[Effect of phenytoin and carbamazepine on evoked potentials in patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy. Part II. Brainstem auditory evoked potentials].

Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) were studied in 64 untreated epileptics with partial (58) and primary generalized seizures (6). Patients were randomized to have either phenytoin (PHT) or carbamazepine (CBZ) monotherapy. Follow-up recordings were made 3 months after PHT (21) or CBZ (22) monotherapy in 43 patients with partial seizures.

[Effect of phenytoin and carbamazepine on evoked potentials in patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy. Part I. Visual evoked potentials].

Pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded in 64 patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy. Before starting medication the patients with partial and primary generalized epilepsy, had prolonged latencies of the VEPs component P100, as compared with controls. VEPs were repeated after 3 months in 43 patients with focal epilepsy, during carbamazepine (22 cases) or phenytoin (21 cases) treatment.

[Effect of hemodialysis on somatosensory evoked potentials of medium and long latency].

In 16 patients with terminal renal failure aged from 21 to 74 years maintained on haemodialysis programmes for 2 to 60 months somatosensory evoked potentials were studied after stimulation of the median nerve immediately before and after haemodialysis. The central conduction time, the P 45-N 60, P 100-N 140-P 200 complexes and the P 300 wave were evaluated. The results were compared with those in 16 healthy volunteers aged 20 to 66 years.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in young people.

Three neuropathologically confirmed cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in young people (19, 23, and 27 years of age) are described. None had received pituitary hormone therapy. At the onset of illness all patients were suspected of having SSPE or other viral encephalitis, because of the similarity of clinical symptomatology and the shift towards older age of SSPE onsets observed in Poland in recent years.

[Surgically treated epidural hematoma of the spinal cord at the Th1-Th2 levels associated with arachnoid cyst].

In a man aged 28 clinical picture, myelography and computerized myelotomography demonstrated epidural haematoma at the level of Th1-Th2 vertebrae with associated arachnoidal cyst. Owing to initially erroneous diagnosis of transverse myelitis the haematoma was diagnosed only after 7 days and removed surgically with simultaneous evacuation of the cyst. The therapeutic result was minimal.

[The Tolosa-Hunt syndrome. Case report].

A case of headaches with recurrent paralysis of cranial nerves III, IV, V and VI is reported. A good therapeutic effect was obtained with corticoids. After ruling out other diseases and causes of ophthalmoplegia the Tolosa-Hunt syndrome was diagnosed.

[Familial occurrence of calcinosis of the basal ganglia].

In two sisters aged 36 and 38 years symmetrical calcifications were found in the vicinity of the pallidum in brain CT. In the younger sister epileptic seizures and transient focal signs were due to arrhythmias of the heart caused by mitral valve leaflet prolapse. In the second case no neurological signs were found.

[A case of cerebral cysticercosis treated with praziquantel in the postoperative period].

A 51-year-old man with cerebellar signs and raised intracranial pressure had negative indirect and serological tests for cysticercosis. During operation cysticerci were removed from the cisterna magna, fourth ventricle and aqueduct. Histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of cysticercosis.

[Familial cerebellar ataxia: clinical, radiological and electrophysiological findings].

A family with cerebellar ataxia of late onset occurring in four generations was observed. Neurological abnormalities included signs of cerebellar ataxia, pyramidal tract damage and damage to the peripheral motor neuron. Computerized tomography demonstrated in five out of six studied patients an image suggesting olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy.

[Neurologic symptoms in lithium poisoning].

A 69-year-old female patient is reported who had been treated with lithium salts for bipolar affective disease. During hospital stay due to myocardial infarction in cardiology department signs of intoxication with lithium carbonate developed. Parkinsonian syndrome and amnesia with abnormal EEG tracings were observed.

Cerebellar atrophy diagnosed by computed tomography and clinical data.

The diagnostic relevance of computed tomography (CT) in the classification of cerebellar atrophy or degeneration is unclear. Twenty-one patients with cerebellar atrophy at CT were studied and the findings were correlated to clinical data. Based upon such data the material was divided into two groups.

[A case of acute necrotizing encephalitis caused by herpes simplex virus--a clinico-morphological analysis].

The authors report a detailed clinico-morphological analysis of a case of acute necrotizing encephalitis caused by herpes virus. The diagnosis was based on a high titre of antibodies against the antigen of Herpes virus and on changes in computer tomograms. It was confirmed by gross and microscopic examinations of the brain.

[Fisher's syndrome].

The authors describe a 43-year-old man with ophthalmoplegia, ataxia and areflexia and with 0.42 g/l of protein in the cerebrospinal fluid. EMG disclosed some slowing down of the conduction velocity in the motor fibres of the extremities.

[Comparative evaluation of seizure provocation methods with sleep deprivation and Brietal in epileptics].

In 10 patients with suspected epilepsy in whom routine EEG investigations failed to demonstrate changes the sleep deprivation method and intravenous injection of 1% Brietal solution were used as provocation methods. The efficiency of both methods was compared. In cases in which sleep deprivation provoked appearance of pathological changes Brietal gave a similar result but evoked more frequently the manifestation of focal changes.