Algorithmically Detecting Brain Abscess Caused by Dental Infection

An interesting article titled “Dental focal infection-induced ventricular and spinal canalempyema: A case report” appears in the World Journal of Clinical Cases written by Hang Xue an et al. (vol. 8, no. 14, pp. 3114-3121, July 26, 2020). A discussion is made of a case report of a 53 year old woman who developed a brain abscess caused by a dental infection and how an algorithm pathogenic sequencing technique was used for diagnosis. In the article, the authors discuss the 53 year old woman from China who presented to a hopsital in 2019. She had high blood pressure for 10 years that was not well controlled even though she was taking medication and also had dental cavities for the prior three years. When she arrived at the hospital she was in narcosis and had no autonomous respiration. She had Cerebrospinal … Read more

Is Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy Related to New Daily Persistent Headache?

An interesting article titled “New Daily Persistent Headache As A Presenting Symptom Of Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy,” is written by Daniel E. Jacome and located over at http://www.webmedcentral.com/wmcpdf/Article_WMC00960.pdf. The article discusses Hashimoto’s encephalopathy (HE) which is a rare autoimmune neurological disorder and how patients with this disorder may present with a headache characteristic of new daily persistent headache or atypical hemicranias continua. Patients of HE are said to have elevated serum titers of thyroid microsomal and antithyroglobulin antibodies. A reference is made to a past case of a woman who had such elevated antibodies and also a left sided headache and aphasia. The current article describes a case of a 50 year old man who had such elevated antibodies and also a persistent daily left sided headache with aphasia. Note that his brain MRI and MRA was normal. In the article it … Read more