Sudden unexplained death in children with epilepsy: a cohort study with an eighteen-year follow-up.

Aim: Sudden unexplained death is a significant cause of mortality in adults with epilepsy. Only a few data exist about this risk in childhood.

Methods: Cases of sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDEP) up to the age of 18 y occurring at our hospital between 1984 and 2001 were identified.

[Myoclonic-astatic epilepsy in early childhood: review of clinical signs, EEG features, etiology, and therapy].

Myoclonic-astatic epilepsy in early childhood: review of topical knowledge of clinical signs, electroencephalographic characteristics, etiology and therapy. The classification of epilepsy in childhood is discussed continuously. On the basis of some selected cases, the clinical and electrophysiological characteristics of myoclonic-astatic epilepsy in early childhood are described.

Tula virus infection associated with fever and exanthema after a wild rodent bite.

Reported here is the first case of human acute infection with Tula virus, which occurred in a 12-year-old boy in Switzerland. This hantavirus had been considered apathogenic to humans, and in Switzerland only TULV-genome sequences have been demonstrated in wild rodents to date. In this case, paronychia, fever and exanthema occurred after the patient was bitten by a wild rodent, indicating an unusual route of hantavirus transmission.

Biotinidase deficiency: a cause of subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy (Leigh syndrome). Report of a case with lethal outcome.

An unusual clinical course of a patient with biotinidase deficiency, causing Leigh syndrome, is reported. Laryngeal stridor was the major presenting symptom followed by progressive neurologic deterioration and death at the age of 21.5 mo.

The hemodynamic effect of STA-MCA bypass.

rCBF was measured by 133Xenon inhalation at rest and during pCO2 manipulation in 19 patients prior to and at various times after STA-MCA bypass surgery. The resting flow increased gradually postoperatively, seemingly more due to progressive clinical recovery from the original neurologic disability than due to the surgical intervention. CO2 reactivity increased in some patients, more in those who preoperatively had the poorest reactivity.

Regional cerebral blood flow comparison of right and left hand movement.

Regional cerebral blood flow measurements were made in normal right-handed subjects by the 133 xenon inhalation method at rest and during movement of either hand. Left hand movement evoked a prominent focal flow increase in the right hemisphere in the Rolandic region. During right hand movement, there was a smaller and not statistically significant increase in left hemisphere Rolandic region.

133Xenon inhalation method: significance of indicator maldistribution for distinguishing brain areas with impaired perfusion. An index for total flow.

This paper introduces a new index for the assessment of regional cerebral blood flow. The index is proportional to total flow, and is obtained from the ratio of regional count rate to arterial indicator input to a region. This index is a more sensitive indicator of impaired perfusion than the traditional flow rate indices which express flow per unit mass of tissue per minute.

133Xenon inhalation method. Analysis of reproducibility: some of its physiological implications.

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was simultaneously measured at seven locations in each hemisphere by the Obrist 133Xenon inhalation method. In each of 35 healthy right-handed subjects two rest measurements were performed on consecutive days. The data analysis comprises the two-compartmentally derived parameters for flow (f1), relative tissue weight (w1), and fractional flow (FF1) respectively of the first compartment, and in addition the initial slope index (ISI).

Ultrasound in the diagnosis of malignant pancreatic tumours.

Ultrasonic scanning of the upper abdomen is a valuable method in diagnosing malignant pancreatic tumours. A series of 12 patients is presented. The method also provides information about the size of the gallbladder and the condition of the liver parenchyma.