Benign course of central pontine myelinolysis in a patient with anorexia nervosa

Central pontine myelinolysis in anorexia nervosa: case report of a Chinese adolescent

Central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) is a rare neurologic disorder characterized by symmetric demyelination in the central region of pons. Until recently its prognosis was considered poor if not fatal. CPM may manifest as a severe complication of eating disorders, especially anorexia nervosa (AN), primarily due to a rapid correction of hyponatremia. In this report, we presented the case of a 13-year-old girl with a five-month history of AN who exhibited typical CPM brain lesions, confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination without the context of severe electrolyte imbalances. Surprisingly, despite the patient's critical clinical manifestations in the initial stages, her prognoses of both AN and CPM were relatively optimistic. We discussed these observations in the light of recent reports on CPM and AN comorbidity. Although the clinical implications of MRI-detected lesions remain uncertain, psychiatrists should be cautious about CPM when refeeding patients with AN. Further studies about the relationship between CPM and AN are imperative.

First results of a refeeding program in a psychiatric intensive care unit for patients with extreme anorexia nervosa

BACKGROUND

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with a high mortality rate. This study describes a compulsory re-feeding program established in Munich for extremely underweight patients.

METHODS

The contract between the patient and the therapeutic team included mandatory inpatient status, establishment of guardianship and compulsory re-feeding with a percutaneous gastric feeding tube, as indicated. The predefined target was a body mass index (BMI) of 17 kg/m(2). Data on the first 68 patients with AN are presented.

RESULTS

65 (95.6%) patients were female and mean age at admission was 26.5 ± 8.5 years. BMI increased from 12.3 ± 1.4 kg/m(2) at admission to 16.7 ± 1.7 kg/m(2) at discharge. Thirty-two (47.1%) patients had the restrictive subtype (ANR) and 36 (52.9%) had the binging and purging subtype (ANBP). Duration of illness before admission (p = .004), days of treatment until discharge (p = .001) and weight increase (p = .02) were significantly different between subgroups in favor of patients with ANR. Also, seasonal differences could be found. Comparison of feeding methods showed that percutaneous tube feeding was superior. Almost half of the patients were treated with psychotropic medication. To date, however, the number of patients included in this program is too small to assess rare complications of this acute treatment program and long term outcomes of AN.

CONCLUSIONS

An intensive care program for severely ill AN patients has been successfully established. Besides averting physical harm in the short term, this program was designed to enable these patients to participate in more sophisticated psychotherapeutic programs afterwards. To our knowledge, this is the first such program that regularly uses percutaneous feeding tubes.

Corticospinal tract and pontocerebellar fiber of central pontine myelinolysis

Central pontine myelinolysis is a rare neurologic disorder that is defined by demyelination of longitudinally descending tracts and transversly crossing fibers in the basis pontis. Frequently observed clinical manifestations of this disorder include sudden weakness, dysphagia, loss of consciouness and locked-in syndrome. However, there have been a few studies that reported a benign course of this disease, which include cerebellar signs, such as ataxia, intention tremor, and dysarthria. Here we report on a 53-year-old male with a history of liver cirrhosis who showed the cerebellar type of central pontine myelinolysis. The patient was diagnosed with central pontine myelinolysis based on clinical presentations and magnetic resonance imaging findings after a liver transplantation. Conventional magenetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed the preservation of the corticospinal tract and abnormal pontocerebellar fibers. However, these findings were not sufficient to define the pathophysiology of our patient. Electrophysiologic analysis and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were performed to investigate cerebellar signs in this case. Delayed central motor conduction time (CMCT) to the tibialis anterior muscle with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was observed, which indicated demyelination of the corticospinal tract. Also, diffusion tensor imaging showed abnormal pontocerebellar fibers, which might have been caused by cerebellar dysfunction in our patient. A combination of TMS and DTI was also used to determine the pathophysiology of this disease.

Central pontine and extrapontine myelinolysis in children: a review of 76 patients

This study aimed to identify the causes and contributing factors, neurologic presentation, and outcomes of central pontine and extrapontine myelinolysis and to examine any trends in the presentation and course of these disorders over the past 50 years. Seventy-six pediatric cases were identified in the literature. Age, sex, decade of diagnosis, neurologic presentation, outcome, and attributed causes were extracted. The results showed that the diagnosis, course, and outcomes of central pontine and extrapontine myelinolysis clearly have changed over the past few decades. Early cases generally were diagnosed at autopsy as opposed to computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging more recently. Ninety-four percent of cases prior to 1990 and only 7% of cases from 1990 onward resulted in patient mortality. The decade in which the case was reported was the strongest predictor of outcome (P < .001), followed by sodium dysregulation (P = .045) and dehydration (P = .07).

Locked-in syndrome in children: report of five cases and review of the literature

The locked-in syndrome is a rare neurologic disorder defined by (1) the presence of sustained eye opening; (2) preserved awareness; (3) aphonia or hypophonia; (4) quadriplegia or quadriparesis; and (5) a primary mode of communication that uses vertical or lateral eye movement or blinking. Five cases are reported here, and previous literature is reviewed. According to the literature, the most common etiology of locked-in syndrome in children is ventral pontine stroke, most frequently caused by a vertebrobasilar artery thrombosis or occlusion. In terms of prognosis, 35% of pediatric locked-in syndrome patients experienced some motor recovery, 26% had good recovery, 23% died, and 16% remained quadriplegic and anarthric. These findings raise important ethical considerations in terms of quality of life and end-of-life decisions in such challenging cases.

Unusual diagnosis in a child suffering from juvenile Alexander disease: clinical and imaging report

Alexander disease is a rare, sporadic leukoencephalopathy characterized by white-matter abnormalities with frontal predominance and, as a rule, clinically associated with megalencephaly, seizures, spasticity, and psychomotor deterioration. We describe a boy who was diagnosed as affected by anorexia nervosa because of his refusal to eat, progressive weight loss, and psychologic disturbances. The observation of a hyperintense lesion on T(2)-weighed magnetic resonance images (MRIs) was initially explained as a pontine and extrapontine myelinolysis related to malnutrition. Following MRI and DNA analysis, we diagnosed a juvenile type of Alexander disease. Therefore, we can affirm the importance of the history and clinical examination to look for brainstem dysfunction in patients presenting with atypical anorexia nervosa.

The locked-in syndrome : what is it like to be conscious but paralyzed and voiceless?

The locked-in syndrome (pseudocoma) describes patients who are awake and conscious but selectively deefferented, i.e., have no means of producing speech, limb or facial movements. Acute ventral pontine lesions are its most common cause. People with such brainstem lesions often remain comatose for some days or weeks, needing artificial respiration and then gradually wake up, but remaining paralyzed and voiceless, superficially resembling patients in a vegetative state or akinetic mutism. In acute locked-in syndrome (LIS), eye-coded communication and evaluation of cognitive and emotional functioning is very limited because vigilance is fluctuating and eye movements may be inconsistent, very small, and easily exhausted. It has been shown that more than half of the time it is the family and not the physician who first realized that the patient was aware. Distressingly, recent studies reported that the diagnosis of LIS on average takes over 2.5 months. In some cases it took 4-6 years before aware and sensitive patients, locked in an immobile body, were recognized as being conscious. Once a LIS patient becomes medically stable, and given appropriate medical care, life expectancy increases to several decades. Even if the chances of good motor recovery are very limited, existing eye-controlled, computer-based communication technology currently allow the patient to control his environment, use a word processor coupled to a speech synthesizer, and access the worldwide net. Healthy individuals and medical professionals sometimes assume that the quality of life of an LIS patient is so poor that it is not worth living. On the contrary, chronic LIS patients typically self-report meaningful quality of life and their demand for euthanasia is surprisingly infrequent. Biased clinicians might provide less aggressive medical treatment and influence the family in inappropriate ways. It is important to stress that only the medically stabilized, informed LIS patient is competent to consent to or refuse life-sustaining treatment. Patients suffering from LIS should not be denied the right to die - and to die with dignity - but also, and more importantly, they should not be denied the right to live - and to live with dignity and the best possible revalidation, and pain and symptom management. In our opinion, there is an urgent need for a renewed ethical and medicolegal framework for our care of locked-in patients.