Infection and Drug Resistance (Oct 2023)

Clinical and Laboratory Characteristics, Neuroimaging Alternations and Treatment Response of 25 HIV-Negative General Paresis Patients

  • Liu M,
  • Tong M,
  • Zhou J,
  • Lan Y,
  • Wu M,
  • Zhang H,
  • Leng L,
  • Zheng H,
  • Li Y,
  • Li M,
  • Li J

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 16
pp. 6931 – 6939

Abstract

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Mingjuan Liu,1– 3 Meiyi Tong,1,2 Jia Zhou,1,2 Yining Lan,1,2 Mengyin Wu,1,2 Hanlin Zhang,1,2 Ling Leng,2 Heyi Zheng,1,2 Yanfeng Li,4 Mingli Li,5 Jun Li1,2 1Department of Dermatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100730, People’s Republic of China; 2State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100730, People’s Republic of China; 3 4+4 M.D. Program, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100005, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Neurology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100730, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Radiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100730, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Mingli Li; Jun Li, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: General paresis is a common type of neurosyphilis featuring progressive cognitive deterioration. The lack of a golden standard of diagnosis and its nonspecific clinical manifestations resulted in a high rate of misdiagnoses. This study aims to investigate the clinical, laboratory and radiological presentations of general paresis and enrich its knowledge for timely diagnoses.Patients and methods: The study collected hospitalized patients admitted for general paresis from September 2002 to November 2022. Their socio-demographical and medical status, clinical presentations, cognitive assessments, laboratory and radiographical manifestations and treatment information were collected retrospectively.Results: A total of 20 males and 5 females were included. Patients’ ages ranged from 30 to 66 years (average 50.3 years). The average and median time for diagnosing general paresis was 14.1 months and 10.0 months respectively. The most frequent initial symptom is memory deterioration (68.0%). Impaired calculative ability and memory deterioration were the most frequent cognitive anomalies, as found in 50% and 45.4% of subjects during examination. The mean and median scores of MoCA was 16.7 and 17 respectively. Serological tests revealed positive TPPA for all patients and a median RPR titer at 1:64 positive. All CSF samples with TPPA and FTA-ABS results reported positivity. The MRI manifestations of general paresis include patchy or speckled hyperintensities (70.8%) and cerebral atrophy (45.8%). The most common lesioned sites in MRI were the ventricular and paraventricular area (50.0%) and temporal lobes (45.8%). For treatment, penicillin-based anti-syphilitic plans were adopted in 17 patients (68.0%).Conclusion: The clinical features and radiological alternations of general paresis patients often exhibited diverse and nonspecific alternations. However, some specific clinical manifestations and auxiliary examinations can provide meaningful clues for the identification and differential diagnosis of this disease.Keywords: neurosyphilis, general paresis, syphilis, neuropsychiatric symptoms

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