Vestibular Nucleus Involvement in Patients With Acute Vertigo Due to Herpes Zoster Oticus or Vestibular Neuritis.

Objectives: Herpes zoster oticus (HZO) typically provokes vestibular symptoms and is traditionally viewed as a cranial nerve equivalent of shingles, but in contrast to vestibular neuritis (VN), it is unclear whether the pathology of HZO is limited to the vestibular nerve (neuritis) or can also involve the brainstem (nucleitis).

Methods: We retrospectively compared brain MRIs of patients with HZO with those of patients with VN to study radiologic changes in the brainstem.

Results: Five of 10 patients with HZO showed signal abnormalities in the vestibular nuclei, which lie in multiple vascular territories, whereas no patients with VN exhibited such findings.

Morphologic Variations in the Circle of Willis as a Risk Factor for Aneurysm Rupture in the Anterior and Posterior Communicating Arteries.

Background: Intracranial aneurysms are acquired abnormal vascular dilations. The most dangerous complication of a cerebral aneurysm is its rupture, with a high rate of mortality. This study aimed to determine whether there is an association between anatomic variations in the circle of Willis and ruptured aneurysms in the anterior and posterior communicating arteries.

Accuracy of nigrosome-1 detection to discriminate patients with Parkinson's disease and essential tremor.

Purpose: The use of susceptibility weighted imaging in high field magnetic resonance imaging scanners can detect the nigrosome-1 area located in the caudo-lateral region of the pars compacta in the substantia nigra. This structure comprises a significant amount of dopaminergic neurons and degenerates in the early stages of Parkinson's disease. Essential tremor is a neurological condition that in some cases could be confused with the early stages of Parkinson's disease with a possible error in clinical diagnosis.