Biomedical subjects
Jairo Lizarazo
Publications and source records attributed to Jairo Lizarazo.
[Paradoxical appearance of encephalic tuberculomas during treatment for tuberculosis in immunocompetent patients].
Two cases of appearance of encephalic tuberculomas during anti-tuberculous treatment in immunocompetent patients are presented. The first an adult man presenting a right frontal lesion which required surgical treatment and the second a girl with multiple lesions located mainly in the brainstem. This paradoxical presentation is attributed to a bizarre immunological reaction between the host and the tuberculosis bacillus. Patients with this condition do not require changes in anti-tuberculous treatment, and steroids are helpful in alleviating the symptoms. Surgery is indicated only for cases of uncontrollable intracranial hypertension or when there is diagnostic uncertainty. The prognosis of this entity is usually good.
[Idiopathic hypertrophic cranial pachymeningitis].
Idiopathic hypertrophic cranial pachymeningitis is an infrequent chronic inflammatory process of unknown etiology which causes thickening of the dura mater and progressive neurologic alterations due to the compression of adjacent structures. A case is presented of an adult woman with a clinical syndrome consisting of headache, progressive visual loss and bilateral optic neuropathy. The diagnosis was based upon visualization of the thickened dura mater in neuroimaging studies and the exclusion of known causes by histopathological examination. Diagnosis and follow-up of this condition are currently easier with the use of nuclear magnetic resonance with contrast medium. Biopsy of the dura mater continues to be the gold standard for the definitive diagnosis of this disease. Steroid therapy causes clinical improvement in most of the patients; however, relapses are frequent, making necessary the concomitant use of other immunosuppressive agents such as cyclophosphamide or azathioprine. Mortality is low but definitive neurologic sequelae are common.