Intraventricular Cavernomas of the Third Ventricle: Report of 2 Cases and a Systematic Review of the Literature.

Background: Intraventricular cavernous malformations are relatively rare benign vascular malformations. Patients may be asymptomatic or present with headache, seizure, hemorrhage, or neurologic deficits. We report 2 cases of patients with cavernomas in the third ventricle and at the foramen of Monro.

Multidisciplinary protocol for rapid head computed tomography turnaround time in acute stroke patients.

Background: The door-to-computed tomography (CT) head reporting time is an essential step to determining eligibility for thrombolysis in acute stroke patients, but the specific components of the process have not been reported in detail.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of the prospectively collected Get-With-The-Guidelines database in our comprehensive stroke center to evaluate the effect of a structured multidisciplinary protocol on head CT times in acute stroke patients under consideration for thrombolysis.

Results: The median CT turnaround time in the first 6-month period was 27 (interquartile range [IQR], 27) and decreased in all subsequent periods after implementation of a formal protocol to 18 (IQR, 12; range, 17-20 minutes; P < .

Pure red cell aplasia associated with parvovirus B19 infection occurring late after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

Differential diagnosis for anemia late after allogeneic stem cell transplantation is broad. In this report, we describe a case of severe anemia secondary to pure red cell aplasia associated with human parvovirus B19 infection over 8 years after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Characteristics of parvovirus B19 infection and the immunosuppressed state after allogeneic stem cell transplantation are reviewed.

Cigarette smoking exacerbates and its cessation ameliorates renal injury in type 2 diabetes.

Background: Patients with type 2 diabetes and macroalbuminuria generally experience progressive glomerular filtration rate (GFR) decline despite angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition (ACEI) and blood pressure (BP) control but this therapy generally stabilizes GFR in those without macroalbuminuria. Cigarette smoking exacerbates GFR decline in patients with type 2 diabetes and macroalbuminuria despite ACEI and BP control; whether this therapy prevents nephropathy progression in nonmacroalbuminuric type 2 diabetic smokers is unknown.

Methods: We determined the course of urine excretion of indices of renal injury that distinguished patients with type 2 diabetes with and without macroalbuminuria but with normal plasma creatinine who were prospectively followed 6 months while receiving ACEI and BP control.