Publications by authors named "Lynette Masters"

Modern management of MS targets No Evidence of Disease Activity (NEDA): no clinical relapses, no magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) disease activity and no disability worsening. While MRI is the principal tool available to neurologists for monitoring clinically silent MS disease activity and, where appropriate, escalating treatment, standard radiology reports are qualitative and may be insensitive to the development of new or enlarging lesions. Existing quantitative neuroimaging tools lack adequate clinical validation.

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There are clinical and radiological phenotypes characteristic of neurosarcoidosis. Histopathologic confirmation is preferred, however, biopsy is associated with a significant risk of morbidity when only eloquent neural structures are involved and where there is no systemic disease. We present a series of patients with isolated neurosarcoidosis and suggest circumstances where an empirical, closely monitored, trial of tumour-necrosis-factor-alpha inhibitor therapy can improve outcome and diagnostic confidence.

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Lesions in the corpus callosum (CC) are important radiological clues to the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), but may also occur in other neuroinflammatory and non-neuroinflammatory conditions. In this article, we discuss the radiological features of lesions within the CC in MS and other central nervous system inflammatory and acquired demyelinating diseases. An understanding of the appearance and location of lesions in the CC is important not only for accurate diagnosis and treatment of these various conditions, but as it also provides insights into pathogenesis.

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Objectives: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been suggested as a new promising tool in MS that may provide greater pathological specificity than conventional MRI, helping, therefore, to elucidate disease pathogenesis and monitor therapeutic efficacy. However, the pathological substrates that underpin alterations in brain tissue diffusivity are not yet fully delineated. Tract-specific DTI analysis has previously been proposed in an attempt to alleviate this problem.

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We describe a patient with dysplastic cerebellar gangliocytoma (Lhermitte-Duclos disease) who presented with an acute onset of positional disequilibrium. Video-oculography in the right Hallpike position revealed rightward torsional down-beat nystagmus, initially thought to be right anterior canal benign positional vertigo. However, the presence of spontaneous nystagmus, the persistent character of the positional nystagmus and the absence of fatigability indicated central positional nystagmus, attributable to his right-sided Lhermitte-Duclos disease.

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Objective: To investigate the potential links between thinning of retinal ganglion cell axons in eyes of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) without past optic neuritis (ON) and MS-related inflammatory damage of the posterior visual pathway.

Methods: Temporal retinal nerve fiber layer (tRNFL) thickness was analyzed in eyes with no history of ON (NON) from 53 patients with relapsing-remitting MS. Fifty normal age- and sex-matched controls were examined with optical coherence tomography.

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Sellar aspergillosis is a rare infection commonly mistaken for a pituitary tumour. We present a rare case of pituitary fossa Aspergillus fumigatus mycetoma in an immunocompetent 90-year-old female, who presented with headaches. Magnetic resonance imaging scans demonstrated an enhancing pituitary fossa mass that appeared to infiltrate the sphenoid sinus, suggestive of an invasive tumour.

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Low pressure headache typically occurs as a complication of dural puncture. "Spontaneous" low pressure headache is a relatively rare but under-recognised cause of intractable headache. Clinical suspicion of this condition warrants imaging of the brain to confirm the diagnosis; spinal imaging may be needed to identify the site of the leak.

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Chronic lymphocytic inflammation with pontine perivascular enhancement responsive to steroids (CLIPPERS) is a recently described inflammatory disease of the CNS with a predilection for the hindbrain and responsive to immunotherapy. Five further cases are described with detailed pathology and long term evaluation. CLIPPERS does not represent a benign condition, and without chronic immunosuppression the disease may relapse.

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A 49-year-old, HIV-negative woman with sarcoidosis presented with a subacute unilateral cerebellar syndrome. A brain MRI revealed a hyperintense lesion without mass effect in the left cerebellar hemisphere, but no pathology above the tentorium. Steroid therapy for presumed neurosarcoidosis was ineffective and the patient deteriorated progressively.

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Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system that is usually considered a monophasic disease. ADEM forms one of several categories of primary inflammatory demyelinating disorders of the central nervous system including multiple sclerosis, optic neuropathy, acute transverse myelitis, and neuromyelitis optica (Devic's disease). Post-infectious and post-immunisation encephalomyelitis make up about three-quarters of cases, where the timing of a febrile event is associated with the onset of neurological disease.

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Two adult patients with a background history of astrocytomas treated with resection and cranial irradiation, 18 and 16 years previously, presented with acute onset of headache associated with prolonged neurological deficits, including dysphasia and right hemiparesis. The first patient also developed seizures while in hospital. In both patients, magnetic resonance imaging brain scans failed to show evidence of acute ischaemia or tumour recurrence and symptoms reversed completely after 1 month and 7 days, respectively.

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The authors report the unique case of a patient with a thoracic spinal dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF) causing remote brainstem symptoms of positional vomiting and minimal vertigo. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the brain demonstrated high signal abnormality in the medulla, presumably related to venous hypertension, and spinal MR imaging revealed markedly dilated veins along the dorsal aspect of the cord. Spinal angiography confirmed the presence of a thoracic spinal DAVF.

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