Search

Introduction: Huntington's disease (HD) is known as a neurodegenerative disease with movement disorder and cognitive impairment; autonomic involvement is also becoming common in some recent studies. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the presence of cardiac autonomic involvement in HD patients., Method: Time and frequency domain parameters obtained from the 24-h Holter ECG(hECG) were compared between 20 HD patients and 20 healthy control subjects., Results: Fourteen HD patients had tachycardia, bradycardia, and extra beats. Interval between two heartbeats, normal-to-normal (NN), standard deviation of all normal-to-normal (SDNN), square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of the differences between consecutive N-N intervals in ms (rMSSD), and the ratio of the number of consecutive pairs of N-N intervals that differ by more than 50 ms to the total number of N-N intervals (pNN50) were all significantly higher in the patient group than in the control group during 24-h hECG monitoring. However, hECG monitoring showed that the patient group had significantly higher values of the frequency-domain metrics high frequency (HF) than the control group did (P = 0.003). Very low frequency (VLF) was lower in the patient group (P = 0.009). There was no difference in low frequency (LF) in both groups. In comparison to the control group, LF/HF was much reduced in the patient group (P = 0.001)., Conclusion: Cardiac disfunction increases, and autonomic functions change in HD, but more comprehensive studies are needed to distinguish sympathetic and parasympathetic involvement., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Aim: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive disease characterized by degeneration in the upper and lower motor neurons of the corticospinal tract, brain stem, and spinal cord. Recent studies have revealed that the disease does not present solely with motor neuron involvement. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to investigate the presence of cardiac autonomic impairment in patients diagnosed with ALS., Material and Method: A total of 61 patients, who were diagnosed with ALS according to the Revised El Escorial Criteria (R-EEC), were included in this prospective study, in addition to the 29 healthy individuals, who were included in the study as controls. In order to assess the cardiac autonomic involvement, the presence of orthostatic hypotension was investigated, and transthoracic echocardiography and 24-hour electrocardiogram (ECG) using a Holter monitor were performed., Results: Orthostatic hypotension was detected in 14 (22.2%) patients. Holter electrocardiogram results of the patient group revealed statistically significantly lower heart rate variability (HRV) indicators in the time domain (SDNN, SDANN, SDNN index, rMSSD, and pNN50) and in the frequency domain (high frequency [HF], low frequency [LF], and very low frequency [VLF]) than those of the control group (P < .05)., Conclusion: Contrary to the popular opinion, cardiac autonomic dysfunction in patients with ALS can occur at any stage of the disease. Therefore, it is recommended that the patients are evaluated via periodic examinations during the follow-up period for cardiac autonomic involvement., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: This preliminary study was planned to provide information about preoperative mandibular canal (MC) position and the postoperative positional changes of MC and length in three dimensions, with the purpose of providing some assistance in reducing inferior alveolar neurosensory disturbance (IAND)., Methods: MC was examined on CBCT data using SimPlant Pro Standalone 13.0. MC locations were measured in all dimensions, with respect to mandibular bony borders., Results: The results showed that MC is frequently located in the midthird of the ramus anteroposteriorly and superoinferiorly and in the midthird of the corpus superoinferiorly. Postoperatively, ramus width was increased, ramus length was decreased significantly, and MC was repositioned laterally and inferiorly. MC length was decreased on both sides, non-correlated with the set-back amounts., Conclusion: Preoperative results may be beneficial for the prediction of MC position for surgeons, and postoperative results will be used for the following studies to correlate postoperative positional changes with IAND., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.