Pattern-induced partial seizures with repetitive affectionate kissing: an unusual manifestation of right temporal lobe epilepsy.

We report a case of recurrent partial seizures that were often precipitated by looking up a flight of stairs and included spitting as well as repetitive affectionate kissing automatisms. These seizures were shown by long-term video/EEG monitoring to be of right temporal origin and completely subsided after right temporal lobectomy. This case is unique because: (1) The patient had partial rather than primarily generalized pattern-induced seizures.

Nasopharyngeal cancer in the Middle East: experience of the American University of Beirut Medical Center.

Purpose: To review the data of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated at the American University of Beirut Medical Center and reflect on the characteristics and treatment outcome of NPC in the Middle East compared with those of Western countries and countries in which NPC is endemic.

Methods And Materials: Between 1966 and 1998, 151 patients with the diagnosis of NPC received definitive radiotherapy at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. Of the 151 patients, 111 were males (gender ratio, 2.

Pamidronate in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced bone loss in premenopausal women with breast cancer: a randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: Mortality from breast cancer has decreased in large part because of adjuvant chemotherapy. Sequelae of therapy include ovarian failure and bone loss, loss that would increase these patients' risk of fracture with aging. In this study, we assessed the efficacy of pamidronate in preventing such loss.

Hydroxyurea-induced hemolytic anemia in a patient with essential thrombocythemia.

Hydroxyurea (HU) has been used in patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET) to reduce the frequency and severity of thrombotic complications of the disease. It acts by causing bone marrow depression, resulting in a decrease in platelet and leukocyte counts and in anemia with megaloblastosis. Herein we report a case of an 80-year-old man with ET who developed severe hemolytic anemia requiring multiple packed RBC transfusions while being treated with HU.

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura: 24 years of experience at the American University of Beirut Medical Center.

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a hematological syndrome defined by the presence of thrombocytopenia and microangiopathic hemolytic anemia without a clinically apparent etiology. Patients may also suffer from fever in addition to neurological and renal impairment. Treatment should be initiated as soon as possible, otherwise this rare disease can be fatal.

Cisplatin plus vinorelbine (PVn) as a salvage regimen for refractory breast cancer.

Breast cancer is regarded as a systemic disease even when tumors are completely resected. In patients with advanced breast cancer the overall prognosis is poor, but the disease is not uniformly fatal. Vinorelbine has proved to be effective when given as a single agent in this setting.

Cancer incidence in postwar Lebanon: findings from the first national population-based registry, 1998.

Purpose: Cancer incidence rates in Lebanon have been lacking for over three decades. National data based on a total of 4388 cases diagnosed during the year 1998 were reviewed and analyzed.

Methods: Crude and age-standardized rates (ASRs) per 100,000 population were calculated and results were contrasted with estimates from developed and selected developing countries in the region.

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and pregnancy: report of four cases and literature review.

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a severe life-threatening hematological disorder affecting the microcirculation of multiple organ systems. Infection, pregnancy, cancer, drugs, and surgery are frequently associated with the initial episodes and relapses. Women who are either pregnant or in the postpartum period make up 10-25% of TTP patients, suggesting the interrelationship between TTP and pregnancy.

Successful treatment of B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia with monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody.

We report a patient with B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (PLL) who was treated successfully with the monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody (rituximab). The patient had recurrent infections due to relative neutropenia, secondary to bone marrow infiltration. After treatment with monoclonal anti-CD20 antibodies (rituximab) 375 mg/m(2) weekly for 4 weeks, complete remission was obtained.

Novel mutation, L371V, causing multigenerational Gaucher disease in a Lebanese family.

We have identified six individuals over three generations within a Lebanese-Arab family affected with Gaucher disease. This family is unusual and informative because affected members are homozygous for a previously unidentified mutation, L371V. Clinical symptoms begin in early childhood and progress to moderately severe involvement by young adulthood.

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and ovarian cancer.

The association of ovarian carcinoma with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is rare. There have been different case reports indicating an association between solid tumors and ITP. We report a case of a 47-year-old woman diagnosed with ovarian cancer who presented with abdominal distention and thrombocytopenia.

Transfusion-associated GVHD: 10 years' experience at the American University of Beirut-Medical Center.

Background: Although rare, transfusion-associated GVHD (TA-GVHD) is a fatal complication of blood transfusion in which active lymphocytes from the donor attack and destroy recipient organs and tissues.

Study Design And Methods: A search of patient records was carried out at the American University of Beirut-Medical Center, looking for patients who developed TA-GVHD over a 10-year period extending from 1991 to 2001. Relevant information was collected and analyzed.

Nail toxicity related to taxanes.

A 70-year-old woman with non-small-cell lung cancer developed severe nail toxicity while she was being treated with docetaxel at three-week intervals. Docetaxel is a chemotherapeutic agent of the taxane family. Taxanes are well known to cause nail changes, but mainly when used on a weekly basis.

Stages of status epilepticus in the developing brain.

Background: Adult rats undergo five distinct electrographic stages during status epilepticus (SE). Whether developing animals manifest those stages is not yet known.

Goals: Determine in the kainic acid (KA) model: (1) the EEG stages of SE in P15 and P35 rats; (2) the relative susceptibilities of these two age groups to develop SE; and (3) the effect of phenobarbital on SE stages.

Age distribution of breast cancer in Lebanon: increased percentages and age adjusted incidence rates of younger-aged groups at presentation.

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Lebanese women. Lebanon has no national cancer registry and the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) is one of the largest hospitals in Lebanon and has a fully operational cancer registry. Earlier studies showed that it sees about one third of all cancer cases in Lebanon.

IgM myeloma and Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia: a distinct clinical feature, histology, immunophenotype, and chromosomal abnormality.

Multiple myeloma represents a malignant proliferation of plasma cells derived from a single clone within the bone marrow. While the cause of myeloma is not known, interleukin 6 may play a role in driving myeloma cell proliferation. Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (WM) is a proliferative disease of B-lymphocytes.