Purpose: To evaluate the safety and potential beneficial effect of topiramate (TPM) as monotherapy or adjunctive therapy to carbamazepine (CBZ) in patients with cerebellar tremor.
Methods: Nine patients with cerebellar tremor participated a 4-week, open-label, prospective-controlled trial. TPM was given as monotherapy (n=7 cases), or in combination with CBZ (n=2 cases), at dosages ranging from 25 mg twice daily to 100 mg twice daily. The severity of tremor was assessed clinically on a 0-4 scale, by tremograms, by the Patients Global Impressions Scale, and by a "free writing" task at baseline and after 4 weeks.
Results: TPM was discontinued in four patients due to adverse effects (sedation=2; cognitive impairment=2; increased aggressiveness=2; asthenia=1). During TPM, all patients improved. The mean tremor amplitude, compared with the baseline period, was reduced from 20% to 75%. After TPM, mean clinical scores of postural tremor and kinetic tremor decreased from 2.1+/-0.8 to 0.9+/-0.9 and from 2.1+/-1 to 1.4+/-1 (P<.05), respectively. All patients with head tremor improved. Writing, eating, and drawing were improved with TPM. Four patients chose to keep taking the drug.
Conclusions: Our study indicates that TPM may be useful for the management of cerebellar tremors. A prospective placebo-controlled trial of TPM in this kind of tremor is warranted. TPM dosages should be titrated slowly to avoid the potential side effects of the drug. The range and the frequency of adverse events might limit the clinical usefulness of TPM.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0278-5846(03)00170-2 | DOI Listing |
Schizophr Bull
January 2025
Department of Radiology, and Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Background And Hypothesis: Identifying biomarkers at onset and specifying the progression over the early course of schizophrenia is critical for better understanding of illness pathophysiology and providing novel information relevant to illness prognosis and treatment selection. Studies of antipsychotic-naïve first-episode schizophrenia in China are making contributions to this goal.
Study Design: A review was conducted for how antipsychotic-naïve first-episode patients were identified and studied, the investigated biological measures, with a focus on neuroimaging, and how they extend the understanding of schizophrenia regarding the illness-related brain abnormality, treatment effect characterization and outcome prediction, and subtype discovery and patient stratification, in comparison to findings from western populations.
Mov Disord
January 2025
Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
Background: Pose estimation algorithms applied to two-dimensional videos evaluate gait disturbances; however, a few studies have used this method to evaluate ataxic gait.
Objective: The aim was to assess whether a pose estimation algorithm can predict the severity of cerebellar ataxia by applying it to gait videos.
Methods: We video-recorded 66 patients with degenerative cerebellar diseases performing the timed up-and-go test.
Turk Neurosurg
March 2024
SBÜ Gaziosmanpaşa Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi.
Erdheim-Chester Disease is a rare systemic xanthogranulomatous infiltrating disease, characterized by lipid-laden histiocytes accumulating in various organs and almost always in bones. Etiology of the disease is still unknown. It may involve various organs and systems, such as musculoskeletal, cardiac, pulmonary, renal, gastrointestinal and central nervous system (CNS) as well as the skin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRadiol Case Rep
March 2025
Maimonides Medical Center, Department of Radiology 4802 10th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11219, USA.
Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis is a form of advanced metastatic disease conferring poor prognosis, most commonly associated with melanoma, small cell lung cancer, and breast cancer. In rare cases it has been shown to be associated with stroke thought to be related to vasculopathy caused by tumoral infiltration of cerebral vasculature. We present a case of acute cerebellar infarction in a patient with metastatic breast cancer complicated by leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, admitted for worsening metastatic disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Neurol
January 2025
School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China.
Background: Cognitive impairment (CI) is a condition in which an individual experiences noticeable impairment in thinking abilities. Long-term exposure to aluminum (Al) can cause CI. This study aimed to determine the relationship between CI and MRI-related changes in postroom workers exposed to Al.
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