Adrénoleucodystrophie liée à l'X chez une proposante symptomatique : présentation clinique, diagnostic biologique et conséquences familiales

INTRODUCTION

X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is the most frequent type of leukodystrophy (1/17 000 males). The phenotypic range in male patients varies from the severe cerebral presentations in children to the milder myeloneuropathy and to isolate adrenal insufficiency. More than a half of the carrier females display clinical symptoms over the age of 40 years.

OBSERVATION

Diagnosis of ALD was raised in a 40 year-old female who presented with spastic paraparesis and sphincterian dysfunction, occurring after the delivery of her first child. There was no family history of ALD. Very long-chain fatty acids (VLFCA) were assayed in her one-year-old son in order to propose appropriate hormonal and neurological survey. His dosage was abnormal and an adrenal insufficiency was subsequently found. A brain MRI will be proposed biannually when he reaches to age of for years. The proband's mother had an increased level of VLCFA, showing that she was a carrier. Family screening was extended to the proband's sisters and maternal aunt who already had children, but also to her brother, who may express a mild form of the disease later on, and to her maternal uncles who might be asymptomatic carriers. A frameshift mutation was found in the ABCD1 gene and will allow accurate carrier identification and prenatal diagnosis in the family.

CONCLUSION

ALD diagnosis should be evoked in a woman affected by myelopathy despite the lack of family history. Such a diagnosis has severe consequences since some of the related males may carry the mutation although they do not display any symptom at time of diagnosis, and because carrier females have a risk to both have a clinical expression of the disease and give birth to an affected boy.

[Value of gadolinium magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbosacral roots in acute polyradiculoneuritis]

Four patients with acute inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy were evaluated with MRI. In 3 of 4 cases, gadolinium enhancement was observed in the nerve roots of cauda equina, on frontal and horizontal slices. This enhancement was correlated with the severity of the clinical picture and the cerebrospinal-fluid inflammatory protein concentration and supports the inflammatory nature of this forms of acute polyradiculoneuropathy.

Risk factors for primary cerebral hemorrhage: a population-based study--the Stroke Registry of Dijon

Risk factors for primary cerebral hemorrhage remain uncertain. The population-based Stroke Registry of Dijon provides data on the risk factors. Among residents of Dijon (France), 130 cases of primary cerebral hemorrhage hospitalized from 1985 to 1992 were matched with 130 controls by age and sex. The following data were collected: history of hypertension, alcohol consumption, tobacco consumption, history of coagulation disorder, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and infectious disease in the 7 days before admission. The following parameters were measured on admission: blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, hematocrit, fibrinogen, prothrombin levels, platelet counts, prothrombin time, bilirubin, transaminases, gamma-glutamyltransferase, and alkaline phosphatase. Electrocardiogram and Doppler ultrasound examination of cervical arteries were performed. Statistical analysis was performed by means of relative risk ratio for paired samples when dealing with proportions, and Student's t test for quantitative variables. A stepwise discriminant analysis was carried out to establish the relative weight of the different risk factors and their discriminant values. Among the qualitative data, the significant factors were history of hypertension, alcohol consumption, cardiac arrhythmia, atherosclerosis of carotid arteries and a previous infectious disease in the 7 days before admission. Among the quantitative data, the significant factors were early hypertension, high blood glucose levels, high hematocrit, and low cholesterol levels, in the acute stage of the stroke. After multifactorial analysis, only two factors were significant: hypertension and low cholesterol levels. Our population-based case-control study showed that hypertension and low cholesterol levels are the two discriminant risk factors for both lobar and basal ganglia primary cerebral hemorrhage. Therefore, treatment of hypercholesterolemia may increase risk of cerebral hemorrhage.

[Cortico-basal degeneration: a new entity]

Cortico-basal degeneration is a progressive disease comprisong characteristic features concerning both cortical and basal ganglionic dysfunction. Manifestations include akineto-rigid syndrome and apraxia strictly limited at disease onset to one hemibody, especially the left. Myoclonus, chorea a alien limb syndrome can begin within the clinicalcome. Functional exploration of the brain shows an asymmetric hypometabolism affecting both cortical and basal structures. Neuropathologic studies show pathological features including neuronal loss, gliosis and neuronal achromasia affecting the cortex (frontal and parietal), basal ganglia and locus niger. Further evaluation of this disease is needed to understand its links with the other neurological degenerative diseases especially progressive aphasia and Pick's disease.

[Gyratory epileptic seizures. Radioclinical correlations]

The authors report 3 cases of gyratory seizures whose epileptic nature was demonstrated on the following features. They appeared with a loss of consciousness. In 2 cases, they ended with a tonic-clonic generalized fit and in the 3 cases, they were mixed with other generalized seizures. From an etiological point of view, in 2 cases, a deep lesion was discovered, the first one near the paracentral lobule, the second in the para-thalamic area. The third one was an idiopathic generalized epilepsy on clinical and electroencephalographic grounds. These 3 cases focus on the difficulties to classify gyratory seizures that may appear in 2 opposite situations, namely in symptomatic partial epilepsy and in idiopathic generalized epilepsy.

Homolateral ataxia and crural paresis: a crossed cerebral-cerebellar diaschisis

A patient developed weakness of the right leg and homolateral ataxia of the arm, caused by a subcortical infarct in the area supplied by the anterior cerebral artery in the left paracentral region, demonstrated by CT and MRI. Cerebral blood flow studied by technetium-labelled hexamethyl-propylene-amine oxime using single photon emission computed tomography showed decreased blood flow in the left lateral frontal cortex and in the right cerebellar hemisphere ("crossed cerebral-cerebellar diaschisis"). The homolateral ataxia of the arm may be caused by decreased function of the right cerebellar hemisphere, because of a lesion of the corticopontine-cerebellar tracts, whereas crural hemiparesis is caused by a lesion of the upper part of the corona radiata.