to a series of electrical stimuli applied to the supraorbital region. This parameter has been studied in a group of normal control subjects, and the results compared with those in cases of idiopathic and drug-induced Parkinsonism, states of dementia, and dyskinesias such as Huntington's chorea and senile chorea. Patients with Huntington's chorea showed a tendency for the reflex to habituate readily in contrast to patients with dementia caused by cortical atrophy and those with Parkinson's disease. Younger patients with Huntington's chorea had indices within the normal range. It seems unlikely that this test will prove of value in the detection of clinically unaffected relatives. Where dementia was associated with a reversible intracranial lesion, the habituation index was studied before and after treatment. Failure of habituation in this condition appears to be due to the release of a primitive protective reflex.

Adolescent↗