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Biomedical subjects

R Alberca

Publications and source records attributed to R Alberca.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Advanced dementia in Alzheimer's disease and memantine].

INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer's disease (AD) causes dementia with a progressive course. Until now, research has been aimed mainly at studying its early, pre-dementia and mild or mild to moderate dementia phases in an attempt to find treatments with which to cure it or at least halt its progression. It is true that the latest cognitive therapies are effective up to a point, but the fact is that many patients reach the state of advanced AD, which gives rise to a number of cognitive and behavioural disorders that entail all kinds of problems on a personal, familial and community health level. AIMS: This study reviews the progress of AD, the length of its stages, the speed at which the disease courses and patients' survival. Advanced AD is defined, its clinical features and the functional disability it causes are described, and we analyse the tests and scales that must be used to measure how the process is progressing and the effectiveness of the distinct forms of treatment used in the later phase of AD, which are different to those employed in the early stages. All this allows us to analyse the results of clinical trials carried out with memantine, an NMDA (N-methyl D-aspartate) receptor antagonist. We review its pharmacological characteristics and its use in everyday practice. Lastly, we refer to the classical symptomatic treatments that are usually employed to control the frequent and intense behavioural disorders produced in the advanced phase of AD. CONCLUSIONS: The later stage of AD requires our attention because many patients reach and remain for a long time in this phase, which leads to considerable personal and social disorders. Several scales and tests have been adapted to these later phases of AD, enabling the clinician to evaluate the patient, monitor the progress of the disease and determine the effectiveness of different treatments. Memantine, the most recent drug approved for use with this disease, has proved to be effective in the treatment of patients with advanced AD. This pharmaceutical has been added to the list of well-known classical medicines, such as neuroleptic drugs, antidepressants, anxiolytic agents and others, which can be used to diminish the behavioural disorders in these patients and improve their quality of life, as well as that of their caregivers.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Visual evoked potentials in benign intracranial hypertension].

In 20 patients with benign intracranial hypertension (BIH) a study of the P100 latency of visual evoked potentials (VEP) was carried out. At admission only 5 patients showed abnormal latencies. The mean of the P100 latencies in patients was significantly increased as compared with controls. Latencies persisted relatively prolonged once the funduscopy had become normal. In the last investigation, one year after BIH had disappeared, the latencies in patients were already similar to those in the control group. On the other hand, no patient with normal latencies had visual sequelae. Sequelae also did not develop in patients in whom initially prolonged latencies progressively returned to normal during the evolution. Sequelae developed in one patient in whom latencies became progressively prolonged. In that case the increased latencies preceded the fall in visual acuity. These data may be useful to evaluate visual function in patients with BIH.

Evoked Potentials, Visual↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Episodic ++paroxysmal hemicrania or chronic paroxysmal hemicrania in pre-chronic state?].

Two women suffered from strictly unilateral, periocular headaches for many years. The clinical characteristics of headaches were those described in chronic paroxysmal hemicrania. However, both patients showed an episodic evolution of pain. In one case, this stage could be considered pre-chronic because it was later followed by the classic and apparently definitive chronic period of the disorder. In the second case the episodic stage persisted all along the evolution of the disease and the headache did not reach the chronic period. The patient has been free of pain without treatment for the last three years. This second observation can be considered as an example of episodic paroxysmal hemicrania. In the episodic cases the response of pain to indomethacin can be difficult to be ascertained.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Pituitary study in benign intracranial hypertension].

Pituitary function studies were performed on 20 patients with benign intracranial hypertension. Abnormal results were only obtained in six cases and all of these findings could be attributed to sources other than the increased intracranial pressure. Once the disease as well as its cause had disappeared, a second study was carried out and the results for all the patients were then normal. Computerized tomographic scanning of the sella turcica detected an empty sella in one patient and a possible hypophyseal microadenoma without functional repercussions in another. No evidence was found that benign intracranial hypertension is provoked by an impairment in pituitary function, nor that it could be a secondary complication thereof.

Empty Sella Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Davidenkow syndrome].

A 31-year-old female had since childhood walking difficulties on her right foot. She subsequently developed a right-sided scapuloperoneal amyotrophy with mild distal sensory sings. Nerve conduction velocities and nerve biopsy showed a peripheral neuropathy, and the case was thought to be an example of Davidenkow's syndrome. At the age of 41, the musculature innervated by the right V, VII, XI and XIIth cranial nerves became impaired and this suggested that the lower motor neuron was also involved precluding this picture from inclusion among the Hereditary Motor and Sensory Neuropathies (HMSN) to which Davidenkow's syndrome has been related.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Non-paraneoplastic polioencephalomyelitis].

A 60-year-old male presented with cerebellar ataxia and ocular flutter which disappeared after ten months of evolution. The patient later had three other different bouts which caused cerebral, brainstem and polyradiculoneuritis-like symptomatology. The disease evolved in 20 months and at necropsy a primary polioencephalomyelitis was found. The remitting and relapsing course of the disease is better explained by an autoimmune-mediated lesion.

Encephalomyelitis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Prophylactic treatment of episodic cluster headaches with methysergide and prednisone].

In two consecutive series of 25 cases each suffering from episodic cluster headache, one of the clusters was treated prophylactically in the first series with methysergide and in the other with prednisone. The duration of the clusters under treatment was similar in both series. The results of our study suggest that neither the methysergide nor the prednisone were able to shorten the duration of clusters.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Cluster headache].

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Adolescent↗