Browsing by Author "Svabic Medjedovic, Tamara (54783513300)"

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by conformational alteration of the ubiquitous prion protein. Sporadic CJD appears to progress faster if the basal ganglia are shown to be affected on magnetic resonance imaging. Transcranial B-mode sonography (TCS) enables visualization of differences in tissue echogenicity, which can be associated with changes in the cerebral metabolism of various metals. These metabolic changes are considered 1 of the potential mechanisms of the brain damage in CJD; TCS hyperechogenicity may reflect changes in metal homeostasis in CJD. We report a 63-year-old woman who presented with typical sporadic CJD. One month after she fell ill, a magnetic resonance imaging scan of her brain showed diffuse cortical but no obvious basal ganglia involvement. However, TCS revealed moderate hyperechogenicity of both lentiform nuclei. The patient's disease progressed quickly and she died 2 months later. TCS may show basal ganglia alteration early in the disease course of patients with quickly progressing CJD, thus aiding in premortem diagnosis. © 2014 by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by conformational alteration of the ubiquitous prion protein. Sporadic CJD appears to progress faster if the basal ganglia are shown to be affected on magnetic resonance imaging. Transcranial B-mode sonography (TCS) enables visualization of differences in tissue echogenicity, which can be associated with changes in the cerebral metabolism of various metals. These metabolic changes are considered 1 of the potential mechanisms of the brain damage in CJD; TCS hyperechogenicity may reflect changes in metal homeostasis in CJD. We report a 63-year-old woman who presented with typical sporadic CJD. One month after she fell ill, a magnetic resonance imaging scan of her brain showed diffuse cortical but no obvious basal ganglia involvement. However, TCS revealed moderate hyperechogenicity of both lentiform nuclei. The patient's disease progressed quickly and she died 2 months later. TCS may show basal ganglia alteration early in the disease course of patients with quickly progressing CJD, thus aiding in premortem diagnosis. © 2014 by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

Objective Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is associated with late-onset depression and increases the risk for depression after stroke. We aimed to investigate baseline predictors of depression after long-term follow-up in patients with SVD, initially presenting with first-ever lacunar stroke, free of depression and cognitive impairment. Methods A total of 294 patients with SVD were evaluated 3-5 years after the qualifying event. We analyzed baseline demographic data, vascular risk factors, functional status expressed as a score on modified Rankin Scale (mRS), cognitive status, presence of depression, total number of lacunar infarcts and severity of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) on MRI with Age-Related White Matter Changes scale total score (tARWMC) and Fazekas scale periventricular and deep subcortical scores. Results On follow-up, depression was registered in 117 (39.8%) SVD patients. At the baseline, patients with depression compared with non-depressed were older (64.4 vs 60.9 years; p = 0.007), had higher mRS score (2.8 ± 0.7 vs 1.5 ± 0.7; p < 0.0001) and had more severe lesions on MRI scales (p < 0.0001 for all parameters). On follow-up, depressed patients more frequently exhibited cognitive decline (75.2% depressed vs 56.5% non-depressed; p = 0.003). No difference was detected in risk factor frequency between groups. Multivariate Cox regression analysis adjusted by age and gender revealed independent predictors of depression: baseline mRS >2 (HR 2.17, 95%CI 1.74-2.72; p < 0.0001) and tARWMC (HR 1.05, 95%CI 1.02-1.09; p = 0.005), and cognitive decline on follow-up (HR 1.80, 95%CI 1.12-2.89; p = 0.015). Conclusions Baseline functional status and severity of WMH and development of cognitive decline predict the occurence of late-onset depression in patients with SVD. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.