Prevention of postprandial hypotension-related syncope by caffeine in a patient with long-standing diabetes mellitus.

A 74-year-old man who had type 2 diabetes mellitus of a duration of 20 years was admitted for syncope after eating a high carbohydrate meal. Although he had had episodes of pallor or syncope after carbohydrate-rich meals, such as with large amounts of white rice, several times within a year and he had been taken to hospitals emergently, the etiology of these episodes had remained unclear despite his undergoing several studies. Studies did show severe orthostatic hypotension during the head-up tilt test and a decrease in the coefficient of variation of the R-R interval (CVR-R) on resting electrocardiogram, suggesting severe autonomic nervous dysfunction.

Functional neuroimaging in Rasmussen syndrome.

Purpose: For a diagnosis of Rasmussen syndrome (RS), clinical course together with electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings are considered important, but there are few reports on functional neuroimaging. This study investigated cerebral blood flow (CBF)-single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), central benzodiazepine receptor (BZR)-SPECT, and fluorine-18 fluorodeoxy glucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in RS patients, and correlated neuroimaging results with MRI and pathological findings.

Methods: Twenty-three patients diagnosed with RS according to Bien's (2005) diagnostic criteria (including 12 patients with a histological diagnosis) were studied.

PET in infancy predicts long-term outcome during adolescence in cryptogenic West syndrome.

Background And Purpose: Developmental and seizure outcomes in patients with cryptogenic West syndrome are variable. Our aim was to clarify the relationship between FDG-PET findings in infancy and long-term seizure and developmental outcome in cryptogenic West syndrome.

Materials And Methods: From 1991 to 1999, we prospectively performed FDG-PET from the onset of cryptogenic West syndrome in 27 patients.

[Efficacy of new antiepileptic drugs and the next generation drugs].

Recent development and success in the field of new antiepileptic drug treatment, has resulted in the commercialization of many new drugs. The efficacy of these drugs has been assessed in many countries. Despite the progress in USA and European countries, a time lag of approximately 10 years concerning these new drugs exists in Japan.