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Myeloma cells were detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of two patients with plasma cell neoplasia during the myelographic studies of 38 patients whose myeloma was associated with extensive neurological complications. The myeloma cells were looked for in Wright stained centrifuged deposit of 2–5 ml samples of the cerebrospinal fluid obtained during myelography. The possibility that occult traumatic lumbar puncture had allowed entry of circulating myeloma cells from the peripheral blood into the subarachnoid space was excluded by the absence of myeloma cells in smears of peripheral blood and its buffy coat. Up to the end stages of the disease the meningeal myeloma lesions remained microscopical and no signs of raised intracranial tension were manifested by either patient. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A retrospective study comparing the EEG findings of two groups of patients with primary systemic malignant disease (mainly bronchial carcinoma) was carried out. One group of 13 patients (20 EEGs) had proven supratentorial cerebral metastases at necropsy, some also subtentorial, and the other group of 10 patients (15 EEGs) had no cerebral involvement at necropsy. The latter group was studied to assess the possible confusing effects in the EEG of metabolic derangements and other factors which would interfere with accurate prediction of the presence of metastases. The EEGs were masked and assessed independently by two raters using a special proforma. They found that recordings from patients with cerebral metastases had persistent focal delta activity, intermittent focal or local delta activity, persistent or intermittent lateralized delta activity, monorhythmic frontal delta activity in the alert patient, as well as a higher frequency of post-central background rhythms. These factors predicted the presence of cerebral metastases (when they were 2 cm in diameter or larger) in 12 out of the 13 patients (four of these without localized neurological disorder), the EEGs being taken on average eight weeks before death. It is concluded that the EEG is valuable in the investigation of these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several authors have suggested that arousal is an important component of learning. If the neglect syndrome is a unilateral defect of alerting (arousal) as recent studies have suggested, then patients with this syndrome should have a unilateral learning defect. To test these hypotheses, eight patients with unilateral neglect were given consonant trigrams randomly to either ear, and the patients were asked to identify the auditory stimuli either immediately or after an 18 second delay during which time the patients were asked to count. All eight demonstrated that the number of errors between the delay and non-delay conditions was greater on the neglected side significance >0·01), thereby supporting these hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study of 100 subjects has confirmed that brief voluntary hyperventilation commonly causes apnoea in patients with supramedullary lesions, but not in healthy people. Apnoea was related to drowsiness rather than to the extent of the lesion; it was unrelated to the measured reduction in end-tidal carbon dioxide tension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low-molecular weight beta-trace protein constitutes about seven per cent of the total protein content in human cerebrospinal fluid. Within the central nervous system the protein is found predominantly in white matter and fractions enriched in glial cells. Immunofluorescence studies on sections of monkey brains show that beta-trace protein is particularly localized to cells such as astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Significantly higher amounts of beta-trace protein are found in brain tumours derived from glial cells than in other tumours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on clinical and experimental relationships of EEG to psychomotor and personality measures. With the introduction of the EEG procedure in 1929 expectations were that a tool had been found to correctly diagnose different types of brain disorders. Although the EEC became a useful tool for diagnosing such conditions as brain tumors and epilepsy, it was recognized that much work needed to be done before it would become apparent just how electrical impulses in the brain are related to sensations, thoughts, and affect.

Reports on cases of diencephalic syndrome of early infancy due to silent neoplasms in the region of the hypothalamus and floor of the third ventricle. Tests of the pituitary function; Potential of cobalt irradiation in treating the syndrome.

This article discusses the diagnostic problems presented by cerebral tumors in mentally subnormal patients. The article presents three case histories to illustrate the sequence of changes both mental and physical, which may arise from slowly growing cerebral tumors in mentally defective children undergoing deterioration. In all the three cases it seemed unlikely that the tumors were directly responsible for the mental deficiency. In case 1 the patient is still defective after surgical removal of the tumor, while in the other two cases there was evidence of diffuse damage to the cortex. This could have resulted from epilepsy in case 2, but in case 3 there were no fits.

The article presents a bibliography about the diseases of the brain substance and vessels including cerebral embolism, nonsuppurative encephalitis and tumors of the brain.

Three case reports of patients with bronchial carcinoma who presented with visual disturbances due to ocular metastases are described. The reasons for the rarity of this syndrome are discussed and its frequent association with cerebral metastases is explained. Cytotoxic drugs provide short-term effective therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Permeability of the vasculature of methylcholanthrene-induced brain tumors has been studied by tracer injection of fine carbon-black of a nearly standard particle size of 200 Å. After the first week of growth vessels of these tumors have shown increasingly abnormal permeability for particles of this size. Such defects have appeared first in the thin-walled veins and venous sinusoids and later have involved capillaries throughout each tumor. Arterial brandies have been spared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A unique case of dumb-bell neurinoma of the hypoglossal nerve is presented. The importance of hemiatrophy of the tongue is stressed for early diagnosis of the lesion. The myelocisternogram is the single most important contrast study confirming the intracranial extension of the tumour. Total dissection of the tumour capsule may not be feasible in all cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atrophy of muscles innervated by the lower cervical cord is a well-known feature in patients with foramen magnum tumours. Electromyographic evidence of denervation in the atrophic muscles is presented. The significance and possible mechanisms are reviewed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirteen cases of malignant glial tumours of the brain-stem that came to necropsy have been analysed in detail. These patients followed a rather uniform course defined by the early onset of signs and symptoms of increased intracranial pressure, poor response to radiotherapy, and short total duration of illness. Pathological features were also similar in all cases, with each tumour showing areas ranging from benign to frankly malignant. This regional variability points to the limited usefulness of small biopsies and also indicates the need for complete necropsy studies. The term `spongioblastoma polare' should probably be avoided, and it is suggested that the histological classification of glial brain-stem tumours be similar to the classification of such tumours elsewhere in the neuraxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship of disturbances of the body schema to hemispheric locus of lesion and sensory aphasic disorder was assessed by giving verbal and non-verbal tests of right-left orientation, finger recognition, and autotopagnosis to patients with unilateral cerebral disease. The study was restricted to right-handed patients who were free from general mental impairment or confusion. The tests were also given to a group of control patients whose performances defined the range of normal performance in each test. A significant proportion of patients with sensory aphasic disorder performed defectively on all the tests, non-verbal as well as verbal, the relative frequency of failure in this group ranging from 10 to 67% for the different tests. There were, however, a number of patients with sensory aphasic disorder who performed adequately on most of the tests. Defective performance on the part of non-aphasic patients with lesions of either the left or the right hemisphere was quite rare in the case of 19 of the 20 tests. The exceptional test was the task of imitating lateral movements from Head's battery, on which both non-aphasic groups performed relatively poorly. The patients with lesions of the right hemisphere were significantly inferior to those with left hemisphere disease on this test. The findings are interpreted as indicating that sensory aphasic disorder is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the occurrence of some types of bilateral `body schema' disturbance in patients with unilateral disease. It is postulated that the sufficient condition is a combination of aphasic disorder with somatosensory impairment. Bilateral impairment of the `body schema' does not appear to have a differential relationship to hemispheric locus of lesion per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative perimetric studies in two patients with involvement of a lateral geniculate nucleus (caused by astrocytoma in one and a small arteriovenous malformation in the other) revealed strikingly incongruous defects in the contralateral homonymous fields of vision. The patterns of these hemianopias were analysed and correlated anatomically in terms of established patterns of retinal projections within the six cellular laminae of the geniculate nucleus. Incongruous wedge-shaped field defects recorded in the patient with the astrocytoma are unique and appear to be pathognomonic of focal geniculate disease in the dorsal crest of the nucleus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since brain tumors continue to be the most common solid tumor in pediatrics, and cancer is still the number one killer of children (accidents excepted), better diagnosis of children's brain tumors should be the goal of everyone concerned with pediatrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on a test involving the arrangement of pictures to tell a story among tests of intellectual ability. In connection with studies of patients with localized cerebral lesions, performance on a picture arrangement task has been reported as unexpected specificity. Researchers found that patients with frontal lobe lesions showed significant impairment on a single picture-arrangement item. On the other hand, study shows that the Picture Arrangement subtest among adult patients of the Wechsler scales shows significantly lower means for those with right-hemisphere lesions.

The article presents case studies of frontal brain tumor with psychiatric diagnosis in Great Britain. Cases on frontal brain tumor were presented with psychiatric and neurological symptoms. The first case study depicts on the case of a 43-year-old Czechoslovakian man with progressive dementia of presenile type, his case was presented as reactive depression because of marital discord. Second case study shows the case of a 56-year-old women who was diagnosed to have a large olfactory groove meningioma on both frontal lobes. The third case history demonstrates the case of a 49-year-old woman with a four-week history of right frontal headache. Furthermore, the need of general practitioner, social worker, mental welfare officer plays a vital role in the diagnosis and treatment of these cases.

A simple method by which the relative performance of the two cerebral hemispheres, and cooperation between the hemispheres, may be assessed in a clinical setting is discussed. The apparatus, which allows the findings of neuropsychological investigations of hemisphere performance in the normal and split-brain subject to be applied in the clinic, is described, together with the results of a preliminary trial and some clinical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within a group of 23 patients who presented with status epilepticus a syndrome is defined in which sudden unheralded status occurs in apparently healthy individuals. Recovery from the attack is complete and no other evidence of cerebral pathology may be found at the time. In seven of nine such cases studied the final diagnosis at follow-up, either by necropsy or by operation, was of cerebral tumour. In five of the seven the fronto-temporal region was the site of pathology. It is suggested that the occurrence of isolated status indicates a possible cerebral tumour for which careful search should be made and, if negative, follow-up study arranged. Of 20 of our patients with status epilepticus in whom the site of lesion was definite, nine were exclusively frontal and a further six had some frontal involvement. This confirms previous evidence that symptomatic status epilepticus indicates a frontal lesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that focuses on clinical judgment on minimal symptoms of brain tumor. It informs that when the patient was referred for psychodiagnosis and treatment of what was apparently a neurotic or behavior disorder, only his obscure reports of two isolated lapses of consciousness raised the diagnostic possibility of encephalopathy. It further informs that the psychological tests were not crucial in detecting the actual presence of a brain tumor; such detection was the result of continued clinical observation of the patient's behavior.

This article presents a summary of the "Report of the Medical Aspects," after outlining some pertinent known facts about University of Texas in Austin student Charles J. Whitman's medical history and his emotional and social behavior, commented "that the relationship between the brain tumor and Charles J. Whitman's actions on the last day of his life cannot be established with clarity. However, the highly malignant brain tumor conceivably could have contributed to his inability to control his emotions and actions. This Report concludes with a constructive series of thoughtful "Recommendations." Those who are interested in the mental and social health of adolescents and young adults may be interested in the extracts from the Recommendations.

The article presents a study which examined the usefulness of electroencephalography as a diagnostic analysis of convulsive disorders and in the discovery and localization of brain tumors. From the electroencephalographic standpoint three categories of patients with convulsive disorders exist: with normal, regular, rhythmic-repetitive, cerebral electro-activity except when actually having a convulsion; with continued paroxysmal, more or less severe, generalized distortion of the electroencephalogram (cerebral dysrhythmia), less during the interval between seizures, increased shortly before, during and after; with abnormalities present only over a restricted area of the brain. In 1939, it was found that relatives of patients suffering from generalized cerebral dysrhythmia and epilepsy frequently showed the same or very similar either paroxysmal or continued disturbances, although they themselves were free of clinical signs of the disease. The presence of cerebral dysrhythmia, with or without clinical convulsions, in one parent increases the probability that one or more of the children might inherit the dysrhythmia and with it a susceptibility for convulsions. Abnormal electroencephalograms are frequently found in children exhibiting severe behavior problems. Among a multitude of negative physical findings, the

A letter to the editor concerning the organic and psychogenic factors of the three cases of akinetic mutism is presented.

The article presents an abstract of the study "Seven Cases of Frontal Tumours with Psychiatric Presentation." The study focuses on presenting personality change, work ability, amnesia, disorientation and alteration in motor activity. The seven cases of brain tumors are basal, frequently extending, adherent and pressing on local structures. It shows that persistent disabilities are noted postoperatively and improvement after operation is indicated by return of drive and ability to work.