Background and Purpose —We chose to evaluate the safety and efficacy of combined intrathrombus rtPA and intravenous heparin in cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT). Methods —We treated 12 patients with symptoms of 1 to 40 days’ duration (eg, headache, somnolence, focal deficits, seizures, and nausea and vomiting). Pretreatment MRI disclosed subtle hemorrhagic venous infarction in 4 patients, obvious hemorrhagic infarction in 2, small parenchymal hemorrhage from recent pallidotomy in 1, and no focal lesion in 5. Magnetic resonance venography and contrast venography identified thrombi in the superior sagittal sinus (SSS) in 3 patients; transverse/sigmoid sinus (TS/SS) in 2; SSS and both TS/SS in 1; SSS and 1 TS/SS in 5; and SSS, 1 TS/SS, and straight sinus in 1 patient. A loading dose of rtPA was instilled throughout the clot at 1 mg/cm, followed by continuous intrathrombus infusion at 1 to 2 mg/h. Intravenous heparin was infused concomitantly. Results —Flow was restored completely in 6 patients and partially in 3, with a mean rtPA dose of 46 mg (range, 23 to 128 mg) at a mean time of 29 hours (range, 13 to 77 hours). Symptoms improved in these 9 patients concomitantly with flow restoration. Flow could not be restored in 3 patients. In 1 of them, treatment was stopped when little progress had been made, and fibrinogen level dropped to 118 mg/dL. In the other 2 patients, hemorrhagic worsening occurred, and treatment was abbreviated after initial rtPA dosing. In 1 of these, the hematoma was evacuated. Conclusions —Our experience with intrathrombus rtPA in conjunction with intravenous heparin in patients with CVT is encouraging. This therapy should probably be regarded as unsafe in patients with obvious hemorrhage. Time to restore flow may be faster than with urokinase (an average of 71 hours has been reported for 29 documented patients). Further evaluation of rtPA with heparin in CVT is warranted.
Traumatic lipohemarthrosis of the wrist joint in association with a scaphoid fracture is an unreported entity. We present the first case report of MRI appearance of a double fluid-fluid level of lipohemarthrosis caused by a scaphoid fracture. The presence of a double fluid-fluid level within the injured joint definitely establishes a lipohemarthrosis. A traumatic lipohemarthrosis is considered synonymous with an intra-articular fracture and has important implications for patient management. A limited MRI scan for diagnosis or exclusion of scaphoid fracture may be more cost-effective than expectant management and subsequent followup visits.
Various neuroimaging modalities are available for evaluating patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). All patients considering surgery should undergo magnetic resonance imaging, which is valuable in the detection and characterization of lesions, particularly mesial temporal sclerosis, the most common abnormality in TLE. A localized seizure focus is predictive of successful surgical outcome. Complimentary neuroimaging studies include positron emission tomography, single-photon emission tomography, and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
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