Tülay Kurt

QUANTITATIVE EEG ANALYSIS IN OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER

Quantitative analysis of the EEG (q-EEG) in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) showed a decreased beta and an increased theta power at frontotemporal regions. The patients who had higher scores in doubting test (Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Questionnaire) and more severely ill patients shared similar q-EEG features. The relative theta powers were significantly increased and alpha powers were significantly decreased in these patients, particularly in the frontotemporal region. It was suggested that the q-EEG may be useful in investigating the OCD patients with heterogeneous characteristics.

SOMATOSENSORY EVOKED POTENTIAL AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN ISCHAEMIA-INDUCED BRAIN DAMAGE: EFFECTS OF TRIMETAZIDINE IN RATS

We studied the protective effects of trimetazidine (TMZ) on brain damage by means of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) in rats. The TMZ group did not show any statistically significant difference from the control group with respect to SEPs. However, the percentage of cells with ischaemic cell damage in hippocampal regions was significantly smaller in the TMZ group than the control group. Trimetazidine reduced the number of damaged cells in the cerebral tissue during the ischaemia-reperfusion damage. It was suggested that higher doses of trimetazidine may further reduce the number of cells with ischaemic damage.

Reversible hyperintense T2 MRI lesions of basal ganglia after an electrical injury

An 16-year-old man was exposed to an electrical current under 220 V over a period of 5 s. The electrical current pathway was from right hand to left foot. After the electrical shock, he suffered from a cardiac arrest. When admitted to the hospital, he had a ventricular fibrillation. He was intubated and defibrillated several times. The patient was transported to continuous care unit with a Glasgow score of eight points. Cranial CT was normal. On the fourth day of admission, secondary generalized seizure occurred and, T2 weighted axial MRI scan on the fourth day demonstrated a marked increased in signal intensity from the bilateral lentiform nucleus (Fig. 1A). At neurological examination, on 20th day of injury, he had truncal ataxia, choreo-athetoic movements at his limbs. Cortical vision loss was noticed and hypo-perfusion in the left posterior parietal region was obtained by SPECT examination. No cortical potentials could be evoked by light flashes or pattern changes. We repeated the MRI and observed the same findings as previously. After 1 week, truncal ataxia was improved and after 2 months, the choreo-ahtetoic movements in his limbs decreased, cortical visual recovery began to oc-

Bilateral ptosis and gaze paresis due to unilateral thalamic lesions

In this report, we present three cases of bilateral ptosis associated with vertical and/or horizontal gaze paresis due to unilateral thalamic lesions. As far as we know, there is only one earlier report of bilateral ptosis due to an isolated thalamic lesion. In the light of our cases, we propose that cortical efferent pathways, known as supranuclear pathways, descend from supranuclear centers to diencephalic centers which serve eye opening. In addition, vertical and horizontal gaze may be affected by these thalamic lesions.