Neurology
Expert perspectives on neurological conditions, stroke management, movement disorders, and neuromuscular disease.
Recent Discussions
What postural change in FVC is suggestive of respiratory muscle weakness?
In our practice, an assisted ventilation clinic which is enriched with patients who have diagnosed neuromuscular disease and/or chronic respiratory failure of unclear etiology, we often use 12% or 200cc simply by analogy to the criteria we use to assess bronchodilator responsiveness during PFTs. Alt...
Would you proceed with anti-CD20 treatment in an MS patient who is VZV IgG negative in spite of vaccination in the last year?
There is no clear data on management. In my experience, if a patient has been vaccinated in the recent past, then I will proceed with anti-CD20 therapy. However, if vaccination was in the remote past, I have asked patients to repeat vaccination before initiating therapy.
What further testing do you recommend for incidentally found ependymitis granularis as part of headache workup?
I would defer this question to a neuroradiologist.
In pediatric patients with low-grade gliomas showing prolonged response or stable disease on tovorafenib, how would you adjust the duration of therapy?
This is a one-million-dollar question. As far as I know, the design of FIREFLY-2 includes a fixed duration of treatment, and this is also the case for ACSN1833 (selumetinib trial). It will be important to look at the PFS of the patients who discontinued tovorafenib and compare with the results of ch...
How often do you screen for cerebral aneurysms in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease who do not have a family history of intracranial aneurysms or for whom the family history is unknown?
We recently wrote an editorial about this topic. Our conclusion was as follows: "considering the potential for morbidity and mortality in this unique population at risk for ICAs with possibly higher-than-average risk of rupture, we believe that presymptomatic screening for ICA in all individuals wit...
How do you treat patients with blepharospasm?
Botulinum toxin injections.
How do you treat benign fasciculation syndrome?
Reassurance. Just telling the patient that it isn’t ALS and it’s a benign and common condition will often suffice. If it doesn’t suffice: Address anxiety with psychotherapy, medications, or both. Reduce caffeine intake, and ensure the patient gets adequate sleep. If the first and second options don...
In what clinical scenarios do you utilize post-cardiac arrest targeted temperature management (TTM)?
There still is a role for TTM in post-cardiac arrest patients. The Targeted Temperature Management After Cardiac Arrest: A Systematic Review was a systematic review of six randomized clinical trials with a total of 3870 participants that were examined. Of these, 2,767 participants were treated with ...
How do you determine timing and frequency of stability scans for a patient with spontaneous, non-aneurysmal intracerebral hemorrhage?
We typically obtain a follow-up “stability scan” about 6 hours from the index scan. The AHA guidelines do not mention a specific timeframe. Situations, where we would consider sooner repeat imaging, would be clinical deterioration (increase in NIHSS by 4 or more points or decline in GCS by 2 or more...
Which interventions have you found effective for managing sensory sensitivities in children with autism spectrum disorder?
Sensory sensitivities are very common in ASD and are listed as one of the four aspects of the core symptoms under the restricted, repetitive behaviours, interests or activities criteria of the DSM-5. Depending on the sensitivity, therapeutic interventions can be designed and implemented by occupatio...