Expanding the spectrum of subacute diencephalic angioencephalopathy

Lithium-induced subacute diencephalic angio endotheliopathy

A 65-years-old woman with bipolar affective disorder presented to our ED with a severe lithium intoxication and the recent onset of confusion, clumsiness, and tremors. Symptoms worsened to stupor and anarthria immediately after hospital admission. Gadolinium-enhanced brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) showed signal hyperintensity involving both thalami in T2weighted (T2w)/Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery sequences (right > left), restricted areas of proton diffusivity at the level of both occipital lobes and a sharp contrast enhancement of thalami, rhombencephalon, and of leptomeninges from either the temporal, parietal, occipital lobes as well as from the cerebellar folia (right > left). These findings were consistent with a severe form of Posterior Encephalopathy known as Subacute Diencephalic Angio Endotheliopahty (SDAE). In addition, Magnetic Resonance Angiography revealed thrombosis of the right transverse and sigmoidal sinuses up to confluence with the jugular vein. The MRI picture resolved one month later after a course of high dosage dexamethasone. The patient deceased one month after discharge, mainly due to Diabetes Insipidusassociated hypernatremia. Dissecting the "Pandora's box" represented by complex MRI findings (SDAE and sinus thrombosis) in lithium-induced neurotoxicity is fundamental in timely recognizing this threating but potentially reversible clinical picture.

Neurologic Complications of Transplantation

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This article describes the diagnosis and management of neurologic problems during hematopoietic cell and solid organ transplantation using time elapsed since transplantation as a guide to expected complications, including drug toxicities, infections, strokes, autoimmune phenomena, disease recurrence, and secondary neoplasms.

RECENT FINDINGS

Growing clinical experience in the neurology of transplantation has led to appreciation of the diverse clinical and radiographic spectrum of calcineurin inhibitor-related posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Novel autoimmune phenomena illustrate the delicate balance between adequate immunosuppression and necessary host inflammatory defenses that can lead to organ rejection. The spectrum of infectious complications has changed with the evolution of new conditioning regimens.

SUMMARY

Neurologic problems remain an important source of morbidity and mortality, both in the immediate transplantation period and for years after the procedure. As perioperative management has reduced the incidence of acute infections, graft versus host disease, and organ rejection, problems of long-term survivors require neurologic input into multidisciplinary management of chronic neurologic conditions impacting quality of life.

Differential diagnosis with other rapid progressive dementias in human prion diseases

Prion diseases are unique in medicine as in humans they occur in sporadic, genetic, and acquired forms. The most common human prion disease is sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), which commonly presents as a rapidly progressive dementia (RPD) with behavioral, cerebellar, extrapyramidal, and some pyramidal features, with the median survival from symptom onset to death of just a few months. Because human prion diseases, as well as other RPDs, are relatively rare, they can be difficult to diagnose, as most clinicians have seen few, if any, cases. Not only can prion diseases mimic many other conditions that present as RPD, but some of those conditions can present similarly to prion disease. In this article, the authors discuss the different etiologic categories of conditions that often present as RPD and also present RPDs that had been misdiagnosed clinically as CJD. Etiologic categories of conditions are presented in order of the mnemonic used for remembering the various categories of RPDs: VITAMINS-D, for vascular, infectious, toxic-metabolic, autoimmune, mitochondrial/metastases, iatrogenic, neurodegenerative, system/seizures/sarcoid, and demyelinating. When relevant, clinical, imaging, or other features of an RPD that overlap with those of CJD are presented.

Rapidly Progressive Dementia

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This article presents a practical and informative approach to the evaluation of a patient with a rapidly progressive dementia (RPD).

RECENT FINDINGS

Prion diseases are the prototypical causes of RPD, but reversible causes of RPD might mimic prion disease and should always be considered in a differential diagnosis. Aside from prion diseases, the most common causes of RPD are atypical presentations of other neurodegenerative disorders, curable disorders including autoimmune encephalopathies, as well as some infections, and neoplasms. Numerous recent case reports suggest dural arterial venous fistulas sometimes cause RPDs.

SUMMARY

RPDs, in which patients typically develop dementia over weeks to months, require an alternative differential than the slowly progressive dementias that occur over a few years. Because of their rapid decline, patients with RPDs necessitate urgent evaluation and often require an extensive workup, typically with multiple tests being sent or performed concurrently. Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease, perhaps the prototypical RPD, is often the first diagnosis many neurologists consider when treating a patient with rapid cognitive decline. Many conditions other than prion disease, however, including numerous reversible or curable conditions, can present as an RPD. This chapter discusses some of the major etiologies for RPDs and offers an algorithm for diagnosis.

Neurologic Complications of Commonly Used Drugs in the Hospital Setting

This chapter reviews the neurologic complications of medications administered in the hospital setting, by class, introducing both common and less common side effects. Detail is devoted to the interaction between pain, analgesia, sedation, and their residual consequences. Antimicrobials are given in nearly every hospital setting, and we review their capacity to produce neurologic sequelae with special devotion to cefepime and the antiviral treatment of human immunodeficiency virus. The management of hemorrhagic stroke has become more complex with the introduction of novel oral anticoagulants, and we provide an update on what is known about reversal of the new oral anticoagulants. Both central and peripheral nervous system complications of immunosuppressants and chemotherapies are reviewed. Because diagnosis is generally based on clinical acumen, alone, neurotoxic syndromes resulting from psychotropic medications may be easily overlooked until severe dysautonomia develops. We include a practical approach to the diagnosis of serotonin syndrome and neuroleptic malignant syndrome.