Acta médica portuguesa
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Acta médica portuguesa · Jan 2001
Review[Vascularization of the skull base--review of the literature and illustrative cases].
The dural vascularization of the skull base and proximal nervous structures, depends on the external carotid artery, internal carotid artery and vertebral artery branches. The authors describe these branches, emphasizing possible anastomoses between them, and present images from their own experience. Such arterio-arterial anastomosis represent incomplete regressions of embryologic arterial connections and are always present, but functionally inactive. It is usually in the presence of pathologic situations (stroke, tumours, dural fistulas) that they become active and, therefore, special care is necessary if endovascular procedures with embolic material are to be performed.
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Acta médica portuguesa · Apr 1999
Review Case Reports[Type-II dyserythropoietic anemia. A partial form of the glycoprotein degradation syndrome?].
The authors present a case of a boy, aged 8 years and 11 months, yellow race, with dyserythropoietic anemia type II, diagnosed at two months of age. Screening for partial form of carbohydrate deficient glycoprotein syndrome was normal. This result did not confirm the publication by Fukuda in 1990.
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The authors report a case of 32-week-old newborn, admitted to the Intensive Care Unit for Newborns. Mechanical ventilation was needed from the first day of life. ⋯ On the seventh day pneumoperitoneum was diagnosed, emergency surgery was performed revealing perforation of Meckel's diverticulum. Perinatal asphyxia and indomethacin administration probably played an important role in this process.
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Spinal arachnoiditis, an inflammatory process involving all three meningeal layers as well as the nerve roots, is a cause of persistent symptoms in 6% to 16% of postoperative patients. Although spinal surgery is the most common antecedent associated with arachnoiditis, multiple causes have been reported, including infection, intrathecal steroids or anesthetic agents, trauma, subarachnoid hemorrhage and ionic myelographic contrast material--both oil soluble and water soluble. In the past, oil-based intrathecal contrast agents (Pantopaque) were associated with arachnoiditis especially when this material was introduced into the thecal sac and mixed with blood. ⋯ Patients in group II show roots peripherally adherent to the meninges--the so called empty sac. MRI findings in group III are a soft tissue mass within the subarachnoid space. It corresponds to the type 2 categorization defined by Jorgensen et al, where as the MRI imaging types I and II correspond to the myelographic type 1.