Showing papers on "Myelitis published in 1979"

Acute anterior myelitis complicating West Nile fever.

Abstract: • A healthy young man developed acute anterior myelitis resembling the "polio syndrome." He had visited an area (the Gulf of Suez) in which West Nile fever is endemic prior to his illness. The course of his febrile illness, the spinal fluid findings, and complement fixation antibody titers established the diagnosis of West Nile fever. Meningoencephalitis is a serious, and previously the only known, complication of this usually benign febrile illness. This is the first report, to our knowledge, of another neurological complication, namely acute anterior myelitis.

Massive Spinal Cord Necrosis in Schistosomiasis

Abstract: Spinal cord lesions are rare in schistosomiasis. Schistosomal ova usually elicit a granulomatous myelitis in which necrotic foci are sometimes observed, but necrotic foci are sometimes observed, but extensive cord necrosis is exceptional. A 19-year-old Brazilian woman had transverse myelitis that ended fatally one month and a half thereafter. Autopsy disclosed a total myelonecrosis below T-4, and ova at Schistosoma mansoni were demonstrated in the necrotic cord tissue and leptomeniges. This is, to our knowledge, the most extensive necrosis of the spinal cord reported to date in schistosomiasis.

Carcinoma of the nasopharynx an optimization of radiotherapeutic management for tumor control and spinal cord injury

Abstract: A series of 131 patients with carcinoma of the nasopharynx were seen at the University of Chicago between 1949 and 1977. Within this series a subset of 96 patients received initial radiation treatment with curative intent at our institution, and comprises the basis of this report. Treatment doses to both the primary tumor site and the cervical spinal cord were converted to nominal standard doses (NSD). The patients were categorized into NSD intervals from 1200 to greater than 2 100 ret with corresponding incidence of complication: radiation induced cervical cord myelitis and recurrence at the primary site. Paired dose-response curves are presented that show tumor ablation and cervical myelitis as a complication of treatment versus NSD. The 5 % and 10 % incidence levels of radiation induced cervical myelitis are 1450 and 1750 ret, respectively. The therapeutic operating characteristic (TOC) curve of probability of tumor ablation versus the probability of cervical myelitis is developed and shown. A 10 % complication rate resulted from tumor control rates of 53% and 33% for T1, T2 and T3, T4 primary lesions, respectively. An additional 5% increase in cervical myelitis resulted from a 15 % gain in tumor ablation within all levels of primary tumor extension. Because of the higher tolerance of the cervical spinal cord and the poor prognosis for those patients who developed a recurrence at the primary site, the more aggressive treatment approach to all stages of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is proposed.

Clinical observations of early and late normal tissue injury and tumor control in patients receiving fast neutron irradiation

Abstract: The clinical experience of the first 211 patients treated at MANTA from October 1973 to May 1978 is described. Acute cutaneous, mucosal, gastrointestinal reactions and late effects including myelitis, damage to brain, bowel, soft tissue and mandibular necrosis are described. A review of tumor response data is also submitted.

Lymphomatous Involvement of the Central Nervous System

Abstract: Involvement of the nervous system by lymphoma can become manifest in a variety of ways. Direct effects may include parenchymal mass lesions, infiltration of the leptomeninges, extradural compression of the spinal cord and/or brain, and infiltration or compression of cranial and peripheral nerves. In addition, the lymphomas may be associated with such disorders as neuromuscular paraneoplastic syndromes, multifocal leukoencephalopathy, Herpes zoster or opportunistic infections of the nervous system. Toxic side effects of treatment may also affect the nervous system, as seen with vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy, methotrexate leukoencephalopathy and radiation myelitis. In the following manuscript three direct effects of lymphomatous involvement of the central nervous system will be examined: primary malignant lymphoma of the brain, spinal cord compression by epidural lymphoma, and lymphomatous meningitis.