BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Herpes-zoster (HZ) is a vesicular painful skin rash resulting from the reactivation of vari cella-zoster virus (VZV) in dorsal root ganglia or cranial nerves, which occurs decades after the primary varicella infection. However, even after skin healing, pain may persist for months or even years. This is a complication known as post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). This review aimed at giving an overview of herpes-zoster and PHN clinical history, focusing on pain control. CONTENTS: PHN is characterized by chronic neuropathic pain. Its incidence is higher among the elderly and immunocompromised individuals. There are several treatment options, which may be pharmacological or interventionist, both with variable efficacy. CONCLUSION: Pain affects quality of life of patients, interfering with their daily activities. In spite of advances already obtained in the analgesic therapy for HZ and PHN, there are still difficulties in its approach. So, it is very important to prevent, diagnose and early treat HZ and its complications.
Encephalitis is a potentially fatal inflammation of the brain parenchyma, of infectious or immunological etiology. This article is a case report of a 9-month-old child who evolved to death, demonstrating the difficulty in making the diagnosis, due to the symptoms of this disease being, in most cases, nonspecific and with several differential diagnoses.
Hydrocephalus is a common condition of accumulation of cerebral spinal fluid in the ventricular system. Generally, infants show with progressive macrocephaly or signs and symptoms of intracranial hypertension. The ventricular shunt represents a common and important treatment of hydrocephalus. However, it can occur some complications. The authors report a case of an accident of catheter removal in an infant, which the choroid plexus was removed by accident, and discuss how to diagnose and how to prevent it.
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