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Introduction: Prion encephalopathies are a group of diseases with a hereditary or acquired origin which, after a long asymptomatic period, give rise to rapidly progressing neurological disorders. This progression can only be explained by an exponential growth of the pathogenic protein load, which allows to keep the load in low levels for many years and then to grow swiftly in a few months., Development: Bearing in mind the knowledge currently available about the pathogenesis of prion diseases and patients' clinical progression, it becomes possible to distinguish several different periods of progression, the length of which can be estimated for each disease by reviewing the series of cases published to date. In general, the infectious prion diseases have a shorter period of latency than the hereditary ones and those caused by insertion of genetic material are associated to shorter latencies and to longer periods of illness than those caused by sporadic mutations., Conclusions: The rate of growth of the prion load depends essentially on how fast the pathogenic prion protein replicates; nevertheless, this growth is also modulated by other factors, many of which are polymorphisms in certain positions on the gene coding for prion protein or in other genes.

Introduction: Chiropractic manipulations of the cervical region are techniques that are used more and more frequently to treat a number of osteomuscular pathologies, but can give rise to important complications, such as the dissection of the cervical arteries. Dissection of the vertebral artery generally presents as alternating syndromes, of which Wallenberg s syndrome, either complete or incomplete, is the most frequent. In this paper we review the literature published to date on the pathogenesis, risk factors, clinical features, chronopathology, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of this complication., Case Report: We describe the case of a young patient who suffered from incomplete Wallenberg s syndrome a few hours after a single session of cervical chiropractic manipulation, and we also show the resonance images that were used to support the diagnosis., Conclusions: The appearance of a pain in the neck and neurological symptoms in a patient who has undergone chiropractic manipulation in the last few hours or days must lead us to consider a possible dissection of the cervical arteries. Dissection of the vertebral artery usually gives rise to alternating syndromes, the most frequent of which is lateral bulbomedullary infarction or Wallenberg s syndrome due to proximal occlusion of the posteroinferior cerebellar artery. Magnetic resonance angiography of the supra aortic trunks and cranial magnetic resonance scanning are valid techniques for demonstrating the dissection of the artery and the associated ischemic lesion.