Neovascularization From the Carotid Artery Lumen Into the Carotid Plaque Confirmed by Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound and Histology.

Objective: This study was aimed at assessing intraplaque neovessels, focusing on neovascularization from the vascular luminal side using contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and determining that this contrast effect indicates that the neovessel is connected to the vessel lumen histopathologically. Whether plaque vulnerability can be assessed more accurately was also investigated.

Methods: We enrolled consecutive patients with internal carotid artery stenosis who underwent carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and pre-operative CEUS with perflubutane of the carotid arteries.

Interictal epileptiform discharges as a predictive biomarker for recurrence of poststroke epilepsy.

Poststroke epilepsy is a major ischaemic/haemorrhagic stroke complication. Seizure recurrence risk estimation and early therapeutic intervention are critical, given the association of poststroke epilepsy with worse functional outcomes, quality of life and greater mortality. Several studies have reported risk factors for seizure recurrence; however, in poststroke epilepsy, the role of EEG in predicting the risk of seizures remains unclear.

A Single-center Analysis of Three Japanese Patients with Mahjong-related Seizures.

Mahjong is one of the most popular Chinese tile games played in Japan. Mahjong-related seizures (MRS) are rare praxis-induced seizures. We identified three patients with MRS from February 2000 to February 2021.

mutation in a Japanese woman: Adult-onset focal epilepsy coexisting with movement disorders and cerebellar atrophy.

Proline-rich transmembrane protein 2 () was confirmed as the causative gene of paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia (PKD) as shown by genome-wide linkage analyses. mutations are also associated with benign familial infantile seizures, infantile convulsions and choreoathetosis, and childhood absence epilepsy, but few reports have investigated adult-onset epilepsy. We describe here a rare presentation of adult-onset focal epilepsy with a mutation in a 31-year-old woman who showed cerebellar atrophy, familial paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia, and paroxysmal non-kinesigenic dystonia.

Right parietal source in Mahjong-induced seizure: a system epilepsy of focal origin.

Mahjong, a game similar to bridge and chess in Western cultures, can cause reflex seizure. We report a case of Mahjong-induced seizures with the first documentation of ictal electroencephalography (EEG) findings, which showed secondarily generalized partial seizure of the right parietal origin.

Seizure Outcomes and Predictors of Recurrent Post-Stroke Seizure: A Retrospective Observational Cohort Study.

Background: Seizure is a common complication after stroke (termed "post-stroke seizure," PSS). Although many studies have assessed outcomes and risk factors of PSS, no reliable predictors are currently available to determine PSS recurrence. We compared baseline clinical characteristics and post-stroke treatment regimens between recurrent and non-recurrent PSS patients to identify factors predictive of recurrence.

Month of birth in multiple sclerosis with and without longitudinally extensive spinal cord lesions: a study of a Japanese national survey.

Objectives: Month of birth has been associated with the environmental factors for multiple sclerosis (MS). This study aimed to investigate whether individuals with MS had significantly different frequencies of birth in a particular month of the year, and whether month-of-birth patterns were influenced by the longitudinally extensive spinal cord lesions (LESCL) status relative to the general population in the same Japanese birth cohort.

Methods: In this study, performed as a part of the fourth Japanese nationwide survey of MS, patients were divided into two groups according to the presence (n=307) or absence (n=906) of LESCLs that were diagnosed on the basis of magnetic resonance imaging findings.

[Brain MRI findings in Japanese patients with clinically isolated syndrome].

Treatment of patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) with disease modifying drugs including interferon β delays conversion to clinically definite multiple sclerosis (MS). However, CIS patients do not necessarily develop MS even after 20 years. Brain MRI lesions were required for CIS patients to include in clinical trials such as CHAMPS study and BENEFIT study.

[Rapid improvement by rituximab treatment in a case of demyelinating polyneuropathy with anti-myelin-associated glycoprotein antibody].

Polyneuropathy associated with antibodies directed against myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) is a chronic symmetric sensorimotor demyelinating neuropathy caused by monoclonal IgM against MAG (anti-MAG neuropathy). Intravenous immunoglobulin therapy (IVIg) has been partially successful in patients with anti-MAG neuropathy. A placebo-controlled trial of rituximab in patients with anti-MAG neuropathy has been reported.

[A case of neuromyelitis optica with varicella zoster virus meningitis during mitoxantrone treatment].

A 36-year-old woman with neuromyelitis optica had been treated with steroids for the prevention of relapse. However, her treatment was not effective and she showed adverse effects such as diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, compression fractures, and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. Therefore, we started her on mitoxantrone treatment.

[Anti-NMDA receptor antibody encephalitis with recurrent optic neuritis and epilepsy].

A previously healthy, 10-year-old girl developed left optic neuritis that treated with oral prednisolon (PSL). During the following 8 months, the patient exhibited right optic neuritis 3 days after discontinuation of PSL therapy and three episodes of epileptic seizures 3 weeks after PSL withdrawal Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination revealed pleocytosis (mononuclear cells), increased IgG index, and positive oligoclonal IgG expression. Brain MRI showed multiple cortical, subcortical, and leptomeningeal enhanced lesions.