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Context:Proximal lower limb weakness presenting acutely with or without preceding fever is a strong mimic of Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS). Benign acute childhood myositis (BACM) forms an important differential diagnosis in such cases.Aim:To characterize the clinical and laboratory findings of patients with BACM for better understanding of the disease.Settings and Design:This prospective longitudinal study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital of northern India.Materials and Methods:Thirty-two patients presenting in the outpatient or emergency clinic of the hospital with severe myalgia that exacerbated with straight leg raising test and fever from July 2016 to July 2017 were included in the study.Statistical Analysis:All the continuous data were expressed as number and percentage or mean ± standard deviation/median. Non-parametric continuous data between groups were analyzed by Friedman’s test.Results:The mean age of the patients was 14.3 (±8.7) years and they presented after a nonspecific febrile illness in most of the cases (53.1%). The symptoms resolved after a mean of 5.7 (±1.6) days. Myalgia was present in 21 (65%) cases, whereas proximal weakness was the prominent finding in 14 (43%) cases. Electrolyte abnormality (hypokalemia) was present in four (12.5%) cases. In all patients, the muscle enzymes (creatine phosphokinase, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, and lactate dehydrogenase) were elevated at presentation, and electromyography showed myopathic pattern. A significant recovery took place in the next 5–7 days.Conclusion:BACM should be actively looked for in cases of painful acute proximal limb weakness in the adolescents.

Introduction: In India, a national program for stroke (national programme for the control of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and stroke) and stroke management guidelines exist. Its successful implementation would need an organized system of stroke care in practice. However, many challenges exist including lack of awareness, prehospital notification systems, stroke ready hospitals, infrastructural weaknesses, and rehabilitation. We present here a protocol to investigate the feasibility and fidelity of implementing a uniform stroke care pathway in medical colleges of India. Methods and Analysis: This is a multicentric, prospective, multiphase, mixed-method, quasi-experimental implementation study intended to examine the changes in a select set of stroke care-related indicators over time within the sites exposed to the same implementation strategy. We shall conduct process evaluation of the implementation process as well as evaluate the effect of the implementation strategy using the interrupted time series design. During implementation phase, education and training about standard stroke care pathway will be provided to all stakeholders of implementing sites. Patient-level outcomes in the form of modified Rankin Scale score will be collected for all consecutive patients throughout the study. Process evaluation outcomes will be collected and reported in the form of various stroke care indicators. We will report level and trend changes in various indicators during the three study phases. Discussion: Acute stroke requires timely detection, management, and secondary prevention. Implementation of the uniform stroke care pathway is a unique opportunity to promote the requirements of homogenous stroke care in medical colleges of India.

Patients suffering from acute intractable vomiting are usually treated in the Gastroenterology department. The causes of acute intractable vomiting range from acute pancreatitis and acute intestinal obstruction to cardiac causes like acute myocardial infarction and neurological causes like posterior circulation stroke. However, most of the underlying causes of acute intractable vomiting also produce other telltale signs/symptoms. Rarely, isolated acute intractable vomiting may be the initial symptom of a recurrent neurological syndrome of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). Not only can it be promptly treated if diagnosed correctly, but also a timely diagnosis may help in prevention of recurrent neurological deficits, which can sometimes be life threatening. We present three cases of NMOSD that presented with intractable vomiting and were treated in a Gastroenterology facility prior to their diagnosis.

Intravenous (IV) dexamethasone is recommended for 14 days in stage 1 and 28 days in stage 2/3 tuberculous meningitis (TBM). We used a different steroid protocol. We shifted TBM patients to oral steroids after 48 hours of sustained improvement on IV steroids (oral group). Patients who worsened after shifting to oral steroids were reinitiated on IV steroids. Once they showed a consistent improvement for 48 hours, the IV steroids were overlapped with oral steroids for 7-10 days to taper off IV steroids (overlap group). We compared total IV steroid days in our patients with the recommended treatment and identified predictors that favored the oral group. This was a retrospective study. We included 98 patients with TBM (66 in the overlap group and 32 in the oral group) from January 2013 to July 2018. The median IV steroid days were 9 days (interquartile range of 4-12; 2-3.5 days in the oral group and 10-11.5 days in the overlap group). The mortality rate was 6.1%. The logistic regression model showed that TBM patients with basal exudate, tuberculoma, and modified Rankin scale (mRS) < 3 had a higher probability for going to the oral group. We conclude that total IV steroid days can be reduced in TBM patients by our method of steroid use. Presence of basal exudates and tuberculoma may favor early shifting from IV to oral steroid, whereas higher mRS may require a relatively longer course of IV steroid.