Recent findings in tuberculosis described by researchers from UCLA Medical Center
2009 JUL 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- "We discuss the case of a 24-year-old male with severe racemose neurocysticercosis. The patient presented from an outside hospital with 4 months duration of intermittent syncope and a dull occipital headache with greatest severity in the morning," scientists writing in the journal Neurocritical Care report. "He was noted to have left facial numbness and blurred vision confined to his left eye. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) discovered multiple grape-like cystic structures throughout the subarachnoid space and frontal parenchyma consistent with neurocysticercosis. Additional testing revealed radiologic and culture evidence of active pulmonary tuberculosis. The patient was admitted to the neurocritical care unit and begun on IV corticosteroids, albendazole, and 4-drug RIPE therapy. Improvement in headache, facial numbness, and nausea were noted over the course of 1 week. Visual acuity remained impaired; however, no further episodes of syncope or deterioration were noted," wrote C.M. Miller and colleagues, UCLA Medical Center. The researchers concluded: "Effective management of severe racemose neurocysticercosis requires appropriate diagnostic considerations, monitoring, and therapeutics well suited to a comprehensive neurocritical care unit.." Miller and colleagues published their study in Neurocritical Care (Concurrent Neurocysticercosis and Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Neurocritical Care, 2009;10(3):344-346). Additional information can be obtained by contacting C.M. Miller, Ronald Reagan UCLA, Medical Center, 757 Westwood Plaza, Suite 6236 B, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. The publisher of the journal Neurocritical Care can be contacted at: Humana Press Inc., 999 Riverview Drive Suite 208, Totowa, NJ 07512, USA. Keywords: United States, Los Angeles, Critical Care, Cutaneous Tuberculosis, Cysticercosis, Headache, Magnetic Resonance, Mycobacteria, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Neurocysticercosis, Neurology, Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Syncope, Taeniasis, UCLA Medical Center. This article was prepared by Pain & Central Nervous System Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2009, Pain & Central Nervous System Week via NewsRx.com.
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