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A 13-year-old boy with nocturnal paresthesias of the hands was shown to have bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome by electrodiagnosis. Surgical findings included thickening of the transverse carpal ligament and local anomalies of tendon and muscle. Surgical correction produced prompt relief.
BACKGROUND: The aim of the current trial was to assess the efficacy and toxicity of weekly intravenous vinorelbine tartrate with daily oral tamoxifen in the treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic malignant melanoma. METHODS: Thirty-one patients were treated with vinorelbine tartrate, 30 mg/m(2) intravenously, weekly every 13 weeks and then every 2 weeks thereafter until progression of disease or severity of toxicity warranted discontinuation. Tamoxifen, 10 mg orally, twice a day was administered daily starting on Day 1 of chemotherapy with vinorelbine tartrate. Thirty patients had cutaneous melanoma with metastases and 1 patient had ocular melanoma with metastases. Eight patients had received prior chemotherapy. RESULTS: Of the 30 evaluable patients with cutaneous melanoma, 6 achieved a partial response, for an overall response rate of 20% (95% confidence interval, 7-38%). There was no response in the patient with ocular melanoma. Major sites of response include the adrenal gland, lung, tonsil, and cutaneous/subcutaneous tissues. Three patients had a prolonged duration of response lasting > or = 12 months. Side effects generally were mild and tolerable. Grade 3 or 4 hematologic toxicity occurred in 26% and 13% of patients, respectively. Nonhematologic toxicity included mild fatigue, paresthesia, and local arm discomfort from infusion. CONCLUSIONS: Weekly intravenous vinorelbine tartrate plus daily oral tamoxifen appears to be active in the treatment of patients with malignant melanoma. Further clinical trials in malignant melanoma patients treated with vinorelbine tartrate and tamoxifen appear warranted.
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a clinical entity characterized by pain, paresthesias, and numbness in the distribution of the median nerve with weakness and atrophy of the thenar muscles in advanced cases. It is universally accepted that CTS is the clinical concomitant of compression of the median nerve as it passes through the carpal canal. It is reported to be the most common of the entrapment neuropathies. Increasing evidence suggests that occupational factors, including forceful use of the hands, repetitive use of the hands, and hand-arm vibration, are etiologic for CTS. When occurring as a result of occupational exposures, the term "work-related carpal tunnel syndrome" is applied. Clinical approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of work-related CTS are described in this paper. Particular attention is paid to the clinical features and pathophysiology of CTS, the epidemiology of work-related CTS, ascertainment of work-relatedness in the clinical setting, treatment including both work and non-work interventions, and control of occupational ergonomic risk factors that may contribute to the illness.
Lateral antebrachial cutaneous neuropathy (LACN) was diagnosed in a young woman who developed pain and paresthesias in the right forearm after a long day of windsurfing (board sailing). The symptoms resolved with conservative treatment, including cessation of windsurfing and a brief course of oral corticosteroids. There was a permanent residual cutaneous sensory deficit in the distribution of the LACN. LACN is important to recognize because the symptomatology may mimic pathology of a cervical root, the brachial plexus, and the radial and median nerves at the level of the elbow.
We investigated 16 patients with Fabry's disease (eight hemizygous men and eight heterozygous women) in one family. We used constant current perception threshold (CPT) testing, which evaluated three major sensory nerve fiber populations, to assess subjective complaints of pain and paresthesias. We also examined clinical and biochemical features and compared the values of CPTs and nerve conduction studies (NCS) in detecting the sensory neuropathy. Our results showed that CPT testing at low frequencies (5 and 250 Hz) was significantly more sensitive than at a higher frequency (2 kHz) and NCS in detecting sensory neuropathy in patients with Fabry's disease. However, there was no correlation between CPT testing and clinical symptom scores, duration of disease, creatinine clearance (Ccr) values or alpha-galactosidase A (AGA) activities in either hemizygous or heterozygous patients. Hemizygous patients clinically demonstrated more severe symptom scores, poorer renal function, and higher prevalence of hypohidrosis and corpora angiokeratomas than did heterozygous patients, which indicates that detailed clinical examinations can differentiate the clinical status of hemizygous men from heterozygous women. There were no associations between the biochemical levels of serum AGA activity and renal function (Ccr values) or the symptom scores (grading of acroparesthesia), indicating that biochemical parameters do not predict clinical severity.
We describe a maneuver that eases or abolishes paresthesias in carpal tunnel syndrome. With the affected hand palm up, the distal metacarpal heads are gently squeezed together; in some instances stretch of digits III and IV is also required. This maneuver may help in the clinical diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome, can be useful as a means of relieving symptoms, and provides the basis for the design of an innovative splint.
Tarsal tunnel syndrome (TTS) is a rare compression neuropathy of the posterior tibial nerve. Typical symptoms are burning pain and paresthesia in the toes and along the sole of the foot. The presence of Tinel's sign and objective sensory loss in the territory of any of the terminal branches of the posterior tibial nerve are diagnostically helpful. The terminal latency and sensory nerve conduction velocity in medial and lateral plantar nerves were studied in 20 normal controls and 21 cases of TTS in 17 patients. Prolonged terminal latency was observed in 11 cases, with TTS, while sensory nerve conduction abnormality (either absent nerve potential or slow sensory nerve conduction velocity) was found in 19. The sensory nerve conduction velocity in the lateral and medial plantar nerves is a superior objective diagnostic index of TTS.
Pharmacologic treatment for essential tremor and the tremor of Parkinson's disease is often inadequate. Stereotaxic surgery, such as thalamotomy, can effectively reduce tremors. We performed a multicenter trial of unilateral high-frequency stimulation of the ventral intermedius nucleus of the thalamus in 29 patients with essential tremor and 24 patients with Parkinson's disease, using a blinded assessment at 3 months after surgery to compare clinical rating of tremor with stimulation ON with stimulation OFF and baseline and a 1-year follow-up. Six patients were not implanted because of lack of intraoperative tremor suppression (2 patients), hemorrhage (2 patients), withdrawal of consent (1 patient), and persistent microthalamotomy effect (1 patient). A significant reduction in both essential and parkinsonian tremor occurred contralaterally with stimulation. Patients reported a significant reduction in disability. Measures of function were significantly improved in patients with essential tremor. Complications related to surgery in implanted patients were few. Stimulation was commonly associated with transient paresthesias. Other adverse effects were mild and well tolerated. Efficacy was not reduced at 1 year. Chronic high-frequency stimulation is safe and highly effective in ameliorating essential and parkinsonian tremor.
Of the 31 patients who developed polyarthritis following jejunoileal bypass for obesity, 24 had cutaneous vasculitis (urticarial, pustular, and nodular), 11 paresthesias, 10 Raynaud's phenomenon, and 1 pericarditis. Blind loop symptoms (14 of 26 patients), cryoglobulinemia (10 of 28), and immune deposits in biopsied skin lesions (5 of 7) support the theory of a relationship between bowel bacteria and immune complexes. Treating the blind loop with antibiotics and sphincteroplasty to prevent bacterial reflux into the blind loop helped 5 of 10 and 6 of 9 patients, respectively. A comparison is made to other bowel associated arthritides.
BACKGROUND: Regimens combining oxaliplatin with fluorouracil and folinic acid are standard therapeutic options for patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma. Oxaliplatin has a good safety profile, although it is responsible for dose-limiting neurotoxicity typically consisting of two distinct clusters of symptoms. Cold-induced distal paresthesiae occur during or shortly after infusion in most patients and are usually transient and mild. A persistent sensory peripheral neuropathy may develop with prolonged treatment, eventually causing superficial and deep sensory loss, sensory ataxia and functional impairment. METHODS: The authors report four cases of atypical neurotoxicity induced by oxaliplatin in patients treated for metastatic colorectal carcinoma. Two patients were male and two were female, with an age range of 52-59 years. RESULTS: Three patients experienced Lhermitte sign and two experienced urinary retention. In all cases, the cumulative dose of oxaliplatin was higher than 1000 mg (range, 1248-2040 mg). Brain and spinal magnetic resonance imaging was performed in two patients and was normal. Somatosensory evoked potentials were recorded in two patients and suggested cervical dorsal column dysfunction. Symptoms resolved a few weeks after discontinuation of oxaliplatin. CONCLUSIONS: Lhermitte sign may be induced via a neurotoxic effect on the ascending axons of these T-shaped neurons. An atonic bladder may be the result of damage to the sensory portion of the sacral reflex arc, either in the dorsal roots, as for example in diabetic neuropathy, or in the posterior columns, as in tabes dorsalis. Alternatively, it may result from a paralysis of the parasympathetic fibers that control the bladder musculature. It is unclear at present whether the micturition difficulties observed in patients in the current series are due to sensory neuropathy or to autonomic neuropathy, event if the former hypothesis seems more likely, as autonomic neuropathy has not been previously observed with oxaliplatin, and its association with cisplatin is exceedingly rare and controversial.
Although sensory symptoms were not originally described in Parkinson's disease (PD), in recent years it has been increasingly recognized that painful sensations and paresthesias occur in approximately 40% of patients. It has been our observation that PD patients often describe a sensation of internal tremor, a feeling of tremor inside the chest, abdomen, arms, or legs that cannot be seen. We investigated the prevalence and characteristics of internal tremor by administering a questionnaire to 100 consecutive patients with PD and 50 age-matched controls seen in our movement disorders center. A sensation of internal tremor was present in 44% of this sample of PD patients and in 6% of the control population (p < 0.0001). The presence of internal tremor was unrelated to Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale score, Hoehn and Yahr stage, duration of disease, or the presence of observable tremor. The frequency of other sensory symptoms (aching, tingling, burning) was higher in the PD patients with internal tremor (73%) than in those without (45%; p = 0.005). Internal tremor is associated with anxiety in 64% of patients (p < 0.0001). It was described as uncomfortable and was unrelieved by antiparkinsonian medication in three quarters of patients. A sensation of internal tremor is commonly reported by PD patients and should be recognized as a useful diagnostic factor in PD.
Oxaliplatin, a platinum-based chemotherapeutic agent, is effective in the treatment of solid tumors, particularly colorectal cancer. During and immediately following oxaliplatin infusion, patients may experience cold-induced paresthesias, throat and jaw tightness, and occasionally focal weakness. We assessed nerve conduction studies and findings on needle electromyography of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer before and during treatment with oxaliplatin. Twenty-two patients had follow-up studies within 48 h following oxaliplatin infusions, and 14 patients had follow-up studies after 3-9 treatment cycles. Repetitive compound muscle action potentials and neuromyotonic discharges were observed in the first 24-48 h following oxaliplatin infusion, but resolved by 3 weeks. After 8-9 treatment cycles, sensory nerve action potential amplitudes declined, without conduction velocity changes or neuromyotonic discharges. The acute neurological symptoms reflect a state of peripheral nerve hyperexcitability that likely represents a transient oxaliplatin-induced channelopathy. Chronic treatment causes an axonal neuropathy similar to other platinum-based chemotherapeutic agents.
Mechanical deformation of a peripheral nerve can evoke action potentials in sensory and motor axons. The generation of these impulses with brief stimuli (<0.5 s) and their relationship to the deformation conditions have not been systematically studied in human subjects. Controlled compression stimuli over a range of amplitudes, durations, and loading rates were delivered to the ulnar nerve at the medial epicondyle in awake human subjects. Compound muscle action potentials were recorded from the first dorsal interosseous muscle. Subjects rated the magnitude of evoked paresthesias. Mechanically evoked motor and sensory responses varied linearly with the magnitude (P < 0.001) and rate of deformation (P < 0.01), but not the duration, and occurred only during the compression phase. Cutaneous axons had lower mechanical thresholds than motor axons. We relate these findings to the viscoelastic properties of peripheral nerves and differences in biophysical properties of cutaneous and motor axons.
A 31-year-old male developed paresthesia and numbness of mainly the right foot following exposure to nonfreezing temperatures under moist conditions over a period of 1 week. The symptoms gradually improved over several months. When seen for electrophysiological studies 6 months after the injury, there was no sensory loss on clinical examination, although he continued to complain of distal numbness of the right foot. The right extensor digitorum brevis muscle was atrophic, and the distal motor latency in the peroneal nerve was prolonged. Conduction studies of the right sural nerve showed a predominantly distal diminution of the SAP evoked by electrical stimulation at the dorsum pedis. Action potentials evoked by tactile stimulation of Pacinian corpuscles showed a prolonged latency on the symptomatic side, suggesting that the most pronounced pathological changes in immersion injury may be localized to the very distal portion of the nerve at the nerve fiber-receptor junction.
Detailed electrophysiological studies were performed in 4 patients with myeloneuropathy induced by abuse of nitrous oxide for 1 to 4 years. All presented with paresthesias, weakness, and Lhermitte's phenomena, and exhibited signs of sensorimotor polyneuropathy, ataxia, and arreflexia. Two had subnormal serum vitamin B12 levels. Baseline electrophysiologic testing revealed reduced motor unit potentials, prolonged F wave latencies, absent H reflexes, denervation potentials, and delays in motor and sensory conduction. Three had peripheral and nuchal delay after median nerve stimulation. All were reevaluated after 3 to 12 months' abstinence and treatment with vitamin B12, and all showed substantial clinical improvement. Parallel improvement in electrophysiologic findings occurred, but residual minor conduction delays, loss of H reflexes, electromyographic evidence of denervation, or abnormalities of posterior tibial SEP were noted. These findings confirm the reversibility of myeloneuropathy of nitrous oxide abuse and describe the profile of electrophysiologic recovery in subjects who abstain from further neurotoxic exposure.
Unexpected early epidural spinal metastasis in a case of osteosarcoma occurred in a patient receiving treatment with cis-diamminedichloroplatinum-II (cisplatin). The initial neurologic symptomatology manifested as paresthesias in the feet which developed 2 months after initiation of treatment (cumulative dose of cisplatin 450 mg/M2) at which stage the primary tumor demonstrated a marked response. Concurrently two small pulmonary metastases appeared. Epidural metastasis in osteosarcoma is generally considered a late complication and is usually associated with disseminated disease. This communication draws attention to changes in the metastatic pattern which may occur with the administration of seemingly effective treatment and the potential for confusing the symptomatology of epidural spinal metastasis with cisplatin neuropathy.
Laparoscopic surgery is being used in an increasing number of operations today. We have been performing various types of laparoscopic techniques in our department. A problem we sometimes have encountered involves a ring of pressure that develops around the surgeon's thumb at the end of the procedure, which is accompanied by an area of paresthesia in the distribution of the lateral digital nerve. We report our own experience and a small review of the literature.
80 strictly selected patients with chronic renal insufficiency with plasma creatinine values of 1.4-14.5 mg% were examined for clinical and electrophysiological signs of nephrogenic polyneuropathy. The motor symptoms complained of were cramps in 43.8% of the patients, "restless leggs" in 18.7%, muscular twitchings in 12.5%. It was emphasized that the first two symptoms do not always indicate the presence of polyneuropathy. 30% complained of paresthesias, 5% of "burning feet". The most frequent clinical finding was the impairment of vibration sense in the feet in 37.5% followed by diminshed appreciation of passive movement of the toes in 30%, weakening or absence of the ankle jerk in 23.8% and finally, weakening of the patellar reflex in 5%...