Online newspaper of professor Yasser Metwally

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“Topic of the month” is a monthly updated publication in PDF format fully addressing a single topic in the field of neurology, psychiatry or neurosurgery. The PDF file is changed with the monthly update of the neurology bulletin.

This is an archive of back issues of “topic of the month” downloadable from the neurology bulletin. at: http://neurology.yassermetwally.com.

To download the current version follow the link: http://neurology.yassermetwally.com/topic.zip or go to my web site at : http://yassermetwally.com

You can also download “topic of the month” from : http://pdf.yassermetwally.com

A new topic is added every month.

This list contains only topics published during the first academic year (2007-2008). To view a list of topics published later on click here

• Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) involves the intravenous infusion of hematopoietic progenitor cells from the patient (autologous) or a human leukocyte antigen-matched donor (allogeneic). Before transplantation, the recipient undergoes a conditioning regimen with high-dose chemotherapy or radiotherapy (or both) to destroy a defective bone marrow or residual cancer cells. After allogenic HCT chronic immunosuppression is needed to prevent graft rejection and graft-versus-host disease. The frequency and type of neurological complication depends on the type of HCT HCT, the underlying disease, and the case ascertainment.

Neuroprotection in parkinson disease (321 KB)

• Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a clinically heterogeneous syndrome characterized by various motor and nonmotor symptoms. Cardinal motor features include rigidity, bradykinesia, resting tremor, and gait dysfunction with postural instability. Nonmotor features include olfactory impairment, autonomic disturbances, mood disorders, sleep problems, and cognitive abnormalities—among them a frank dementia—that themselves can represent a source of important disability. The pathologic hallmark of PD is a progressive degeneration of mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) with a loss of striatal dopamine.

Ischemic microvascular brain disease (994 KB)

• Microcirculatory brain disease is a collective terminology that comprises vascular arteriolar pathology, metabolic endocrinal abnormalities and haemorheological abnormalities. Clinically it is characterized by the existence of cerebral ischaemic events that have a peculiar tendency for recurrence and progression to multi-infarct dementia. These ischaemic events are commonly associated with increased incidence of depression, parkinsonian manifestations and essential hypertension.

Neuroimaging of cerebral infarction (12865 KB)

• Stroke is the number three cause of mortality in the adult population and affects more than 400,000 people in the United States annually.

Neuromyelitis optica (416 KB)

• Whether neuromyelitis optica (NMO), the co-occurrence of myelitis and optic neuritis, is a variant of multiple sclerosis (MS) or a unique disease is controversial. Distinct neuropathological features and a fulminant clinical course argue in favor of NMO as a distinct disease. However, the combination of neurological impairments of myelitis and optic neuritis occurs in patients with several inflammatory disorders, including multiple sclerosis and collagen vascular diseases.

Transverse myelitis (871 KB)

• Transverse myelitis (TM) is a neurologic syndrome caused by inflammation of the spinal cord. TM is uncommon but not rare. Conservative estimates of incidence per year vary from 1 to 5 per million population (105). The term myelitis is a nonspecific term for inflammation of the spinal cord; transverse refers to involvement across one level of the spinal cord.

The basal ganglia (1986 KB)

• Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging have dramatically improved the ability to visualize the deep gray structures of the basal ganglia (primarily, the caudate nucleus, putamen, and globus pallidus) . Any process that alters cerebral metabolism can lead to basal ganglia damage. This article presents the spectrum of disease that may be seen with bilateral basal ganglia abnormalities in the pediatric population.

Pituitary tumors (766 KB)

• Pituitary adenomas are benign neoplasms originating in adenohypophysial cells. They represent the most common neoplasm of the sellar region, comprising approximately 15% of all primary intracranial tumors. Depending on the studies of unselected adult autopsy material, their frequency as an incidental finding varies between 5% and 20%.

Pituitary adenoma (570 KB)

• Originally termed chromophobe adenomas, endocrine-inactive pituitary tumors were once considered the largest group of pituitary tumors. With advances in endocrinologic testing and modern immunohistochemical and immunoelectron microscope techniques, the incidence of adenomas with no evidence of hypersecretion or endocrine activity has decreased to about 25 per cent of pituitary adenomas.

Neuroendocrinal disorders (1212 KB)

• Neuroendocrine disorders of childhood result from a variety of abnormalities of the developing hypothalamic-pituitary axis. These disorders include hypopituitarism, growth failure, diencephalic syndrome, delayed puberty, precocious puberty, diabetes insipidus, syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH) secretion, and hyperpituitarism. This is a full chapter of textbook of neuroimaging.

Cerebellar dysfunction & ataxia (628 KB)

• The term “ataxia” can be used for any disturbance in gait but is used here in a more restricted sense to denote disturbances of coordination rather than strength. Disturbances of coordination are typically caused by dysfunction of the cerebellum or its major input systems from the frontal lobes or the posterior columns of the spinal cord. An ataxic gait is wide based, lurching, and staggering. This is the current lecture of professor Yasser Metwally to the undergraduate students.

CNS granuloma (973 KB)

• Granulomatous inflammation is a distinctive pattern of chronic inflammation characterized by aggregates of activated macrophages that assume a squamous cell like appearance. It is also defined as a special type of chronic inflammation characterized by focal collections of macrophages, epithelioid cells and multinucleated giant cells. This is a master degree thesis supervised by professor Yasser Metwally.

Differential diagnosis of parkinsonian syndromes (733 KB)

• Parkinsonism appears clinically in a variety of neurologic disorders. Differentiating these syndromes from idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) is usually not difficult after a thorough history and examination. In the course of many of these disorders, parkinsonism may be a prominent feature and this makes the diagnosis more challenging.

Neuroimaging of idiopathic parkinson disease (198 KB)

• In the present study 20 patients with the clinical diagnosis of idiopathic parkinson disease are included. All patients were subjected to (1) full clinical examination and MRI study of the brain with a special focus on the midbrain and the basal ganglia. Based on the duration of the parkinsonian symptomatology and the clinical response to levodopa treatment, patients were classified into two main groups…This is a paper published by professor Yasser Metwally