Active neurosyphilis is uncommon after the introduction of penicillin. We evaluated the pathology of a case of untreated neurosyphilis that was diagnosed as a manic episode. Examinations were performed before and after high-dose penicillin G treatment. Evaluations included the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (Cognistat), the Bender Gestalt Test, an electroencephalogram, and brain magnetic resonance imaging/angiography. The most obvious improvements after treatment with penicillin G were the constructive ability and the ability to draw two-and three-dimensional designs. A paradoxical deterioration in several items on the Cognistat after treatment suggested an impairment in working memory. The clinical and psychological abnormalities observed in this case were speculated to be due to disturbed visual cognition related to encephalitis and impaired working memory related to temporofrontal lobe pathology. Current diagnostic tools were useful for precisely diagnosing and assessing the prognosis of older patients with late-onset mania
A 68-year-old woman showed obsessive thought that she could not remember the names of people or items that she saw. She repeatedly asked her husband to recall names of unspecified people and checked the garbage to find the names of items. The patient had a history of cerebral infarctions in the left middle cerebral artery regions 2 and 15 months before the emergence of her symptoms. A magnetic resonance imaging examination showed signs of an old infarction in the left basal ganglia and ischemic signs in the right temporal lobe. Her obsessive-compulsive symptoms relating to words were successfully treated with a serotonin selective reuptake inhibitor, paroxetine, at the dose of 40 mg/d. Her scores on the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale reduced from 31 to 8 points after this treatment. This case may suggest therapeutic modulation of language-related cortical activity elicited by paroxetine.
Two cases of patients experienced subsyndromal depression after manic or mixed hypomanic and depressive episodes due to bipolar I (case 1) and II (case 2) disorders prior to the use of lamotrigine. Case 1 showed episodes of mood switching induced by antidepressants and seasonal mood instability. Case 2 showed hippocampal atrophy and a persistent dull headache that preceded the use of lamotrigine. Both were successfully treated with add-on lamotrigine therapy, and the dull headache was effectively treated with olanzapine. Both patients improved in social activity and work performance after these add-on treatments. Thus, add-on treatment with lamotrigine alone or in combination with olanzapine was an effective strategy to improve the quality of life in bipolar depression. Subsyndromal depression that present after the disappearance of the manic or mixed state was suggested to be practical indication for the use of lamotrigine.
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