Handbook of clinical neurology
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Endovascular thrombectomy is an effective treatment for major acute ischemic stroke syndromes caused by major anterior circulation artery occlusions (commonly referred to as large vessel occlusion) and is superior to intravenous thrombolysis and medical management. Treatment should occur as quickly as is reasonably possible. All patients with moderate to severe symptoms (National Institutes of Health stroke scale >8) and a treatable occlusion should be considered. ⋯ Recanalization is highly effective with a stentriever or using a direct aspiration technique, with the patient awake or under conscious sedation rather than general anesthesia, if it may be performed safely. After thrombectomy the patient should be admitted to an intensive care setting and inpatient rehabilitation undertaken as soon as feasible. Patient outcomes should be assessed at 3 months, preferably using the modified Rankin score.
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Neurosurgical intervention remains the first step in effective glioma management. Mounting evidence suggests that cytoreduction for low- and high-grade gliomas is associated with a survival benefit. ⋯ Other adjunct techniques, such as intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging, intraoperative ultrasonography, and fluorescence-guided surgery, can be valuable tools to safely reduce the tumor burden of low- and high-grade gliomas. Taken together, this collection of surgical strategies has pushed glioma extent of resection towards the level of cellular resolution.
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Gliomas form a heterogeneous group of tumors of the central nervous system (CNS) and are traditionally classified based on histologic type and malignancy grade. Most gliomas, the diffuse gliomas, show extensive infiltration in the CNS parenchyma. Diffuse gliomas can be further typed as astrocytic, oligodendroglial, or rare mixed oligodendroglial-astrocytic of World Health Organization (WHO) grade II (low grade), III (anaplastic), or IV (glioblastoma). ⋯ However, it is now fully clear that information on the molecular underpinnings often allows for a more robust classification of (glial) neoplasms. Indeed, in the WHO 2016 classification, histologic and molecular findings are integrated in the definition of several gliomas. As such, this chapter and Chapter 6 are highly interrelated and neither should be considered in isolation.
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Review
The classification of conversion disorder (functional neurologic symptom disorder) in ICD and DSM.
The name given to functional neurologic symptoms has evolved over time in the different editions of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), reflecting a gradual move away from an etiologic conception rooted in hysterical conversion to an empiric phenomenologic one, emphasizing the central role of the neurologic examination and testing in demonstrating that the symptoms are incompatible with recognized neurologic disease pathophysiology, or are internally inconsistent.
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Over the last few year, antibodies to various central nervous system receptors, particularly the glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors, have been found to be associated with autoimmune neurologic disorders. The receptors include the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR), the alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR), the metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), and GABA type A and B receptors (respectively GABAAR and GABABR). ⋯ The autoantibodies bind directly to the synaptic or extrasynaptic receptors on the membrane surface, and have direct effects on signal transduction in central synapses. These conditions are very important to recognize as the symptoms and complications can be fatal when not treated in time, whereas with immunotherapy many patients recover considerably.