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Biomedical subjects

P Van Eeckhout

Publications and source records attributed to P Van Eeckhout.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

The locked-in syndrome: a challenge for therapy.

The locked-in syndrome (LIS) is a severe condition originated by a ventral pons lesion causing quadriplegia and anarthria but with a preserved consciousness. LIS seems to be a well defined clinical picture, although different problems still persist, such as the diagnosis as it is usually mistaken for akinetic mutism and a vegetative state; the unclear prognosis, because of the patient's psychological state and the lack of information and data concerning the different types of available treatment and the need for results. Rehabilitation is a challenge for physicians, new methods and techniques of specialized treatments for these patients are opening a new future that will allow us to abandon the initial pessimism. A more efficient rehabilitation of these patients depends on the intensity of the rehabilitation, the multidisciplinary approach, and duration of the treatment.

Cognition Disorders↗
PubMed2005

Eosinophilic cellulitis of papulonodular presentation (Wells' syndrome).

Eosinophilic cellulitis (Wells' syndrome) is a rare condition of unknown aetiopathogenesis and is characterized by erythemal plaques and a histological picture of eosinophilic infiltration of the dermis with 'flame' figures. Here we describe a patient with the papulonodular variant of eosinophilic cellulitis associated with an unusual hepatic dysfunction.

Cellulitis↗
PubMed1999

Acute watery diarrhea as the initial presenting feature of a pheochromocytoma in an 84-year-old female patient.

We report the case of an 84-year-old woman who was initially admitted to the emergency room of our institution for frank dehydration caused by acute and severe secretory diarrheas along with acidosis and hypokalemia. After extensive gastrointestinal investigations, the etiology of the diarrhea remained unclear. Because clinical symptoms and ionogram parameters worsened, despite intravenous fluids and electrolyte replacement, an abdominal CT scan was performed and unexpectedly revealed a 4.5-cm mass in the right adrenal gland. Several separate 24-hour urine catecholamines were shown to be highly elevated. The diagnosis of pheochromocytoma was confirmed by MIBG scintigraphy and MRI. Before the admission, the patient never experienced symptoms suggestive of pheochromocytoma, except dry mouth and fear of impending death on several occasions. After 2 weeks, the diarrhea stopped abruptly and spontaneously without specific medication but after adequate rehydration. The patient subsequently underwent surgical removal of the adrenal medullary mass. Postoperatively, urinary catecholamines returned to normal values. Immunohistochemical study of the tumor confirmed the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma and revealed the presence of VIP-positive cells organized as islets in scattered areas of the tissue. This case illustrates the protean mode of presentation of pheochromocytoma, as well as the ability of medullary neural crest-derived cells to produce various neuropeptides potentially responsible for a large variety of symptoms.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1999

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma with solitary bone location associated to multiple lung and liver lesions. A case report.

Progressive development of a lobulated osteolytic lesion of the left calcaneus was observed in a 28-year-old woman. The bone tumor was associated with multiple lung nodules and later with a few small nodular liver lesions. A histological and immunochemical diagnosis of epithelioid hemangioendothelioma was obtained by bone tumor resection and thoracoscopic lung biopsy. Imaging aspects are reported with emphasis on its multifocality.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Distinct frontal regions for processing sentence syntax and story grammar.

Time is a fundamental dimension of cognition. It is expressed in the sequential ordering of individual elements in a wide variety of activities such as language, motor control or in the broader domain of long range goal-directed actions. Several studies have shown the importance of the frontal lobes in sequencing information. The question addressed in this study is whether this brain region hosts a single supramodal sequence processor, or whether separate mechanisms are required for different kinds of temporally organised knowledge structures such as syntax and action knowledge. Here we show that so-called agrammatic patients, with lesions in Broca's area, ordered word groups correctly to form a logical sequence of actions but they were severely impaired when similar word groups had to be ordered as a syntactically well-formed sentence. The opposite performance was observed in patients with dorsolateral prefrontal lesions, that is, while their syntactic processing was intact at the sentence level, they demonstrated a pronounced deficit in producing temporally coherent sequences of actions. Anatomical reconstruction of lesions from brain scans revealed that the sentence and action grammar deficits involved distinct, non-overlapping sites within the frontal lobes. Finally, in a third group of patients whose lesions encompassed both Broca's area and the prefrontal cortex, the two types of deficits were found. We conclude that sequence processing is specific to knowledge domains and involves different networks within the frontal lobes.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1997

Enterocolic lymphocytic phlebitis: a case report.

We report the case of a patient with intestinal ischaemia and necrosis resulting from vasculitis of mesenteric veins and their intramural tributaries. This patient was otherwise healthy, had no prior history of inflammatory bowel disease nor clinical evidence of extra intestinal involvement or systemic vasculitis, and since four years, was treated with hydroxyethyl rutoside (Venoruton). He recovered completely after segmental resection of the affected portion of the bowel and had no recurrence of intestinal symptoms on follow-up of up to three years. The histopathological diagnostic hallmarks of this clinical entity are extensive lesions of lymphocytic phlebitis associated with thrombi of different ages and focal fibrinoid necrosis while arteries and arterioles are not affected. This unusual form of vasculitis affecting veins only is very rare and its etiology unknown.

Aged↗
PubMed1996

Recovery from nonfluent aphasia after melodic intonation therapy: a PET study.

We examined mechanisms of recovery from aphasia in seven nonfluent aphasic patients, who were successfully treated with melodic intonation therapy (MIT) after a lengthy absence of spontaneous recovery. We measured changes in relative cerebral blood flow (CBF) with positron emission tomography (PET) during hearing and repetition of simple words, and during repetition of MIT-loaded words. Without MIT, language tasks abnormally activated right hemisphere regions, homotopic to those activated in the normal subject, and deactivated left hemisphere language zones. In contrast, repeating words with MIT reactivated Broca's area and the left prefrontal cortex, while deactivating the counterpart of Wernicke's area in the right hemisphere. The recovery process induced by MIT in these patients probably coincides with this reactivation of left prefrontal structures. In contrast, the right hemisphere regions abnormally activated during simple language tasks seem to be associated with the initial persistence of the aphasia. This study supports the idea that abnormal activation patterns in the lesioned brain are not necessarily related to the recovery process.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Pure progressive aphemia.

Aphemia, also called anarthria or severe apraxia of speech, is a rare disorder of speech production usually resulting from vascular lesions affecting the inferior premotor cortex of the left hemisphere. A patient presenting with aphemia as the sole manifestation of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is reported.

Aphasia, Broca↗
PubMed1980

[Possible effects of drawing on the language and re-education of an aphasic patient (author's transl)].

Various studies have demonstrated that the ability to draw may be unaffected in motor aphasia, and even in some cases of sensory aphasia when there is no associated constructive apraxia. An artist, who was both a satirist and a caricaturist, was followed up for three years during re-educational therapy following the onset of an overall aphasia, and this raises the problem of the possible effects of drawing on recuperation of language, and the role of the right hemisphere in this recuperation. The question arises as to whether drawing should be restricted to certain particular cases during re-education or be employed in a more general manner?

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Benign tumoral and pseudotumoral lesions of the stomach. Study of a surgical and biopsied series].

Benign gastric tumours and pseudotumours have often been a cause of confusion not only diagnostically but also in terms of treatment, since their significance varies with the histologic type. We try to provide a comprehensive classification scheme dividing gastric benign tumours and pseudotumours in 3 major categories: epithelial, mesenchymatous and dysembryoplastic. We review the clinical significance of the subcategories.

Choristoma↗