Aim of the study. Postural deformities are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Several treatment options have been reported, but responses to these treatments appear unpredictable. Istradefylline is a novel drug for PD. Cases of PD patients whose postural deformities were improved after withdrawal of dopamine agonists and initiation of istradefylline are presented. Materials and methods. Four consecutive patients with postural deformities including antecollis, Pisa syndrome, and camptocormia were recruited and treated with istradefylline in combination with withdrawal of dopamine agonists, which are possible causes of postural deformities. Results. The dopamine agonists were discontinued an average of 26 months after the development of the postural deformities, and istradefylline was initiated an average of 1.3 months after dopamine agonist withdrawal. Three patients with preserved paraspinal muscle volume showed good responses to the treatment regimen at least two months after dopamine agonist withdrawal. Conclusions and clinical implications. Postural deformities caused by dopamine agonists generally improve less than two weeks after dopamine agonist withdrawal. Given the response time in the present study, the response was unlikely to be caused solely by dopamine agonist withdrawal. Istradefylline can be a potential therapeutic option; however, appropriate selection of patients for treatment with istradefylline is warranted.

The authors examined the possibility of assessing cerebral damage with phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy in 24 patients (three infants, four children older than age 5 years, and 17 adults) who met the adult criteria for brain death. In all patients except patient 3 (an infant 8 months old), inorganic phosphate with phosphodiester was observed, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and phosphocreatine (PCr), which are detectable in healthy brains, were not detected. In 22 of these 23 patients, cardiac death occurred within 7 days after clinical brain death, and in one infant 14 months old, cardiac death occurred 38 days after clinical brain death. In patient 3, ATP and PCr were detected with P-31 MR spectroscopy, and now, more than 20 months after brain death, cardiac death has not yet occurred. In children younger than age 5 years, P-31 MR spectroscopic findings were predictive of the patient's clinical outcome. These findings may help establish criteria for the diagnosis of brain death in children younger than age 5 years.

IgG4-related hypophysitis, which is the pituitary gland inflammation caused by IgG4 positive lymphocytes, can affect cavernous sinus and orbital apex leading to developing cranial nerve related symptoms such as orbital apex syndrome (OAS). Here we report a case of hypopituitarism associated with OAS caused by pituitary metastasis of the breast cancer with elevated serum IgG4 level, who initially resembled to IgG4-related hypophysitis. Although this case had some features in common with igG4-related hypophysitis. The symptoms and pituitary enlargement were typical. However, steroid treatment did not improve her symptoms. Thus, we performed a tissue biopsy. Histopathologic examination of the hypophyseal tumor confirmed metastatic breast cancer in her pituitary. Pituitary metastatic tumor should be suspected if a case with OAS was once diagnosed as a cancer.

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