Of 410 patients with refractory herniated lumbar disc disease treated with intradiscal collagenase, 82 (20%) did not respond to enzyme treatment and subsequently underwent surgery. Failure to improve in 6 to 8 weeks was the predominant cause for surgical intervention (53 patients). Increased pain (18 patients), progressing neurological deficit (10 patients), and disc-space infection (one patient) were the other indications for surgery. At surgery, extrusions and/or sequestrations were found in 46 patients, undigested protrusions in 16 patients, and other causes of treatment failure in 14 patients. Six patients had normal findings. There was no evidence of adverse enzyme activity on the surrounding structures. Surgical results showed an overall success rate of 87%, and did not appear to be compromised by the previous enzyme therapy.

Brain abscesses caused by Entamoeba histolytica were treated in two residents of New Jersey, neither of whom had traveled beyond the eastern United States. The diagnosis in Case 1 was confirmed by the presence of ameba in both brain and pituitary abscesses. An elevated indirect hemagglutination (IHA) titer of 1:4096 and response to specific treatment with metronidazole and chloroquin were the criteria for diagnosis in Case 2. The computerized tomographic appearance of an amebic abscess is that of a rapidly progressive lesion without reaction in the adjacent brain. Of the seven reported cures, all of the patients received appropriate chemotherapy. Five of the seven were operated upon.

No abstract

Brain abscesses caused by Entamoeba histolytica were treated in two residents of New Jersey, neither of whom had traveled beyond the eastern United States. The diagnosis in Case 1 was confirmed by the presence of ameba in both brain and pituitary abscesses. An elevated indirect hemagglutination (IHA) titer of 1:4096 and response to specific treatment with metronidazole and chloroquin were the criteria for diagnosis in Case 2. The computerized tomographic appearance of an amebic abscess is that of a rapidly progressive lesion without reaction in the adjacent brain. Of the seven reported cures, all of the patients received appropriate chemotherapy. Five of the seven were operated upon.

No abstract