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Biomedical subjects

R S Sumra

Publications and source records attributed to R S Sumra.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Unusual EEG patterns in coma, and their evolution.

A 23-year-old chronic asthmatic patient is reported who showed successively four different EEG patterns within a 7 day period of unconsciousness following cardio-respiratory arrest. The initial record was dominated by alpha activity, then beta activity supervened, to be followed by spindle components. Finally an isoelectric tracing occurred before death. A computer file search for all cases of unusual EEG coma patterns was carried out. It failed to reveal any other patient with a similar sequence, but various types of evolution were noted. Such features are seen in only a very small percentage of comatose patients, and in the context of cardio-respiratory arrest are almost invariably fatal.

Adult

Intramedullary syndrome due to an extradural neurinoma near the foramen magnum.

A case of right sided extradural neurinoma at the level of the foramen magnum is reported which presented as an intramedullary spinal cord syndrome. Ischemia of the anterior spinal artery or of the vertebral artery was considered to be an important pathogenic factor in the production of the neurological syndrome. The outer part of the spinothalamic tract, where sensory fibers carrying pain and thermal sensibility from the sacral segments are situated, escaped ischemia as that part is supplied by penetrating branches of the pial arterial plexus. The discrepancy between the level of neurological deficit (C5) and site of the tumor (C1-2) was due to distant ischemia. The lack of a history of root pain and the rapid recovery following removal of the tumor also favor a vascular origin for the neurological deficit.

Humans