1/14. Phenoprocoumon, head trauma and delayed intracerebral haemorrhage.Delayed traumatic intracerebral haemorrhage (DTICH) constitutes a serious complication of head injury, and several studies have set out to identify predisposing clinical variables and appropriate management strategies. Here we report a distinct and particularly malignant course of DTICH associated with oral anticoagulant therapy.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = haemorrhage (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/14. Increases in GABA concentrations during cerebral ischaemia: a microdialysis study of extracellular amino acids.OBJECTIVES: Increases in the extracellular concentration of the excitatory amino acids glutamate and aspartate during cerebral ischaemia in patients are well recognised. Less emphasis has been placed on the concentrations of the inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitters, notably gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA), despite evidence from animal studies that GABA may act as a neuroprotectant in models of ischaemia. The objective of this study was to investigate the concentrations of various excitatory, inhibitory and non-transmitter amino acids under basal conditions and during periods of cerebral ischaemia in patients with head injury or a subarachnoid haemorrhage. methods: Cerebral microdialysis was established in 12 patients with head injury (n=7) or subarachnoid haemorrhage (n=5). Analysis was performed using high performance liquid chromatography for a total of 19 (excitatory, inhibitory and non-transmitter) amino acids. patients were monitored in neurointensive care or during aneurysm clipping. RESULTS: During stable periods of monitoring the concentrations of amino acids were relatively constant enabling basal values to be established. In six patients, cerebral ischaemia was associated with increases (up to 1350 fold) in the concentration of GABA, in addition to the glutamate and aspartate. Parallel increases in the concentration of glutamate and GABA were found (r=0.71, p<0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that, in the human brain, acute cerebral ischaemia is not accompanied by an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory amino acids, but by an increase in all neurotransmitter amino acids. These findings concur with the animal models of ischaemia and raise the possibility of an endogenous GABA mediated neuroprotective mechanism in humans.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.4keywords = haemorrhage (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/14. Haemorrhage into an arachnoid cyst: a serious complication of minor head trauma.arachnoid cysts are infra-arachnoidal cerebrospinal fluid collections that are usually asymptomatic. However, they can become acutely symptomatic because of haemorrhage and cyst enlargement, which may result from minor head trauma. The range of symptoms is wide and many are "soft" signs. diagnosis is important as cysts causing mass effect require surgery. A case is reported of a child presenting with localised headaches after minor head trauma. Computed tomography demonstrated an arachnoid cyst with evidence of haemorrhage, which required surgical intervention. Other cases of arachnoid cyst presenting to our hospital or reported in the literature are reviewed with respect to presenting symptoms and signs. Localised headaches, behavioural or cognitive changes and ataxia are more commonly associated with this disorder than nausea, vomiting, visual disturbances or seizures. This range of symptomatology following minor head trauma may warrant computed tomography when other criteria for this investigation are not met.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.4keywords = haemorrhage (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/14. Unexpected delayed rupture of the vertebral-posterior inferior cerebellar artery aneurysms following closed head injury.Subarachnoid haemorrhage secondary to closed head injury is rarely associated with traumatic aneurysms of the posterior circulation. We report two cases of ruptured vertebral-posterior inferior cerebellar artery (VA-pica) pseudoaneurysms following closed head injuries. In each case, there was no associated penetrating injury or skull fracture. The first patient was kicked followed by disturbed consciousness. The computerized tomography (CT) scan on admission and cerebral angiography on the 11th day after the trauma revealed a massive subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) with pan-ventricular haemorrhage and an aneurysm of the right pica near its origin. Further ruptures occurred on the 12th, 15th, and 66th day, and he died on the 69th day. The second patient complained of persistent headache and nausea following a fight on the previous day. A CT scan and angiography on the 1st day after the trauma showed posterior fossa SAH with fourth ventricular blood and a tiny protrusion of the left VA-pica. On the 14th day, repeated angiography revealed a remarkable growth of the aneurysm, followed by the second rupture. The repair of the VA-pica junction was urgently performed with successful exclusion of the aneurysm. To our knowledge, only eight cases of traumatic aneurysms located at the VA or the pica near its origin have been reported. When intraventricular blood is found with massive subarachnoid blood or with posterior fossa SAH, this ominous complication should be considered. Traumatic VA-pica pseudoaneurysms are curable by refined microsurgical techniques, if diagnosed in time.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.6keywords = haemorrhage (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/14. Arachnoid cyst rupture with subdural hygroma: report of three cases and literature review.INTRODUCTION: arachnoid cysts are believed to account for about 1% of all intracranial expansive lesions, some remain inactive throughout life, others lie dormant for many years before clinical manifestation. In a few cases, arachnoid cysts have ruptured after cranial trauma or more rarely, spontaneously, with resultant subdural haemorrhage or CSF collection. CASE REPORT: We report three cases with traumatic rupture of arachnoid cyst into the subdural space in children, which is an extremely unusual complication. DISCUSSION: A review of the literature revealed only 18 previously reported cases.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.2keywords = haemorrhage (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/14. The differentiation of peripheral effector neuron failure from acute brain stem dysfunction in a critically ill patient.A patient appeared to be in coma following pneumococcal meningitis, an intracerebral haemorrhage, and a cardiac arrest. Late in the course of his illness neurophysiological investigations confirmed a proposal that he also had a fulminant acute demyelinating polyneuropathy which, for a period of five days, rendered the patient completely unresponsive. The patient recovered and is now working without any disability.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.2keywords = haemorrhage (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/14. Blunt basal head trauma: aspects of unconsciousness.Two cases of street violence directed to the skull base level and transverse to the cervical axis are described. No skeletal damage. The violence resulted in the so-called "traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage", an often used, unspecified forensic "diagnosis"; it was here revealed to be due to rupture of the wall of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (p.i.c.a). However, this was only one of the possible explanations for the acute symptoms of unconsciousness (concussion) and almost immediate death. The careful examination of these two cases and of a series of control cases revealed that at the trauma, stress and strain may have occurred to arterial branches serving as feeding perforant vessels to the medulla oblongata; in these cases they were coursing directly from the p.i.c.a. region.--The type of direct impact has often been regarded as mild! However, its location suboccipitally as in these cases can become dangerous. The resulting direct or indirect deficit of brain stem functions are discussed in these cases as well as "concussion-related symptoms" resulting after other types of head and neck injury.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.2keywords = haemorrhage (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/14. Death due to positional asphyxia under severe alcoholisation: pathophysiologic and forensic considerations.In contrary to "physical restraint", describing a fixed body position due to external devices, "positional restraint" is defined as an abnormal body position, resulting from accidental fixation under unfortunate circumstances. We report on a remarkable case of positional asphyxia of an alcoholised young man after a fall down a staircase. On external examination, the body showed petechiae of the conjunctivae and oral mucosa, abrasions on the left zygomatic region and scratch marks, respectively. Neither broken fingernails, etc. nor signs of external violence against the neck were found. autopsy revealed haemorrhages in the praevertebral cervical musculature and Simon's sign. Haemorrhagic pulmonary edema and cerebral edema were observed; blood alcohol concentration: 2.60 g/l, urine alcohol concentration: 3.26 g/l. As cause of death, positional asphyxia after blunt head trauma has to be considered as well as lethal ethanol intoxication. To us, alcoholisation attributed to the fall and together with unconsciousness following blunt head trauma circumvented self-rescue efforts, and therefore, aggravated the potentially lethal impact of positional restraint.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.2keywords = haemorrhage (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/14. Vasospasm after traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage: transcranial Doppler evaluation. Case report.A case of vasospasm after traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is reported here. Transcranial Doppler Sonography (TCD) was used to evaluate mean flow velocity (MFV) changes of the basal cerebral arteries related to vasospasm. acceleration of MFV of the right middle cerebral artery (MCA) indicating vasospasm was first noted on TCD evaluation, and then proved by carotid angiography (CAG). Evaluation of all TCD results revealed that the process of relaxation or normalization of the spastic artery started from the proximal side of the basal intracranial artery and gradually moving to the distal side. This interesting phenomenon could be a common process found in vasospasm cases.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = haemorrhage (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/14. Chronic expanding epidural haematoma. Case report.An encapsulated fluid epidural haematoma in a 9-year-old boy was successfully evacuated by a simple burr hole procedure 5 months after a minor head injury. Clinicopathological findings suggested that chronic expansion of an initially unsuspected epidural haematoma occurred as a result of repeated haemorrhages from the haematoma membrane, resulting in an unusually long delayed appearance of clinical evidence. This case demonstrates that a chronic expanding process similar to that seen in chronic subdural haematoma needs to be considered as a possible complication of epidural haematoma and indicates an important role for the haematoma membrane in the chronic expansion of epidural haematoma.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.2keywords = haemorrhage (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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