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Lance-adams syndrome: a report of two cases

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Abstract

Chronic post-hypoxic myoclonus, also known as Lance-Adams syndrome (LAS), is a rare complication of successful cardiopulmanry resuscitation often accompanied by action myoclonus and cerebellar ataxia. It is seen in patients who have undergone a cardiorespiratory arrest, regained consciousness afterwards, and then developed myoclonus days or weeks after the event. Worldwide, 122 cases have been reported in the literature so far, including 1 case of Chinese. Here we report 2 Chinese LAS patients with detailed neuroimagings. Cranial single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of patient 1, a 52-year-old woman, showed a mild hypoperfusion in her left temporal lobe, whereas patient 2, a 54-year-old woman, manifested a mild bilateral decrease of glucose metabolism in the frontal lobes and a mild to moderate decrease of the N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) peak in the bilateral hippocampi by cranial [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomographic (PET) scan and cranial magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), respectively. We also review the literature on the neuroimaging, pathogenesis, and treatment of LAS.

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Correspondence to Liu Jian-ren.

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The two authors contributed equally to this work

Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30600193), the Youth Talent Special Fund of the Health Bureau of Zhejiang Province, China (No. 2004QN012), and the Health Bureau of Zhejiang Province, China (Nos. 2000A114 and 2007A100)

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Zhang, Yx., Liu, Jr., Jiang, B. et al. Lance-adams syndrome: a report of two cases. J. Zhejiang Univ. - Sci. B 8, 715–720 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.2007.B0715

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.2007.B0715

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