Lp(a) lipoprotein and plasminogen activity in patients with different etiology of ischemic stroke.

Background And Purpose: Lp(a) lipoprotein plays an important part in atherothrombogenesis and is considered an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease. However, its role in cerebrovascular disease remains unclear, in particular because of the heterogeneous nature of strokes. We investigated whether elevated Lp(a) is more frequent in ischemic stroke related to atherothrombosis than in other etiologies of stroke.

Impaired cerebral glucose metabolism in eclampsia: a new finding in two cases.

The pathophysiology of the reversible neurological manifestation in eclamptic women remains unclear. We report on 2 women with eclampsia who were repetitively examined by (1) transcranial Doppler (TCD), (2) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including T1- and T2-weighted images, fluid attenuated inversion recovery sequence, dynamic susceptibility-weighted perfusion imaging and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), and (3) (18)fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). In both cases repetitive TCD revealed no signs of vasospasm; the same was true for MRA.

Echo contrast-enhanced transcranial ultrasound: frequency of use, diagnostic benefit, and validity of results compared with MRA.

Background And Purpose: The present study was undertaken to determine the frequency of use of the ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) Levovist in routine transcranial ultrasound (TU). Additionally, we evaluated the diagnostic validity of contrast-enhanced TU using 3-dimensional time of flight MR angiography.

Methods: Indication for the UCA was an insufficient evaluation of the intracranial arteries after a combined approach with transcranial color-coded Duplex and transcranial Doppler examination.

Unusual presentation of carcinomatous meningitis: case report and review of typical CSF findings.

This paper describes a previously unreported clinical onset of carcinomatous meningitis with bilateral deafness. Typical changes in the cerebrospinal fluid aside from positive cytology findings are reviewed. In cases of suspected carcinomatous meningitis the clustering of increased CSF protein, lactate, decreased glucose, and a high opening pressure is suggestive of the diagnosis.

Post-partum cerebral angiopathy: repetitive TCD, MRI, MRA, and EEG examinations.

We report of a woman with post-partum cerebral angiopathy (PCA), in whom we repetitively performed transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD), MR imaging (MRI), and MR angiography (MRA) to evaluate the underlying pathophysiology. A 31-year-old woman, Gemini pregnant, complained of severe throbbing frontal headache four days after an uneventful delivery by Cesarean section. Blurred vision occurred eight days after delivery, followed by three generalized tonic-clonic seizures.