Serial Tap Test of patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus: impact on cognitive function and its meaning.

Background: Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (INPH) is characterized by gait disturbance, urinary incontinence and cognitive decline. Symptoms are potentially reversible and treatment is based on cerebrospinal fluid shunting. The tap test (TT) is used to identify patients that will benefit from surgery.

Salomón Hakim: the man behind normal pressure hydrocephalus.

The illustrious Colombian Professor Salomón Hakim provided the annals of neurology with one of the most brilliant and original bodies of research on record, developing the concept of normal pressure hydrocephalus, as well as proving that ventricular shunting is an effective treatment. Thus, Professor Hakim proved that some of the dementias, at that time considered senile, could be successfully treated. Here the authors present an historical review of his main contributions, which continue to influence the study of dementia to this day.

Gait in normal pressure hydrocephalus: characteristics and effects of the CSF tap test.

Introduction: Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), described by Hakim and Adams in 1965, is characterized by gait apraxia, urinary incontinence, and dementia. It is associated with normal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure and ventricular dilation that cannot be attributed to cerebral atrophy.

Objectives: To evaluate gait characteristics in patients with idiopathic NPH and investigate the effect of the CSF tap test (CSF-TT) on gait.

Patient satisfaction with temporal lobectomy/selective amygdalohippocampectomy for temporal lobe epilepsy and its relationship with Engel classification and the side of lobectomy.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate not only the effectiveness of epilepsy surgery in improving seizure control but also patient satisfaction with the result of the procedure in a sample of patients operated on at a specialized epilepsy unit.

Methods: Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy who had undergone epilepsy surgery (temporal lobectomy/amygdalohippocampectomy) were interviewed in a standardized telephone survey about their satisfaction with the results of the surgery. The morbidity of the surgery was also analyzed retrospectively.

Vagus nerve stimulation may be a sound therapeutic option in the treatment of refractory epilepsy.

Introduction: Refractory epilepsy accounts for 20 to 30% of epilepsy cases and remains a challenge for neurologists. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an option for palliative treatment.

Objective: It was to study the efficacy and tolerability of VNS in patients implanted with a stimulator at the Curitiba Institute of Neurology (INC).

"Hot-water epilepsy ", "warm-water epilepsy", or bathing epilepsy? Report of three cases and considerations regarding an old theme.

Partial and generalized tonic-clonic reflex seizures related to hot water bathing have been described as temperature-related. We describe three cases of bathing epilepsy: a 28 year-old white male and a 30 year-old white female with spells triggered either by warm or hot water, and a 32 year-old female with spells triggered by hot water. The later two of the three cases presented localized epilepsy and a familial history of epilepsy.

[Functional magnetic resonance imaging in the determination of dominant language cerebral area].

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technique for detecting minimal changes in brain perfusion and oxygenation secondary to neuronal activation. Its application in the pre-surgical evaluation of epileptic patients with temporal mesial sclerosis is currently being under investigation in several centers. This study aims to describe an activation paradigm for the evaluation of language and memory functions, as an alternative to the worldwide used Wada test, which is an invasive procedure.