[Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) with anti-Yo antibodies in ovarian carcinoma].

We report the case of 71-year old Caucasian woman with ovarian cancer, who developed paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD). Pathognomonical anti Yo antibodies could be identified in serum specimens. We describe the history and clinical presentation and summarise the disease.

[Superficial cerebral hemosiderosis: a rare cause of ataxia or hypoacusis].

Superficial siderosis of the central nervous system (SSC) typically involves slowly progressive ataxia, hypoacusis and dementia, possibly with pyramidal signs and sphincter disturbances in combination with xanthochromic CSF with siderophages. However, there are also atypical oligosymptomatic forms. Before the era of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diagnosis was only possible at autopsy.

[Immediate and long-term results of carotid endarterectomy: the Zurich experience].

Extracardial carotid artery disease is a frequent cause of transient ischemic attack and of cerebral infarction. The records of 485 patients who underwent carotid endarterectomy between 1978 and 1991 were reviewed, with special attention to both cardiac and neurological complications. 432 patients had symptomatic carotid disease whereas 53 were asymptomatic but presented with significant carotid stenosis or a large ulceration at doppler-duplex examination and/or angiography.

Combined carotid and coronary artery surgery: early and late results.

Patients with coronary artery disease can exhibit substantial vascular involvement; and vascular patients have a high incidence of coronary disease. Combined coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and treatment of extracranial cerebrovascular disease was performed in 52 patients, presenting strong indications for surgical treatment of coronary artery disease and symptomatic carotid disease and/or asymptomatic carotid bruit that reflected an ulcerative lesion or stenosis exceeding 75%. Overall hospital mortality was 3.

[Triplegia in bilateral anterior-media watershed infarcts].

Deterioration of a neurologic deficit was observed in a 47-year-old patient with high-grade bilateral internal carotid artery stenoses. She presented monoplegia of the right leg with progression to triplegia (bicrural and left arm) following antihypertensive treatment of a suspected "hypertensive crisis". Triplegia is a very rare syndrome and highly suggestive of bilateral pathology of the carotid arteries.

[Vertebrobasilar circulatory disorders. Diagnosis--pathogenesis--therapy].

Disturbances of the vertebrobasilar circulation are often seen by the general physician and usually described as "vertebrobasilar insufficiency" (VBI). However, the term VBI is only a description of a syndrome and not a definitive diagnosis. It is emphasized that on therapeutic grounds the different etiologies and pathogenesis of this syndrome should be searched for carefully by adequate examination, including clinical findings, extra- and intracranial cerebrovascular doppler sonography, computed tomography, possibly intraarterial digital angiography and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, and laboratory examinations.

Bitemporal hypoperfusion in transient global amnesia: 99m-Tc-HM-PAO SPECT and neuropsychological findings during and after an attack.

We report a patient who was evaluated neuropsychologically and with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) during and after an episode of transient global amnesia. During the attack, there was patchy retrograde amnesia and an inability to learn both verbal and non-verbal material. SPECT showed severe bitemporal hypoperfusion.

[Carotid artery dissection. Case examples and review].

"Spontaneous" dissection of the internal carotid artery is a not unusual cause of stroke, particularly in younger subjects. Initial signs are typical, whereas the spectrum of neurological deficits is wide. Three selected case records are presented which demonstrate the spectrum of symptoms and the management of this disease.

[Musculi longus capitis et splenius of the rat and innervating motoneurons (author's transl)].

The nuclei for the nerves of a dorsal (m. splenius) and a ventral (m. longus capitis) neck muscle of the rat were retrogradely labeled by applying horseradish peroxidase (HRP) to the respective cut muscle nerves.