76 cases of cluster headache are reviewed. Besides confirming established notions, the present study calls attention to the following points: (a) the peculiar behaviour of patients during the attacks does not appear explainable in simple terms of reaction to pain; (b) the occurrence of ECG abnormalities during the attacks in addition to bradycardia; (c) the well-known tendency of cluster headache attacks to recur at the same time of day, has in our cases a very high peak at 3 p.m., and (d) when the attacks occur in sleep hours, the time relationship with REM sleep stage is confirmed in our cases which have been recorded at night.

SYNOPSIS Slater recently described a vertiginous episodic syndrome almost constantly associated with migraine and proposed giving this syndrome the name of “Benign recurrent vertigo”. Five additional cases with the same clinical features are reported, confirming that: (a) this syndrome is clearly distinguishable from other previously described paroxysmal vestibulopathies, its most significant characteristics having a very high prevalence in women, recurrence of attacks, time correlation with menstrual phases, absence of cochlear and neurologic abnormalities; (b) association with either headache episodes or family history of migraine is almost constant, although there is no time relationship between vertigo and migraine attacks. We conclude that this syndrome appears, in descriptive terms and apart from its etiopathogenetic nature, as a distinct clinical entity and deserves to be further researched in its own right and also for its relationship with migraine.

The histories of seven patients over the age of 60 years are reported. They all suffered from recurrent and prolonged episodes of confusional state associated with psychic and neurologic manifestations. All episodes were accompanied by the occurrence of periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges (PLEDs) on the EEG, which became normal when the ictal episodes subsided either spontaneously or after administration of diazepam i.v. Although PLEDs may correspond to severe hemispheric lesions, serial computed tomography (CT) scan and laboratory investigations detected significant abnormalities in only one case, that of a patient with a progressive dementing outcome. In the other six patients, follow-up neuropsychological controls indicated moderate impairment of higher cortical functions according to the hemisphere involved by PLEDs. Administration of carbamazepine (CBZ) proved rather effective in preventing the recurrence of the ictal episodes. For its clinical, EEG, and prognostic features, this condition may represent a peculiar nonconvulsive status epilepticus in the elderly.

The WhiteFox CBCT scanner measures bone density with high accuracy. There is a correlation between bone density and primary implant stability as assessed with IT and RFA measurements. The findings suggest that BDE may be used as an additional feature in treatment-planning software to estimate primary stability at predetermined implant sites.

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