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Biomedical subjects

J Gruskiewicz

Publications and source records attributed to J Gruskiewicz.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Repetitive visual images in severe war head injuries.

Out of 20 young inpatients who suffered missile head injuries, two (10%) presented repetitive visual images (RVI). The RVI appeared during wakefulness when relaxed with closed eyes and also at sleep stage I, II and REM, at sleep onset and at sleep end. When the two patients were compared neurologically and psychologically with the other eighteen, the coexistence of combat stress syndrome, diffuse brain lesions, right non-dominant associative area damage and homonymous hemianopia characterised the two RVI patients. RVI do not appear in the absence of the combat stress syndrome even in the presence of the other 3 factors. The sleep may be secondarily contaminated by wakefulness RVI. The presence of disturbed REM temporal distribution and short REM latency indicate the depressive state of these patients. It is hypothesised that a similar brain activity in wakefulness and REM sleep explain the wake dreaming or wakefulness RVI of those patients.

Adult

Acute central and intermediate cervical cord injury.

Six cases with cervical cord contusion are described. All were over 50 years old, had an hyperextension injury of their cervical spine, suffered from tetraparesis predominant in the upper limbs and showed no X-ray evidence of injury to the cervical spine. Marked cervical spondylosis was present in five cases, one also had a narrow spinal canal. Cases No. 3 and 4 had an atypical recovery pattern. Shoulder and elbow movements improved last or not at all, while in the classic cases the hand muscles recovered last. Upper motor neuron damage was thought to be the cause, a result of intermediate instead of central cord traumatic necrosis or ischaemia. Pathological findings in case No. 5 emphasizes the possible diagnostic importance of taking lateral X-rays of the cervical spine in hyperextension. It also shows why laminectomy and/or myelotomy cannot help. Case No. 6 shows the noxious effect of shock and the effectiveness of steroid therapy.

Aged

Frontal extradural hematomas.

In a series of 1841 severe head injuries, 97 cases of epidural hematomas were observed. Among these there were 13 in the frontal area, i.e. 13.4%. The nine cases of frontal extradural hematomas not previously reported are described. Five of them had "pure" extradural frontal clots. In four cases the epidural hematoma was associated with intradural lesions. The "pure" frontal epidural cases presented a subacute to chronic course of a benign character. All of these patients survived and made a complete recovery after operation. A malignant, stormy and fatal course was observed in the "mixed" cases.

Adolescent