Brainstem auditory-evoked responses in spastic dysphonia.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to F W Sharbrough.
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EEG amplitude dominance in awake man is posterior. During EEG monitoring in patients, the authors observed the abrupt appearance of anterior amplitude dominance during induction of anesthesia with halothane, enflurane, or thiopental. This EEG change is coincident with loss of eyelid reflex and loss of ability to respond to command. This EEG change was studied with several anesthetics in five Java monkeys to determine alveolar anesthetic concentration at which it occurred and to observe the effects of various stimuli on it. EEG recordings were obtained after equilibration at each level with increasing concentrations of halothane, enflurane or isoflurane in oxygen and each agent again in 30 per cent N2O, in separate experiments in the same animals. EEG amplitude dominance became anterior in each animal with each anesthetic and combination at concentrations less than MAC, which was also determined in the same experiments. At lower concentrations, stimulation at equilibrated anesthetic concentrations resulted in abrupt EEG return to posterior amplitude dominance. The end-tidal anesthetic concentration at which persistence of anterior EEG dominance was seen after stimulation was approximately 0.4 MAC for each anesthetic and combination tested. This is interpreted as support for physical solution-lipid solubility theories of anesthetic action. In addition, an EEG change common to various anesthetics may increase the clinical usefulness of EEG monitoring. It is speculated that this EEG change may signal loss of awareness. If so, observance of sustained anterior EEG amplitude dominance may provide assurance of obliteration of awareness during anesthesia.
The physiological mechanisms of known importance in the control of cerebral blood flow (CBF) and smooth muscle contraction and relaxation are reviewed. The pathophysiology of vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is correlated with an alteration of these mechanisms. It is emphasized that smooth muscle relaxation is an energy-dependent process and that vasodilators require a functional smooth muscle membrane that may be severely impaired in ischemia or subarachnoid hemorrhage. The temporal profile of ischemia from spasm is correlated with the pathophysiology of altered metabolism of smooth muscle. The relevance of this complication to the timing of aneurysm surgery in 337 cases operated by one surgeon is considered along with various drug regimens suggested for its management.
A system of grouping patients according to preoperative evaluation of risk of carotid endaterectomy is presented. The primary complications of this surgical procedure were myocardial infarction and residual mild to severe neurologic deficit. Neurologically stable patients without medical or angiographically determined risk factors (group 1) have a risk of 1%. Neurologically stable patients without medical risk but with angiographically determined risks (group 2) have a risk of 2%. Neurologically stable patients with significant medical illness and with or without angiographically determined risks (group 3) have a risk of 7%, primarily related to cardiac disease. Neurologically unstable patients (group 4) have a 6% risk for a neurologic deficit. Current monitoring techniques using continuous electroencephalograms, cerebral blood flow measurements, and arterial stump pressure are considered. The prevention and management of complications are presented in some detail.
Seven vertex-positive potentials--the brainstem auditory response--can be recorded from the human scalp within 10 milliseconds of an appropriate acoustic stimulus. The first of these potentials is generated in the acoustic nerve, the third in the pons, and the fifth in the midbrain. Measurement of the relative latencies and amplitudes of these potentials allowed detection of subclinical lesions in 37 (53 percent) of 70 patients with suspected multiple sclerosis who had no signs or symptoms of brainstem involvement by the disease. Abnormalities in the brainstem auditory response provided the first evidence of the pressence of multiple lesions in 14 (35 percent) of 40 patients with suspected multiple sclerosis who had clinical evidence of only a single spinal or cerebral lesion. Response abnormalities also suggested the presence of tumors of the posterior fossa in three patients with nonspecific symptoms and normal neurologic examinations, the test indicated the need for contrast studies, which then led to the correct diagnosis of infratentorial neoplasm.
Carotid endarterectomy requires temporary surgical occlusion of the involved carotid artery. During occlusion, the minimally acceptable (critical) internal carotid artery stump pressure is reported to be 50 torr, whereas for regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), a critical range is reported to be 18-24 ml/100 g/min. During 90 carotid endarterectomies, rCBF and stump pressure were measured and the EEG continuously monitored. A positive correlation between rCBF and stump pressure (i.e., when both were either above or below their respective critical values) was observed in only 58 per cent of the cases. In 28 per cent stump pressures of less than 50 torr were observed despite rCBF's above 24 ml/100 g/min and normal EEG's. In 8 per cent stump pressures were more than 50 torr but rCBF's were less than 18 ml/100 g/min and EEG changes of ischemia were commonly observed. In the remaining 6 per cent rCBF's were marginal (18-24 ml/100 g/min) while stump pressures were more than 50 torr and EEG changes were not observed. The relationship between stump pressure and rCBF was influenced by the anesthetic. In the absence of transient ischemia during occlusion (that is, rCBF greater than 18 ml/100 g/min), halothane and enflurane anesthesia were associated with significantly higher rCBF's and lower stump pressures than was neuroleptanesthesia. Pre-occlusion and post-occlusion rCBF measurements also demonstrated cerebral vasodilation by halothane and enflurane (halothane greater than enflurane) and vasoconstriction by neuroleptanesthesia. It is concluded that stump pressure is an unreliable index of CBF during carotid occlusion and that its relationship to CBF is considerably influenced by the anesthetic.
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide fluorescence, cortical reflectance, cortical blood flow, and electroencephalograms were recorded from squirrel monkey brains before, during, and after focal transient cerebral ischemia produced by the temporary clipping of the middle cerebral artery. After release of the occluding clip, the monkeys were followed through an N2-breathing cycle and then to death from anoxia. The effects of controlled variations in arterial carbon dioxide tensions (PaCO2) and mean arterial blood pressures (MABP) were investigated in normal and in ischemic brain. In normal brain, with preserved autoregulation, NADH fluorescence was constant through a wide range in Paco2, MABP, and cortical blood flow. In ischemic brain, NADH levels increased, correlated closely with decreased cortical blood flow and EEG abnormalities, and became dependent on MABP. Artifacts in fluorescent measurements were reduced by: monochromators for excitation, emission, and reflected light; low intensity vertical excitation energy and high sensitivity recording instrumentation; and a small avascular (123 microns) field.
The most consistent electroencephalographic finding in 16 cases of Sturge-Weber syndrome was a unilateral reduction of background amplitude in the waking record. Comparable asymmetries were noted in those patients in whom sleep recording also was done. Physiologic responses (to hyperventilation and photic driving) usually were decreased on the involved side. These hemispheric electroencephalographic abnormalities are detectable in infancy even before the characteristic intracranial calification develops. Epileptiform activity, when focal, was limited to the involved hemisphere.
A series of 58 operations on 56 patients, in whom a branch of the superficial temporal artery was anastomosed to a branch of the middle cerebral artery (STA-MCA bypass or Yasargil procedure), is reviewed. These operations were performed chiefly for occlussions or for inaccessible stenotic lesions of the internal carotid or middle cerebral arteries. Patency in eight patients operated on from April 1971 through November 1973 was low (25%). Patency in patients operated on since July 1974 has been high (95%). There have been no deaths and no major ischemic strokes attributable to the surgery. The rationale for this procedure is considered in relationship to the anatomy and physiology of the cerebral circulation and the pathogenesis of syndromes of cerebral ischemia. The operation appears to have a low morbidity in good-risk patients. The role of this operation in managing common manifestations of cerebral vascular disease such as focal transient cerebral ischemic attacks (TIAs) and amaurosis fugax, although not fully established, appears encouraging. The procedure seems useful for orthostatic cerebral ischemia caused by multiple occlusions of major extracranial (and intracranial) vessels and, occasionally, for progressing strokes related to internal carotid artery occlusion, both of which are relatively uncommon manifestations of cerebral vascular occlusive disease. It may have application in the rare "slow stroke." The procedure is probably of limited value, if any, in the management of large completed infarcts but may be indicated in selected patients with small infarctions who have preserved most of their cerebral function and who have had evidence of subsequent focal ischemic events. The procedure is useful for bypassing giant aneurysms or basofrontal tumors invading major vessels. It may have a role in the management of fibromuscular disease of the internal carotid artery.
"Alpha-coma" denotes the conjunction of clinical coma with an electroencephalographic pattern resembling that of normal wakefulness and predominantly consisting of alpha activity. Clinical, EEG, and pathologic data from 13 patients with this syndrome were reviewed. The patients were divided into two groups, based on the pathogenesis of their conditions. The first group consisted of eight patients with brain stem strokes, and the second group consisted of five patients with diffuse hypoxic encephalopathy resulting from cardiac or pulmonary arrest. There were some differences between the EEGs of the two groups. In the first group, the alpha pattern was located more posteriorly, showed more variability and reactivity, and was more persistent in sequential recordings. In the second group, the alpha activity was transient and showed little reactivity. In both groups, this pattern indicated a poor prognosis for survival.
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Reye-Johnson syndrome was found in 17 patients in a retrospective study of 235 children with acute encephalopathy seen at the Mayo Clinic in the period 1955 through 1971. Eight of the nine patients under 4 years of age developed the syndrome prior to 1968; eight children 10 to 15 years of age acquired the disorder from 1968 through 1971. Seven patients were admitted during the month of February. Prodromal symptoms preceded the encephalopathy in 13 patients. Eight patients had seizures. Progressive deterioration with brainstem signs led to death in 15 patients. Electroencephalographic findings correlated well with the clinical course and eventual outcome. However, no correlation was found between seizure activity and the electroencephalogram. Autopsy findings in 14 cases included cerebral edema, tonsillar herniation, hypoxic neuronal degeneration, and fatty inflitration of the liver and kidneys.
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Seizure surgery for medically intractable partial epilepsy in selected patients usually results in dramatically improved seizure control. However, the authors present six patients who, after surgery for refractory complex partial seizures, postoperatively experienced pseudoseizures (also known as nonepileptic seizures), confirmed with EEG monitoring. Three of these patients also had nonepileptic seizures preoperatively that coexisted with their partial epilepsy. Psychiatric assessment revealed that this patient group had several characteristics in common, which suggests that preoperative psychiatric consultation may help identify those patients at risk for developing nonepileptic seizures. Treatment strategies with anticonvulsant medications and behavioral therapy are reviewed.