Wednesday 25 May 2022

Stiff Person Syndrome: A Case Report and Review | Chapter 13 | New Horizons in Medicine and Medical Research Vol. 9

 The case centres on a 26-year-old male patient who was admitted to the General Medicine ward for a non-life-threatening ailment. In the previous three days, this patient had had excruciating spasms and stiffness in both legs. The patient was unable to stand up without difficulty as a result of this complaint, and as a result, was unable to walk correctly. He had no history of animal or insect bites or wounds, and his legs were free of infected sores or abscesses. The patient explained that his employment needs him to stand for lengthy periods of time in hot temperatures when asked. However, his symptoms seemed to intensify and spread over time. As a result, he was taken to the General Medicine ward for heat stroke. with rhabdomyolysis. His renal function tests were normal, and his CK levels were > 2000 IU/l.

Overall, the patient appeared stable and fully conscious, well-oriented to time and place, and afebrile. However, he seemed to resist movement and therefore looked rigid in his overall appearance. However, (to avoid using ‘however’ again, you could start with: ‘Despite this, his…’) his symptoms greatly improved to the point of nearly disappearing when he was resting or asleep.  The patient also had to be shifted to the ICU to stabilize his muscle stiffness, where he developed a few complications such as acute kidney injury, severe lactic acidosis, desaturation, tachycardia, and reduced urine output. In the middle of all this, (Or: ‘During all this,’) there was no abnormality seen in neuroimaging or from electrophysiological studies. However, the raised level of anti-GAD antibodies combined with the patient's history and examination findings all pointed towards the patient suffering from Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS). However, since this case was already proving to be both complicated and difficult to diagnose, there must be (or ‘needs to be’) a systematic way of ruling out the other possible causes of the symptoms and the complications that arise in a given patient to make sure that there are no errors in diagnosing the case or intervening accordingly. Failure to do so can complicate the condition and deteriorate the patient’s condition further. Therefore, this case study aims to target those areas that point towards diagnosing this condition early and in a better way. This study also focuses on the possible treatment and management plans that should be systematically carried out on suspected patients of Stiff Person Syndrome to ensure their timely survival and to prevent complications electrophysiological research The patient's history and physical results, together with the patient's elevated anti-GAD antibodies, all pointed to the patient having Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS). However, because this case was already proving to be complicated and difficult to identify, there must be (or 'needs to be') a systematic manner of ruling out other probable causes of symptoms and problems in a specific patient to ensure that no errors in diagnosing or intervening are made. Failure to do so may aggravate the situation and worsen the patient's condition. As a result, the goal of this case study is to focus on the aspects that indicate to identifying this problem earlier and more accurately. This research also looks at various therapy and management strategies that should be used on suspected Stiff Person Syndrome patients in order to ensure their timely survival and avoid complications.

Author(S) Details

Ashraf ALakkad
Department of Internal Medicine, Madinat Zayed Hospital, United Arab Emirates.

Mahmoud Sami
Department of Critical Care, Madinat Zayed Hospital, United Arab Emirates.

Mohamed Salah
Department of Neurology, Madinat Zayed Hospital, United Arab Emirates.

View Book:- https://stm.bookpi.org/NHMMR-V9/article/view/6908


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