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Biomedical subjects

J H Jaster

Publications and source records attributed to J H Jaster.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

Cervical kyphosis after resolution of myopathic head drop. A case report.

STUDY DESIGN: This is a case report. OBJECTIVES: To present a case of cervical kyphosis after resolution of myopathic head drop. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Myopathic head drop is a severe and persistent local myopathy that never progresses beyond the neck extensor muscles. METHODS: A case is reported of a hospitalized psychiatric patient who experienced the sudden onset of severe neck extensor weakness consistent with myopathic head drop. RESULTS: Although myopathic head drop resolved after 2 years, it left a disabling residual skeletal deformity of the cervical spine. CONCLUSIONS: Myopathic head drop may be a cause of cervical kyphosis.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Solitary focal demyelination in the brain as a paraneoplastic disorder.

Solitary focal demyelination (SFD) in the brain is an uncommon and poorly understood disorder of uncertain etiology that may represent an intermediate entity between multiple sclerosis and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. In a few reported cases of SFD, the patient was briefly noted to have a nonneurological malignancy. We studied two patients who had solitary focal lesions in the brain. Utilizing magnetic resonance imaging and tissue biopsy, we found the characteristics of the brain lesions in these two patients to be those of SFD. In our combined experience over the past 10 years, we have encountered no similar brain lesions at our medical center. We found it remarkable that both of these patients also had malignancy outside of the nervous system. One had a seminoma, and the other a lymphoma. We conclude that some cases of SFD in the brain may occur as a paraneoplastic disorder associated with nonneurological malignancies.

Adult↗

Choroid plexus histoplasmoma: clinical, pathologic, and imaging findings.

Histoplasmosis of the choroid plexus has not previously been described. We report its occurrence, as well as its clinical, pathologic, and imaging characteristics in one case. Clinically, our patient's choroid plexus lesion produced encephalopathy and third nerve palsy. On imaging it appeared as a hemorrhage or calcification. Cerebrospinal fluid studies were consistent with a chronic meningeal process uncomplicated by hemorrhage. Stereotactic biopsy of the choroid plexus was required to establish the diagnosis of cerebral histoplasmosis. Pathologic examination also revealed prominent abnormal calcification, which permitted the lesion of masquerade as a hemorrhage on computed tomographic and magnetic resonance images.

Biopsy↗

Solitary spinal cord sarcoidosis without other manifestations of systemic sarcoidosis.

We report a biopsy-proven case of sarcoidosis limited to the spinal cord and responsive to treatment with oral corticosteroids. Involvement of the spinal cord by systemic sarcoidosis is uncommon and is associated with several unusual pathological and radiological characteristics that may contribute to its misdiagnosis and subsequent mismanagement. The importance of these unusual characteristics is greatly amplified in solitary spinal cord sarcoidosis because there are no systemic findings to suggest a sarcoid etiology.

Adult↗