Suprasellar cistern tuberculoma presenting as unilateral ocular motility disorder and ptosis:A case report

BACKGROUND Intracranial tuberculoma is a rare and serious type of tuberculosis,which mostly occurs in the frontoparietal and cerebellar hemispheres,with predominance in the gray-white matter junction area,while tuberculomas only in the cistern are extremely rare with only a few reported cases in the literature.We describe a unique case of isolated tuberculoma in the suprasellar cistern,with only right ocular motility disorder and upper eyelid ptosis.CASE SUMMARY A 5-year-old boy without any medical history presented with right ocular motility disorder and upper eyelid ptosis one month ago.He had no history of fever,headache,vomiting,convulsions,or limb weakness.Neurological examination showed right third cranial nerve palsy with restrictions of eye movements and ptosis,pupil dilation and negative light reflex.Imaging suggested a spaceoccupying lesion in the suprasellar cistern with calcification and ring-enhancement.Moreover,no Mycobacterium tuberculosis was found in cerebrospinal fluid by polymerase chain reaction(PCR).The lesion was initially diagnosed as a tumor,while postoperative pathology combined with PCR indicated tuberculoma.The patient continued postoperative anti-tuberculosis treatment.At present,the patient's condition is stable and the symptoms are partially relieved compared with those before surgery.CONCLUSION This case confirmed that isolated intracranial tuberculoma can occur in the suprasellar cistern.Therefore,for space-occupying lesions in the suprasellar cistern,tuberculoma should be included in the differential diagnosis even if there is no history or indication of tuberculosis infection.

Efficacy of intraorbital electroacupuncture for diabetic abducens nerve palsy： study protocol for a prospective single-center randomized controlled trial

Abducens nerve palsy（ANP） is commonly seen in patients with diabetes mellitus. The validity of acupuncture as a traditional Chinese medicine method in peripheral nerve repair is well established. However, its efficacy in randomized controlled trials remains unclear. Herein, we designed a protocol for a prospective, single-center, randomized controlled trial to investigate the effect of intraorbital electroacupuncture on diabetic ANP. We plan to recruit 60 patients with diabetic ANP, and randomly divide them into treatment and control groups. Patients in both groups will continue their glucose-lowering therapy. A neural nutrition drug will be given to both groups for six weeks. The treatment group will also receive intraorbital electroacupuncture therapy. We will assess efficacy of treatment, eyeball movement, diplopia deviation and the levels of fasting blood-glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin before treatment at 2, 4, and 6 weeks after treatment. The efficacy and recurrence will be investigated during follow-up（1 month after intervention）. This protocol was registered at Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on 16 January 2015（Chi CTR-IPR-15005836）. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University of China（approval number： 201452）. All protocols will be in accordance with Declaration of Helsinki, formulated by the World Medical Association. Written informed consent will be provided by participants. We envisage that the results of this clinical trial will provide evidence for promoting clinical use of this new therapy for management of ANP.

The use of choline in association with the Bangerter filters for the treatment of amblyopia

The study investigated the effects of choline combined with Bangerter filter in the treatment of amblyopia. All amblyopic subjects used a Bangerter filter on the corrective spectacle lens（1 d over the left eye, 1 d over the right eye）. Choline was then administered orally to 39 patients once daily, five days per week for the entire study period. Subjects treated with the Bangerter filter showed a mean visual acuity of 0.27 logM AR; at 12 mo of treatment, the mean visual acuity reached 0.09 log MAR. Patients treated with the Bangerter filter and citicoline showed a mean visual acuity of 0.35 log MAR; at 12 mo of treatment, the mean visual acuity reached 0.01 logMAR. No significant changes in the angle of deviation were observed in both groups. Subjects in both forms of amblyopia therapies demonstrated an increase in visual acuity. However, these effects were markedly enhanced when coupled with the administration of choline. Findings suggest that the effects are particularly relevant in the more severe amblyopic cases.

Role of orthoptics and scoring system for orbital floor blowout fracture:surgical or conservative treatment

AIM:To assess the role of orthoptics in referring patients with orbital floor blowout fracture(OFBF)for conservative or surgical treatment and based on the results,to propose a scoring system for such decision making.METHODS:A retrospective analysis of 69 patients with OFBF was performed(35 treated conservatively,34 surgically).The role of orthoptics in referring to surgery or conservative treatment was retrospectively evaluated,the factors with the highest significance for decision making were identified,and a scoring system proposed using Logistic regression.RESULTS:According to defined criteria,the treatment was unsuccessful in 2(6%)surgically treated and only in one(3%)conservatively treated patient.The proposed scoring system includes the defect size and several values resulting from the orthoptic examination,the elevation of the eyebulb measured on Lancaster screen being the most significant.CONCLUSION:The study demonstrates the benefits of orthoptic examination when making decisions on conservative or surgical treatment and for diagnosing ocular motility disorder(with or without binocular diplopia)in OFBF patients.The proposed scoring system could,following verification in a prospective study,become a valuable adjunctive tool.