Efficacy and Safety of Octagam® in Patients With Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy.

Introduction: Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) is a debilitating autoimmune neuropathy that is treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of the sucrose-free IVIG Octagam® (Octapharma AG, Lachen, Switzerland) in patients with CIDP.

Methods: Data from 47 patients who received at least one dose of Octagam were collected from the records of 11 centres in France.

[Bartonella hensalae encephalopathy].

Introduction: Bartonella hensalae is a poorly known cause of encephalopathy in young subjects.

Observation: A 17 year-old adolescent was admitted in a state of emergency because of frequent convulsive seizures and inter-critical drowsiness. The diagnosis of encephalopathy was made on the association of these clinical signs and electro-encephalographic abnormalities.

[Stabilized epilepsy in three adult cases of pachygyria].

In complex malformations of the neocortex due to neuronal migration disorders, epilepsy is usually intractable and is observed in childhood. The study of such malformations in adults is rare. Three adult cases are described with easily treated epilepsy controlled by one or two anti-epilectic drugs.

Brain involvement in Dengue fever.

During the 1994-1995 outbreak of dengue fever in New Caledonia (1079 cases), two cases of encephalopathy were seen. Both patients suffered transient clinical (drowsiness, confusion) and electroencephalographic disturbances from which they fully recovered. Although this condition has been described in dengue infection a number of different pathological mechanisms are probably implicated.

[Probable Miller Fisher syndrome during Dengue fever type 2].

A 57 year-old-man developed a left ophthalmoplegia associated with ataxia and areflexia while he had fever (39 degrees C) for two days. Dengue fever (DF) was diagnosed by definite criteria, i.e.

[Neurological features after consumption of a variety of neo-caledonian shellfish].

A few days after a seafood meal a patient suffered ataxia and stupor. His examination revealed a confused patient with cerebellar signs and ocular disturbances (hypotropia). Blood results, cerebrospinal fluid and brain CT scan were unremarkable.

Clinical aspects of ocular leptospirosis in New Caledonia (South Pacific).

Purpose: The incidence of leptospirosis is very high in New Caledonia (average annual incidence rate: 180/100 000 of the population). To investigate the role of pathogenic leptospires as an aetiological agent of ocular diseases, we report the results of a 5-year survey in New Caledonia.

Methods: We reviewed 13 patients (corresponding to 17 investigated pathologic eyes) retrospectively.

[Eosinophilic meningitis due to Angiostrongylus cantonensis].

Angiostrongylus cantonensis is the most common etiological agent of eosinophilic meningitis. Adults are harbored in the pulmonary arteries of rats. Larvae develop within various natural (mollusks) and paratenic (snails.

[Potential value of hyperbaric oxygenation in the treatment of post-radiation myelopathies].

We describe 9 patients with radiation myelopathy treated by hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO). In this retrospective study, six out of nine (66%) could have been stabilized or improved by HBO. Physiopathological mechanisms of radiation myelopathy remain controversial and incompletely known.

Treatment of hemifacial spasm with botulinum toxin. Value of preinjection electromyography abnormalities for predicting postinjection lower facial paresis.

Thirty-two patients with hemifacial spasm were treated with 61 botulinum toxin (BT) injections. Some patients had post-BT lower facial paresis (LFP+group) while others did not suffer this side effect (LFP-group). Abnormal electromyography (EMG) recordings were more frequent in the LFP+ group (6/11) than in the LFP- group (3/21; p < 0.

[Myasthenia induced by tiopronin in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis].

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a well known side-effect of D-Penicillamine used in the treatment of rheumatoid polyarthritis. Tiopronin is another drug available in France, which can also induce MG. Drug-induced MG are characterized by frequent involvement of facial and oropharyngeal muscles.

[Recurrent Neisseria meningitidis meningitis associated with homozygote complement C7 fraction deficiency].

A 20-year old man had three episodes of meningococcal meningitis. Complement assays showed a complete deficiency of the seventh component of the complement system. This case emphasizes the need to perform complement assays in young patients with recurrent bacterial meningitis.