Diffuse cerebrospinal gliomatosis. Case report

A case of diffuse cerebrospinal gliomatosis is presented, with widespread involvement of the brain, cranial nerves, and spinal cord. This showed a far more extensive distribution of tumor cells than previously reported cases of gliomatosis cerebri. The clinical picture and oncogenesis of gliomatosis cerebri is briefly discussed.

[A case of spontaneous 3rd ventriculostomy (author's transl)]

We have reported a rare case of spontaneous 3rd ventriculostomy with spontaneous arrest of obstructive hydrocephalus. A 41 year old man, who had had an intermittent headache for about a year, was admitted to the department of neurosurgery Kitasato University with chief complaints of sudden onset of severe headache, vomiting and disturbance of consciousness. At the time of admission, 30 minutes after the onset of symptoms, the positive neurological findings were delirious state of consciousness, miotic pupils with sluggish reaction to light, mild hemiparesis on the left site and slight nucnal rigidity. He lapsed into coma after two hours, however he gradually relieved from these symptoms since the forth hospital day. Cerebrospinal fluid was bloody. Radiograms of the skull revealed decalcification of posterior clinoid process and postero-inferior displacement of pineal calcification. Brain scanning and vertebral angiography demonstrated tumor stain in the posterior portion of the 3rd ventricle. Dimer-X ventriculography revealed the obstruction of posterior portion of the 3rd ventricle and the leakage of Dimer-X through the floor of the 3rd ventricle into the intrasellar subarchnoid space. The patient died after about one year from the onset of symptoms. Any signs of increased intracranial pressure had not been noticed since the forth hospital day; At autopsy we confirmed the posterior portion of the 3rd ventricle was obstructed by tumor. In the floor of the 3rd ventricle there was a round opening which was patient and measured about 3 mm in diameter. Microscopic examination of the tumor showed an oligodendroglioma. Neoplastic cells partially infiltrated into the surface facing to the 3rd ventricle and slight gliosis was observed around the site of rupture. The surface along the subarachnoid space was lined with pia-aracnoid membrane except at the site of rupture. In the past literatures only 6 cases of spontaneous 3rd ventriculostomy have been reported. Three cases were observed spontaneous arrest of obstructive hydrocephalus. Our case is the first reported case of spontaneous 3rd ventriculostomy through the floor of the 3rd ventriculostomy through the floor of the 3rd ventricle. We suggested the pathogenesis of spontaneous 3rd ventriculostomy is a result of destruction at normally weak points of 3rd ventricle (ex. anterior, posterior wall and floor of 3rd ventricle), which has the reultant internal hydrocephalus caused by recurrent obstruction of C.S.F. pathway or long-standing obstructive hydrocephalus.

[Bilateral traumatic abducens nerve palsy without skull fracture or intracranial hematoma-a report of 3 cases and consideration of the mechanism of injury (author's transl)]

Three cases of bilateral traumatic abducens nerve palsy were presented and the mechanism of damage to the abducens nerve was discussed in relation to the analysis of traumatic force at the time of impact and topographical anatomy of the abducens nerve in detail. Case 1. A 70 year old man sustained a traffic accident with one hour loss of consciousness. Physical examination revealed a contused area on the medial side of his right forehead. Neurological examination revealed bilateral abducens nerve palsy (Fig. 1). There were no ther cranial nerve abnormalities. Roentgenograms of the skull, including views of the base and orbit showed no fracture. At follow up examination 12 months later, bilateral Duane's retraction syndrome could be noticed with slight increase in size of the pupil on each side of lateral gaze (Fig. 2). Case 2. A 32 year old women sustained a traffic accident with 31 days of loss of consciousness. At the time of admission, bilateral abducens nerve palsy and slight left hemiparesis were noticed in semicomatose condition. Right carotid angiogtam showed no evidence of intracranial hematoma. One month later, the right eye began to abduct and 2 months later, the left eye began to abduct. Three months after the injury, bilateral abducens nerve palsy could no longer be demonstrated. No retraction syndrome was observed during this period. Case 3. A 3 year old boy sustained a traffic accident with 32 days of loss of consciousness. At the time of admission, neurological examination showed bilateral abducens palsy and left sided decerebrate posture in comatose condition. At the time of discharge 3 months after admission, bilateral abducens palsy, right hemiataxia, left spastic hemiparesis and scanning speach were noticed. Three months later, right eye began to abduct and 4 months later, the left eye began to abduct. At follow up examination 6 months later, there was no evidence of abducens nerve palsy. Topographical details of anatomy of the abducens nerve are shown in Fig. 3, 4. It is greatly speculated that both abducens nerves are streched by the lineal accerelated force on mid sagittal plane at the time of impact, then the apex of petrous pyramid acts as the fulculum, so that the abducens nerves are compressed, contused and streched at this point (Fig. 5-a). The authors pointed out that the abducens nerve are impossible to be damaged at the petroclinoid ligament (Grüber's lig.) by the upward movement of the brainstem, because the abducens nerve is fixed downward below this ligament by the dura and apex of the petrous pyramid (Fig. 4-b, c). One case showed bilateral acquired retraction syndrome with slight increase in size of the pupil on each side of lateral gaze, the fact greatly suggesting that the sympathetic nerve have intimate relationship to the miss direction during the recovery stage of abducens nerve palsy.

[Paratrigeminal epidermoid originated in the meckel's cave (author's transl)]

We have reported a case of paratrigeminal epidermoid originated in the Meckel's cave. A 30 years old man was admitted to the department of neurosurgery with chief complaints of continuous right facial pain and numbness of entire right side of the face of three years duration. The positive neurological findings were hypesthesia over the distribution of the right trigeminal nerve, absence of the right corneal reflex and nystagmus on left lateral gaze. Caloric response was absent on the right side, however the audiogram showed normal. Cerebrospinal fluid examination was within normal limit. Electromyography showed giant spike in the right masseter and temporal muscles. Radiogram of the skull revealed a bone-destroying lesion over the medial florr of the right middle fossa involving the apex of the petrous bone (Fig 1). Right carotid angiography showed straightening and forward displacement of C4- C5 portion of the carotid siphon in the lateral view, and vertebral angiography showed displacement of basilar artery to the left side, upward displacement of the right posterior cerebral and superior cerebellar artery in the frontal view (Fig. 2, 3). At the time of operation, an epidermoid was identified in the Meckel's cave and totally removed microsurgically. Small amount of the tumor extending into the posterior fossa was also removed (Fig. 4, 5, 6, 7). Postoperative course was uneventfull except for an episode of headache and high fever of short duration, suggesting the signs of meningial irritation. Two months postoperativelly patient was relived of facial pain and was discharged with sensory impairment of the right trigeminal nerve distribution. Only 11 cases of paratrigeminal epidermoid, including the cases localized in the Meckel's cave have been reported in the past literatures (Table 1). In this paper we have discussed about the symptomatology and clinical data of paratrigeminal epidermoid and compared with those of trigeminal neurinoma, and meningioma originated in the same region. We would like to emphasize that the importance of differentiating the idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia from the paratrigeminal epidermoid, if the initial symptom of this tumor were tic douloureux. The total removal of epidermoid with capsule is essential treatment following the early diagnosis, however the attempt of total removal is sometimes difficult because of the relationship between the origin, size and extension of this kind of tumor to other important brain structures. And if some of the tumor is left behind at the time of operation, cholesterin meningitis is an important complication.

A new antibiotic, fumaramidmycin. II. Isolation, structure and syntheses

A new antibiotic fumaramidmycin produced by Streptomyces kurssanovii NR-7GG1 was isolated as colorless crystals. The structure was shown to be N-(phenylacetyl) fumaramide. Starting from fumaramic acid, fumaramidmycin has been synthesized in good yield, in which the key stage involves N-acylated imino ether formation followed by mild acid hydrolysis. Five analogues of fumaramidmycin have also been prepared.