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Biomedical subjects

P A Battistella

Publications and source records attributed to P A Battistella.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Primary headaches in preschool age children: clinical study and follow-up in 163 patients.

Although headache frequency is increasing in preschool age children, an extensive evaluation of the clinical features in affected patients has yet to be achieved. This retrospective study examined 243 patients who were separately analysed in two distinct groups according to the age of onset and the age of first clinical evaluation. Group 1 included preschool age children, while Group 2 consisted of pubertal age patients. In all the patients the importance of a positive family history for headache as a risk factor was confirmed. In addition, when compared with Group 2, Group 1 showed greater male gender prevalence and earlier onset of the attacks. Regarding clinical features, in Group 1, compared with Group 2, the attack duration was shorter with lower symptom association such as photo- or phonophobia, nausea and no pain increase during physical activity. In the same group, tension-type headache was the predominant diagnosis, in contrast to the high migraine prevalence of Group 2. This study also showed that the International Headache Society 1988 classification criteria are not fully adequate for juvenile headaches. In fact, the headaches of more than 10% of patients in Group 1 still remained unclassifiable, while those of all the subjects in Group 2 were properly classifiable.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed2004

Quality of life in young Italian patients with epilepsy.

The objective was to evaluate the quality of life of young Italian patients with epilepsy and to investigate the influence of epilepsy medical variables on patients' quality of life. The settings were the Department of Paediatrics, University of Padua; Children's Hospital Giovanni XXIII, Bari; and three schools of South Italy. A sample of 285 subjects was selected: 140 subjects affected by idiopathic and cryptogenic epilepsy (classified according to the International League Against Epilepsy criteria) and 145 control subjects. Data derived from the comparison between the two groups throughout "Epilepsy and children questionnaire" confirmed the negative epilepsy impact on the young patients' quality of life: in fact they scored significantly lower on psychological and social domains (p</=0.05) than the control group. The quality of life in children with epilepsy is significantly compromised. The questionnaire used in this study is a valid and reliable self-evaluation instrument that can improve clinical research on the quality of life in epilepsy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Auditory event-related potentials and reaction times in migraine children.

Cognitive processing was investigated interictally in 18 children with migraine without aura and 18 age-matched controls by measuring event-related potentials (ERPs) and reaction times (RTs) during an acoustic oddball paradigm. Results showed that N100 amplitude evoked by frequent stimuli was significantly smaller in patients compared with controls. Habituation of target P300 amplitude was observed in patients but not in controls. Mean RTs were equivalent in the two groups, but migraine children made more errors than controls.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2002

Quality of life in young Italian patients with primary headache.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the quality of life of young Italian patients with headache with that of the juvenile Italian population free of chronic disease. METHODS: The Quality of Life Headache in Youth (QLH-Y) Questionnaire developed by Dutch investigators was translated into Italian and validated in a young Italian population. The forward/backward translation and, for psychometric testing, the factor analysis and Cronbach coefficient alpha were used. A new instrument (Questionnaire for Young Subjects Affected by Primary Headache) was developed to assess psychological, physical, and social functioning and functional status and was used to compare the quality of life of the patients with headache with that of headache-free controls. For psychometric testing (via the questionnaire), we selected a sample of 394 subjects (178 males and 216 females, aged 10 to 18 years): 320 subjects from three schools of North Italy and 74 patients with headache from the Paediatric Headache Center of Padua. In the latter group, 48 patients had tension-type headache and 26 had migraine without aura, according to the International Headache Society diagnostic criteria. RESULTS: The data derived from the comparison of 84 headache-free subjects (control group) and the 74 young patients with headache confirmed that primary headache negatively influenced the latter's quality of life: patients scored significantly (P<.05) lower on psychological, physical, and social functioning than the headache-free controls. CONCLUSIONS: Quality of life is compromised significantly in young patients with primary headache disorders. The questionnaire used in this study is a valid and reliable self-administered instrument that may facilitate clinical research in headache.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Optic atrophy as the first symptom in Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome.

A 16-year-old boy with the classic or postinfantile type of Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome is described. Bilateral optic atrophy with visual loss but without retinal changes was the only presenting symptom. Mild cognitive impairment, behavioural disturbances and insidious extrapyramidal involvement appeared later. MRI showed marked symmetrical hypointensity of the globi pallidi and substantia nigra. This new observation suggests that the occurrence of optic atrophy in a patient with Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome should be regarded as noncoincidental and stresses the importance of an accurate neurological work-up in all adolescents with any unusual form of progressive optic atrophy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Coeliac disease associated with peripheral neuropathy in a child: a case report.

Clinical features and pathological findings of sural nerve biopsy are reported of a 3-year-old child affected with coeliac disease who developed a progressive polyneuropathy, unresponsive to a gluten-free diet, nor to vitamin E and folic acid supply. There was no evidence of malabsorption, nor of blood factor deficiency, nor of metabolic abnormalities which might account for the neuropathy. A sural nerve biopsy showed marked loss of myelinated fibres without evidence of regenerative phenomena. Distal involvement and features of nerve pathology are consistent with a "dying-back" mechanism to underlie the nerve damage. The lack of response to a gluten-free diet suggests that direct toxicity of gliadin is not implicated.

Biopsy↗
PubMed1998

[Intraorbital tumors in children. Two cases and review of the literature].

Also in childhood, the orbital cavity is a possible place for different kinds of lesions. The recent contribution of magnetic risonance imaging (MRI) enables a more accurate differential diagnosis of intraorbital pathology. The clinical and neuroradiological data of two new patients affected respectively by intraorbital meningioma and schwannoma are presented. Both patients showed exophthalmos without pain and were treated with surgery. The different etiologies of intraorbital lesions, i.e. vascular, neoplastic, inflammatory, cystic and malformative are analyzed. Sometimes the case history and neuroradiological assessment alone enable a correct diagnosis. More often, however, only surgery reveals the exact nature of the disease. The age of the patient too can represent a criteria for a possible differential diagnosis.

Child↗
PubMed1997

Clinical and neuroradiological findings of moyamoya disease in Italy.

A total of 34 Italian patients (15 males and 19 females) suffering from Moyamoya disease (MMD) and selected by a questionnaire survey in 12 neuropediatric and neuroradiologic departments were studied in a multicentric study. The onset of the disease appeared either in childhood (27 patients, aged 0-16 years, mean 5.4 years) or in adulthood (seven patients, aged 25-55 years, mean 35 years). The early clinical symptoms consisted of transient ischemic attacks and/or stroke (20 cases), recurrent migraine-like headaches (seven cases), seizures (six cases) and hemorrhage (one case). A total of four familial cases were found. The final diagnosis was based in all cases on the conventional angiographic findings and more recently also on the magnetic resonance angiography (ten patients). The mean lag time between the first clinical manifestation and the angiographic diagnosis was about 2 years. A medical treatment (vasodilators, antiplatelet agents, calcium channel blockers) was followed by 21 patients, while five cases underwent a surgical revascularization. The follow-up ranges from 1 to 15 years (mean 6 years): A motor (16 cases) and/or mental impairment (14 cases) was detected especially in the childhood onset MMD; only one patient died. In nine cases the long-term outcome persisted without neurological deficit.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Interictal and ictal phase study with Tc 99m HMPAO brain SPECT in juvenile migraine with aura.

Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was performed on 30 juvenile patients suffering from different types of migraine with aura. SPECT was carried out only during the pain-free interval in 11 patients. The other 19 patients underwent SPECT ictally and 9 of them also interictally. During the pain-free interval, the investigation was normal in 16 of 20 cases and revealed hypoperfused areas in 4 of 20 cases. Ictally, regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) abnormalities were found in 14 of 19 cases; hypoperfusion in 11 patients and hyperperfusion in 3 patients. In most cases, rCBF abnormalities corresponded to the topography of neurologic symptoms. Our interictal period results do not agree with the previous studies in juvenile migraineurs, while during the ictal phase we demonstrated, for the first time, significant rCBF abnormalities in juvenile patients suffering from migraine with aura.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Neurofibromatosis type 1 and type I Chiari malformation: an unusual association.

We report an 11-year-old boy with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and asymptomatic type I Chiari malformation. This association may be considered a pure coincidence, due to the relative frequency of the two conditions, but recent reports describing the same association suggest that type I Chiari malformation probably should be added to the list of abnormalities of the central nervous system reported in patients affected by NF1.

Arnold-Chiari Malformation↗
PubMed1996

Central nervous system dysmyelination in PIBI(D)S syndrome: a further case.

This is a report of new case of PIBI(D)S, a rare autosomal recessive syndrome characterized by photosensitivity, ichthyosis, brittle sulfur-deficient hair (trichothiodystrophy), impaired intelligence, decreased fertility, and short stature. Bilateral cataract and axial osteosclerosis were also detected. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed diffuse central nervous system dysmyelination, a finding also described in the only three other reported cases in which MRI was performed. The paper also considers certain similarities in neurological signs and neuroradiological findings between PIBI(D)S, Cockayne syndrome, and xeroderma pigmentosum--all of which are inherited diseases characterized by photosensitivity and DNA repair defect.

Brain↗
PubMed1996

Headache in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1.

A study of headache in a homogeneously ascertained population of 181 subjects suffering from neurofibromatosis type 1 is described. All subjects underwent a diagnostic protocol including imaging studies (for subjects over 5 years old up until 1992). Headache data were collected by means of a questionnaire. Headache was present in 55 of 181 subjects (25 males). Overall headache frequency was 30%, which is not significantly different from the frequency of headache reported in the general population. Headache was primary in 52 cases (5 migraine and 47 tension-type) and secondary to obstructive hydrocephalus with brain tumor-induced intracranial hypertension in 3 with a tension-type pattern. It was concluded that headache is not a specific feature of neurofibromatosis type 1, it is not significantly related to central nervous system abnormalities, and in itself, it is not an indication for neuroradiological examination.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

beta-endorphin in plasma and monocytes in juvenile headache.

Interictal serum levels of serotonin and plasma and mononuclear cell concentrations of beta-endorphin were measured in 20 juvenile patients (13 suffering from migraine without aura and 7 from episodic tension-type headache) before and after 3 months of L-5-hydroxytryptophan treatment (5 mg/kg/day) and compared with a control group of 17 headache-free healthy subjects. While no significant differences in serum serotonin levels emerged between the three groups (migraine 104.6 +/- 26 micrograms/L, tension-type headache 90.7 +/- 26.2 micrograms/L, controls 96 +/- 32.9 micrograms/L), significantly lower plasma and mononuclear cell concentrations of beta-endorphin were found in both patient groups by comparison with the healthy controls (beta-endorphin in plasma: migraine sufferers 16.2 +/- 4.2 pmol/L [P < 0.05], tension-type headache subjects 14.5 +/- 1.7 pmol/L [P < 0.001] vs controls 21.3 +/- 4.6 pmol/L and respectively, beta-endorphin in mononuclear cells: migraine sufferers 110.5 +/- 16.4 pmol/10(6) GB/L [P < 0.001], tension-type headache subjects 142.3 +/- 22.7 pmol/10(6) GB/L [P < 0.001] vs controls 359.3 +/- 31.6 pmol/10(6) GB/L). No differences emerged between the two clinical forms of headache for the plasma and mononuclear cell concentrations of beta-endorphin. After L-5-hydroxytryptophan treatment, serum serotonin and both plasma and mononuclear cell beta-endorphin levels tended to be higher, though not significantly so, than prior to treatment, and the clinical score (frequency x intensity of headache attacks) was significantly lower in both headache groups than at the baseline. This study supports the theory that opiate analgesic system function is abnormally low in juvenile primary headache as in adults, and confirms that administering serotoninergic precursor drugs increases beta-endorphin, even in the peripheral blood, and may favorably affect clinical symptoms.

5-Hydroxytryptophan↗
PubMed1996

Juvenile idiopathic stabbing headache.

We report on 83 juvenile patients with idiopathic stabbing headache, subjectively perceived as lasting from a fraction of a second to a few minutes. This sample was selected from among 2543 outpatients referred because of recurrent headache to the Paediatric Neurology Services of Ferrara and Padua (Italy). Other painful syndromes were excluded by clinical examination and appropriate tests. Idiopathic stabbing headache in the pediatric age group, contrary to the adult form, is usually not associated with other primary headache syndromes. We suggest that this clinical picture should be more clearly defined in the future, in order to better understand its relationships with other primary headaches.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Magnetic resonance angiography in moyamoya disease.

Spontaneous occlusion of the circle of Willis, i.e., moyamoya disease (MMD), is a clinical disease entity angiographically characterized by progressive and bilateral stenosis of the carotid bifurcation, with a hazy collateral network at the base or convexity of the brain. Although the importance of computed tomography (CT) and conventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in diagnosing MMD has already been determined, conventional arteriography is still regarded as necessary for definitive diagnosis. Magnetic resonance angiography (MR-A) is a very recent vascular imaging technique which allows noninvasive and direct imaging of vessels without the use of contrast medium. We present four pediatric cases of MMD, evaluated by conventional angiography, CT, MR imaging, and MR-A. Our data demonstrate that MR-A is successful both in allowing detection of occlusive disease of the basal portion of the internal carotid artery and large branch basal cerebral vessels and demonstrating the collateral vessels at the base of the brain. As a noninvasive procedure, MR-A promises to become a valuable alternative to classical angiography in the diagnosis of MMD.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Serum and red blood cell magnesium levels in juvenile migraine patients.

Recently an important role for magnesium in establishing the threshold for migraine attacks has become evident. Accordingly, we measured serum and red blood cell magnesium levels in juvenile migraine patients with and without aura interictally. In comparison with normal subjects, migraineurs had significantly lower serum and red blood cell magnesium levels.

Adolescent↗