There are limited normative data available defining a subject's ability to localize a constant-touch or moving-touch stimulus. The results that are obtainable to date have not been objectively measured so that they are reproducible. This study of a normal population suggests a standard to measure the error in a patient's capacity to localize both a constant-touch and a moving-touch stimulus. The normative data demonstrate that in considering the ability to localize a constant-touch stimulus, there was less error of localization in the fingers than in the palm. The most sensitive finger was the index. In testing for localization of a moving-touch stimulus, seven types of responses were identified and classified. The procedure outlined in this study offers a means both to document the degree of sensory impairment in a more consistent manner and to objectively measure results of early-phase sensory re-education.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Case study of a five-stage sensory reeducation program.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a sensory reeducation program classified into five stages: (1) feature detection and recognition of objects; (2) correction of the pattern of prehension in the hand; (3) control of precise force for grasping objects; (4) maintenance of grip force during movement of the proximal joints; and (5) manipulation of objects. The program is specific to hand function in activities of daily living and is based on recent neurophysiological findings. It is illustrated by a detailed case study. The authors report that, through sensory reeducation a patient who had an insensitive hand gained the ability to recognize objects. She learned to utilize a sense of muscle resistance and a sense of vibration in the shoulder. Her body image improved along with the usefulness of her hand in activities of daily living.

Clinical Protocols↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Contrast-enhanced fluid-attenuated inversion recovery MRI is useful to detect the CSF dissemination of glioblastoma.

We present three cases of glioblastoma with CSF dissemination that contrast-enhanced fluid-attenuated inversion recovery MRI was sensitive enough to detect compared with contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI. An autopsy was performed on one patient, and its histologic findings proved the existence of CSF dissemination.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Sweet's syndrome associated with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor.

We present two patients who developed Sweet's syndrome (SS) during recombinant granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) treatment. Case 1 : on day 11 of the fifth cycle of G-CSF treatment, a 21-year-old man with relapsed, intracranial germ cell tumor had fever, and painful, subcutaneous nodules on his right arm and right leg concomitant with neutrophilia. Skin biopsy revealed neutrophilic panniculitis. The skin lesions disappeared completely after discontinuance of G-CSF. Case 2 : on day 7 of G-CSF treatment, a 50-year-old woman with small cell lung cancer developed fever, and widely disseminated pruritic erythema on her trunk and extremities. The histopathology of the skin was compatible with SS. Her skin lesions also disappeared after discontinuance of G-CSF treatment. She subsequently received three cycles of additional G-CSF treatments without recurrence of SS. It is possible that G-CSF treatment accidentally induced or augmented the proliferation and differentiation of clonal neutrophils with abnormal functions, since in the cases presented SS developed only once in spite of several treatments with G-CSF.

Adult↗