Search

Two huge earthquakes struck Kumamoto, Japan, in April 2016, forcing residents to evacuate. Few studies have reported early-phase disease and injury trends among evacuees following major inland earthquakes. We evaluated the trends among evacuees who visited a medical clinic in a shelter located at the epicenter of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes. The clinic opened on April 15, the day after the foreshock, and closed 3 weeks later. We reviewed medical charts related to 929 outpatient visits and conducted descriptive analyses. The evacuees experienced mild injuries and common diseases. The types of diseases changed weekly. Elderly people needed medical support for longer than other age groups. Future earthquakes may be inevitable, but establishing arrangements for medical needs or making precautions for infectious diseases in shelters could reduce the effects of earthquake-related health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic disease affecting many organ systems and showing different symptoms in each age group. We encountered a TSC patient with intractable epilepsy who had brain tumors suspected to be subependymal giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA). We used adrenocorticotropic hormone and ordinal antiepileptic drugs at first, but they showed limited effectiveness. After we tried several treatments for epilepsy, we started to use everolimus to prevent tumor growth. As a result, the development of the tumor stopped and the epileptic attack improved simultaneously. The frequency and duration of each epileptic spasm and seizure became milder, and the electroencephalogram findings also improved. The mental development had regressed when the epilepsy started, but it started to progress again after the epileptic attack disappeared. Everolimus may be used for treatment of intractable epilepsy with TSC in patients with a growing SEGA.