Reviews in Clinical Medicine

95-100

Authors: Mohammad Hadi Sadeghian; Zahra Rezaei Dezaki; Seyyede Fatemeh Shams; Sepideh Shakeri

Introduction: Plasma cell myeloma is the distortion of differentiated B lymphocytes which is associated with uncontrolled proliferation of plasma cells in bone marrow. Some studies propound a role for HHV-8 virus in pathogenesis of plasma cell myeloma. Yet the findings are inconsistent. In this article we reviewed the literatures to determine the HHV-8 virus role in plasma cell myeloma pathogenesis. Methods: In this systematic review, scientific databanks including PubMed, Scopus, Embase, ISI, and Google scholar were searched. The search was based on the subsequent keywords and medical terms in title; different combinations of keywords were used, they were compatible with MeSH terms. Result: Four articles declared that there is no link between the HHV-8 and the pathogenesis of plasma cell myeloma; while five reported a connection between the virus and myeloma, arguing that virus infection will lead to disease progression. Conclusion: There are differences between the results of the studies. It is required to do further researches about the association of HHV-8 and plasma cell myeloma.

105-107

Authors: Masoud Ghiasian; Sajjad Daneshyar; Mehrnaz Olfat

Subclavian artery thrombosis is an uncommon cause of limb ischemia in females without a history of vasculopathy. This condition usually occurs secondary to atherosclerotic changes and hypercoagulable states, which are generally asymptomatic. However, it can manifest with such symptoms as coldness, pain, and pulselessness in the upper extremity. Herein, we presented a 40-year-old female admitted to our hospital with three days history of right-side hemiparesis and complaints of imbalance and vertigo. The patient had a history of 2-month consumption of high-dose oral contraceptive (OCP) agents for birth control purposes. Cervical magnetic resonance angiography showed a significant occlusion in the proximal part of the left subclavian artery, leading to the diagnosis of subclavian artery thrombosis secondary to the use of long-term high-dose OCP. Our diagnosis was confirmed with the Doppler color sonography. This case demonstrated the importance of a full assessment regardless of the patient’s chief complaints. This kind of assessment allows for a faster and more effective management, thereby reducing the associated costs. Therefore, any suggestive signs or symptoms of arterial thrombosis should be followed up even in low-risk patients. Accordingly, in case the achievement of confirmatory findings regarding the diagnosis of arterial thrombosis, the patient should be immediately subjected to proper medical and surgical interventions.

111-114

Authors: Zahra Amirian; Fatemeh Behmanesh; Elahe Heidari

Recent studies have reported a relationship between vitamin D and atopic diseases such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis, which is due to the recently discovered vitamin D receptors on many immune system cells. Among all atopic diseases, asthma has been studied the most in this regard. However, the role of vitamin D in other atopic diseases such as allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis is a matter of controversy. In this paper, we review the literature on the association between atopic diseases and vitamin D level with a focus on the childhood period. As of today, the role of vitamin D in atopic march is not clear and studies show controversial results. Therefore, further studies with adequate sample sizes and correction for perplexing factors are needed since this could be an innovative treatment in atopic children. It is also advisable to examine high-risk groups of children for vitamin D deficiency. According to the extracted data, vitamin D has a protecting effect against atopic diseases. At the same time, no evidence was found for such an association in some studies, thus, further studies are needed to clarify this issue.

118-121

Authors: Mehran Beiraghi Toosi; Farnoosh Ebrahimzadeh

A seizure is defined as a paroxysmal and transient occurrence of signs or symptoms resulting from abnormal synchronous or excessive neuronal activity in the brain. About 15 to 40 percent of children who have any type of seizure are resistant to standard anti-seizure drugs, so called intractable epilepsy. Before documenting the seizure attacks as refractory, the selected drugs using for the type of seizure and dose of them should be checked. There are several factors that predict development of refractory seizures. These include age <1 year, multiple seizures before starting the treatment, myoclonic seizures, neurologic defects, neonatal and daily seizures, male gender, and first abnormal electroencephalogram and brain imaging (including computerized tomography scan and / or MRI). Options for the management of refractory epilepsy, after prescribing routine anti-seizure drugs are: Second line drugs (IVIG treatment, Ketogenic diet, Prednisolone treatment or Herbal treatment), Surgery and Stem cell therapy. Because none of these methods can stop all the drug-resistant epilepsies, researches are going on.

37-41

Authors: Ali Akbar Momen; Reza Azizi Malamiri

pilepsies and epileptic syndromes are among the most common chronic neurological disorders in neonates, infants, and children. Remission occurs in 70% of epileptic children, while other cases experience frequent seizures and become refractory to various treatment modalities. Refractory seizures have a significant adverse impact on the quality of life of epileptic children and their families. Prognosis of epilepsies is determined based on the risk of seizure or convulsion recurrence. Some of the most important risk factors for recurrence are the age at seizure presentation, neurodevelopment of the child, etiology of seizures, seizure frequency before anticonvulsant withdrawal, response to antiepileptic medications, type of epileptic syndromes, and electroencephalography of the patient. Recognition of the risk factors for seizure recurrence results in the optimal management of the treatment protocols, thereby reducing the adverse effects of epileptic seizures on patients and their families. The present study aimed to provide a narrative review of the most important risk factors for the recurrence of epilepsies in children by two child neurologists.

49-53

Authors: Mahmoud Reza Ashrafi; Morteza Heidari

The primary aim of epilepsy treatment is seizure control, and the treatment is principally prophylactic. Although complete seizure control is the most important predictor of improved quality of life, antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) could cause severe side effects in the patients. Therefore, the risk-benefit ratio must be considered before the initiation of AED treatment. Accurate recognition and differentiation of epileptic and non-epileptic paroxysmal events and the diagnosis of the seizure type and epilepsy syndrome are essential procedures before AED treatment. It is often recommended that AED treatment start after two seizures, and being seizure-free for a minimum of two years is a prerequisite for treatment withdrawal. The AED treatment process must be initiated with a single drug at a low maintenance dose, along with further upward titration. Overall, the first attempt in AED treatment has been reported to effectively control seizures in 50-70% of the cases. Moreover, there is a consensus that being seizure-free for two years is the most valid approach to discontinue AED treatment. Approximately 50% of the children with epilepsy outgrow their disease. The present study aimed to provide a systematic method for the treatment and management of epilepsy in children.

59-66

Authors: Parvaneh Karimzadeh; Sasan Saket

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder in childhood with prominent neurological manifestations, signs, and symptoms in inherited neurometabolic disorders. Accurate diagnosis of neurometabolic disorders in epileptic patients increases the possibility of a specific treatment to improve epilepsy. Therefore, early diagnosis is essential in potentially treatable epileptic disorders. Various seizure types occur in neurometabolic disorders, which are often refractory to antiepileptic drugs (without the treatment of the underlying neurometabolic disorders). Patients with underlying disorders have severe clinical presentations, such as refractory seizures. In addition, they do not respond to antiepileptic drugs in many cases. In the epileptic patients with developmental delay and/or regression, neurometabolic disorders should be considered in the presence of abnormal neurological examination and brain imaging with specific patterns. Some of these disorders are potentially treatable. Therefore, neurologists should determine the etiology of epilepsy, especially in pediatric patients, and the treatment should not be restricted to symptomatic therapy. The present study aimed to introduce some of the treatable causes of epilepsy in pediatric patients.

72-75

Authors: Babak Ganjeifar; Mohammad Ali Abouei Mehrizi

Meningioma is one of the most common primary brain tumors in adults. The literature indicates a higher prevalence of multiple meningiomas in women, which might be attributed to the hormonal factors, such as expression of progesterone receptor. Here we report a 58-year-old woman with a 4-year history of headache, which was aggravated during the few months before her admission. The patient was diagnosed with multiple meningiomas based on her brain magnetic resonance imaging. Therefore, she underwent surgical excision of the tumor and had no complications or signs of recurrence in the site of surgery, after a 3-year follow-up. Although multiple meningioma is not frequent, it does not differ from solitary tumors in terms of prognosis and management. Our experience shows that complete removal of the tumors is not possible in all cases of multiple meningioma and resection of the largest tumors results in favorable outcomes.

8-11

Authors: Mitra Ahadi; Negin Masoudifar

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic immune condition affecting children and adults. Dysphagia and food impaction are the main symptoms; however, reflux-like symptoms may also be present. The diagnosis of EoE is made with endoscopic evaluation for dysphagia, and its definitive diagnosis requires biopsy confirmation. The criteria for active EoE are defined as the symptoms of esophageal dysfunction, eosinophilic tissue infiltration (eosinophil count of at least 15 eosinophils per high-power field), and exclusion of other possible causes of esophageal eosinophilia. EoE is more prevalent in patients suffering from atopic conditions; therefore, allergic conditions may play an important role in the development of the disease. However, the etiology and pathophysiology of the disease are not completely understood. Elimination diets are considered as the first-line therapy in children; nevertheless, this approach appears to be less effective in adults, who often require steroids. Despite medical treatments, EoE is complicated in some cases by esophageal stricture and stenosis that require additional endoscopic treatments.

16-18

Authors: Alireza Ahmadi; Sepideh Namdar; Sajjad Daneshyar

Occasionally, lymphoma involves the adrenal glands; however, primary adrenal lymphoma (PAL) is rare and only few cases have been reported. We report a case of a 59-year-old female with primary adrenal diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) manifested by weakness, fatigue, anorexia, and hyper pigmentation of skin. The patient initially responded to intravenous hydrocortisone in large doses by total remission of the symptoms. An abdominal computed tomography scan showed a hypodense mass in the right subdiaphragmatic space, which was suggestive of an adrenal gland tumor with adjacent liver involvement. Additionally, a smaller lesion with similar characteristics was found in the left adrenal gland. The results obtained from adrenal gland needle biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of DLBCL. Moreover, primary laboratory findings demonstrated hyponatremia, hyperkalemia, fasting blood sugar level of 153 mg/dl, and alkaline phosphatase level of 663 U/L. The mentioned symptoms and laboratory findings were indicative of adrenal insufficiency. After about 2 months, her level of consciousness decreased and urinary and fecal incontinence occurred. Therefore, brain involvement was suspected, and magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed heterogeneous enhancement (24.8 mm) in the posterior aspect of the left temporal lobe together with patchy foci of enhancement in around the ventricular areas of the brain that showed metastatic lesions of PAL. This case should remind clinicians that PAL may be a cause of adrenal incidentaloma, especially when the patient presents with the symptoms of adrenal insufficiency.

23-25

Authors: Ali Parsa; Farzad Omidi Kashani; Mohammad Moghaddam; Abdolreza Malek; Ali Birjandinejad

Thumb hypoplasia only in the intrinsic thenar muscles is a rare condition; this defect might be accompanied with cardiac diseases (Holt-Oram syndrome), ocular anomalies, and vascular anomalies of the hand and wrist (Okihiro syndrome). In addition, this condition may be detected in hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES), which gives rise to other hand anomalies, as well. Unilateral or bilateral absence of isolated thenar muscles is another rare abnormality. In this study, we presented a case of Cavanagh’s syndrome in an eight-year-old boy with right-sided thenar hypoplasia who had difficulty in thumb opposition. For the treatment, the patient underwent abductor digiti minimi (ADM) opponensplasty. After three years of follow-up, he regained thumb opposition and was symptom-free. Care must be taken to avoid misdiagnosis of thenar atrophy/hypoplasia with carpal tunnel syndrome in case of children

29-32

Authors: Hamideh khorrampazouh; Seyed Musa al-Reza Hosseini; Mohammadreza Noras

Introduction: Enema or ‘hoqne’ is a therapeutic approach used for a wide range of diseases in the Iranian traditional medicine. The use of this method dates back to thousands of years to Hippocrates and Galen. The aim of this study was to review the history of enema and its methods and indices in the Iranian medicine and other complementary medicine. Methods: This review study was conducted on the Iranian medicine textbooks and articles published in the international databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Embase, and Scopus, as well as the Iranian databases, such as SID and Magiran. The searching process was performed using the following keywords: ‘Hoqne’, ‘Enema’, ‘Vasta’, ‘Basta’, and ‘Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)’. There was no limitation regarding the publication data of the included studies. Result: In the Iranian medicine, the term “hoqne” is equivalent to enema. Enema is used in various diseases of the brain, respiratory system, digestive system, urogenital system, and musculoskeletal system, as well as systemic diseases. Enema is one of the five main therapies in the Indian medicine or Ayurveda. In other types of complementary medicine, including Chinese medicine, this procedure has therapeutic applications. Although enema has been recognized as a diagnostic method in modern medicine, it has been considered as a therapeutic approach in the recent years. Conclusion: According to the findings of the reviewed studies, enema is a major therapeutic focus in complementary medicine, part of which has been confirmed in the recent studies. Given the low side effects and high success rate of this treatment, it can be used as a supplemental therapy for the management of poisoning, febrile seizures, prolonged functional constipation, and chronic kidney disease, as well as the prevention of swelling. However, this theory requires further investigation and targeted clinical trials. This method has been recently identified and updated as a preventive and therapeutic modality.