Topic: URGENT! Any info/experience w/arachnoid cyst?
lymeladyinNY
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10235
posted
My nephew is very ill - fever, dizziness, headache, vomiting.
After MRI today he was diagnosed with an arachnoid cyst in his brain.
Can Lyme disease cause this type of cyst to form? He has been diagnosed with Lyme already.
He is scheduled to see a neurologist soon - and I don't trust neurologists.
We are very worried about him. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
- Lymelady
-------------------- I want to be free Posts: 1170 | From Endicott, NY | Registered: Sep 2006
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CaliforniaLyme
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YES it is documented in the literature!!! be right back!!!!
It can be from Lyme!!!
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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CaliforniaLyme
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Member # 7136
posted
Sorry NY Lady, I KNOW there is an abstract on Lyme as arachnoid cyst, but I have to cook dinner- here's on relapsing fever causing that- oh- found one- here-
1: Eur J Neurol. 2006 May;13(5):536-8. Links Subarachnoid hemorrhage due to Borrelia burgdorferi-associated vasculitis.Jacobi C, Schwark C, Kress B, Hug A, Storch-Hagenlocher B, Schwaninger M. Department of Neurology, Ruprecht-Karl University, Heidelberg, Germany. [email protected]
We report the case history of a patient who suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in association with early Lyme neuroborreliosis. After a tick bite, this patient developed erythema chronicum migrans and complained of stinging radicular pain in both legs. A computed tomography (CT) scan was performed because of acute headache and nuchal rigidity, which revealed an occipital SAH. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis provided further evidence of acute neuroborreliosis. Digital substraction angiography showed irregularities in the right posterior cerebral artery, which might be due to vasculitis, but no aneurysms.
PMID: 16722982
1: Neurology. 1997 Feb;48(2):520-3.Links Subarachnoid hemorrhage in a patient with Lyme disease.Chehrenama M, Zagardo MT, Koski CL. Department of Neurology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Neuroborreliosis can cause a wide variety of seemingly unrelated neurologic abnormalities. Although the epidemiology, etiology, and pathology of this infection have been well documented, the pathogenesis and diagnosis continue to be problematic. In the current study we report a case of Lyme disease in which subarachnoid hemorrhage was the presenting feature of a patient with polyradiculoneuropathy and encephalopathy. Magnetic resonance imaging of the spine demonstrated diffuse pial and meningeal enhancement with more focal nodular areas of involvement.
PMID: 9040749
1: Neurologia. 2001 Jan;16(1):43-5.Links Spontaneous brain hemorrhage associated with Lyme neuroborreliosis.Seijo Mart�nez M, Grandes Ib��ez J, S�nchez Herrero J, Garc�a-Monc� JC. Servicio de Neurolog�a, Complexo Hospitalario de Pontevedra, L�ureiro Crespo, s/n 36001 Pontevedra. [email protected]
We present the case of a patient with late neuroborreliosis and a spontaneous temporal lobe hemorrhage. Although ischemic stroke and subarachnoid hemorrhage have been reported in association with Lyme disease, intraparenchymal brain hemorrhage has not been previously described in the course of this disease. The patient is a 48-year old male with a progressive spastic paraparesis of months' duration who presented acute headache, confusion, severe left hemiparesis with sensory deficit and homonymous hemianopsia. A cranial computed tomography scan showed an extensive right temporal lobe hemorrhage with subarachnoid invasion. Brain angiographic and angio-magnetic resonance imaging studies excluded hemorrhage-predisposing vascular abnormalities. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) studies disclosed mononuclear pleocytosis with elevated protein levels. Both serum and CSF anti-Borrelia titers were significantly increased, and serum Western Blot showed bands to protein 34 (ops B), 57, 59 and 62. The patient was treated with ceftriaxone for 4 weeks, with a favorable outcome. It is suspected that cause of the hemorrhage was parenchymatous Lyme-associated vascular damage and/or microaneurysmatic rupture.
PMID: 11234662 [
******************* Neurotropic Character of Tr. recurrentis In the animal the neurotropism of this treponema is well established. Ashbel (1943), investigating 17 strains of Tr. persica, found that organisms could be isolated from the brains of guineapigs 117-398 days after apparent recovery from the infection. In some cases this cerebral invasion proved fatal and post-mortem examination showed small perivascular haemorrhages and infiltrations with lymphocytes, monocytes and macrophages. The neurotropism of various strains has been shown to be equally great in other animals. (Heronimus 1928). This prediliction of treponema for nervous tissue in the animal raises the question whether it is similarly neurotropic in man. Data are not plentiful; but as long ago as 1874 Ponffick reported petechial haemorrhages in the brains of cases dying in the Berlin epidemic. Belezky and Umanskaja (1930) have recorded the findings in 8 fatal cases:..........In all instances microscopy showed a patchy infiltration of the pia with monocytes, lymphocytes and plasma cells, and in places the cerebral vessels were encircled by a similar cellular halo. In three cases treponemata were found in the brain substance, diffusely distributed and in no constant relation to vessels. More recently, Ungar has described the case of a woman dying in the puerperium with relapsing fever and cerebral symptoms. The post-mortem findings included a cholesteatoma of the lateral recess, oedema of the cisternal pia-archanoid and haemorrhages in the caudal part of the pons and the floor of the 4th ventricle. Sections showed the Virchow-Robin spaces distended with erythrocytes, lymphocytes and monocytes; treponemata were recovered from the cerebrospinal fluid and from the tumor. These observations show that Tr. recurrentis has neurotropic characters in man as well as in the animal, and they furnish a morbid anatomical foundation for the varied neurological guises the disease may assume. The histological changes described are perivascular infiltrations with mononuclear cells, occuring both in the pia-arachnoid and in the brain substance, sometimes associated with haemorrhages. The lesions are therefore meningovascular; a fact which could have been predicted from the clinical picture, for, indeed, the disease presents parallels with meningovascular syphilis.................. *
**************************** It can also be caused by NCC Neurocysticercosis: A Neurosurgical Perspective *************************************************
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 7136
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Here- concurrent Lyme & arachnoid cyst- ***************************************** 1: An Med Interna. 1996 Nov;13(11):549-51.Links [Parasitic delirium in patient with multiorganic pathology: a complex situation][Article in Spanish]
Hern�ndez-Alb�jar S, Rubio G, Gopar J, Galeote G, Rey R, Gil A. Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Universidad Aut�noma, Madrid.
Delusion of parasitosis is often observed in people who usually take psychoactive drugs. Moreover, it can be present in infectious diseases or tumours of the central nervous system, metabolic disorders, deficiency and states systemic disorders, such as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). The neuropsychiatric manifestations in SLE patients are common and constitute one of the criteria for the classification of SLE. Presentation as an acute organic mental syndrome is a clinical emergency and it is usually required the admission in the hospital. We report a case of delusion of parasitosis in a middle age woman diagnosed of SLE several years before and with previous corticosteroid therapy, right temporal arachnoid cyst, chronic Lyme disease and hypothyroidism. We analyse the different role of each pathology and the clinical practice difficulties in the management of these disorders.
PMID: 9019216
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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lymeladyinNY
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10235
posted
Thanks, CaliforniaLyme. I'm interested in anything else anyone can find. Thank you!
-------------------- I want to be free Posts: 1170 | From Endicott, NY | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
the thing to do is make sure you get a pathology report if they go in. Make sure it includes extensive spirochetal testing if you are concerned about lyme. The surgeons and pathologists will not normally check for lyme as a possible cause for arachnoid cyst unless you nag them. the testing should include microscopy, culture, PCR of affected tissues for Bb presence.
In a younger person, they will assume the cyst has some congenital element and just treat it without searching for any bizarre causes.
Anything inside the brain is potentially dangerous, but usually in the circumstances as you describe for your nephew they are able to provide curative treatment for the cyst.
Posts: 523 | From Stillwater,OK,USA | Registered: Sep 2004
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I have had Lyme for many years and I also have an arachnoid cyst in my brain.
Hope you find out more info!
Posts: 209 | From maryland | Registered: Aug 2007
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lymeladyinNY
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10235
posted
My nephew saw a neurologist today. My sister told him he has Lyme disease and he wanted to know who diagnosed him.
She told him a doctor in PA, and then she told him she doesn't believe in the IDSA guidelines.
The neurologist gave my sister a funny look.
He then said the arachnoid cyst is small, see you in six weeks.
I told her she shouldn't have mentioned Lyme disease at all. I wonder if, when he heard the word "lyme", his radar went up and he automatically just didn't want anything to do with my nephew.
I then told my sister perhaps she should get a second opinion, and this time, don't mention Lyme disease.
She said she will, so now I will have to wait and see what happens next.
I gave her your great advice, Aligondo Bruce. Thank you.
- Lymelady
-------------------- I want to be free Posts: 1170 | From Endicott, NY | Registered: Sep 2006
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