Neurology Alert – February 1, 2016
February 1, 2016
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Inflammatory Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy: Can We Avoid the Biopsy?
Refinement of the imaging criteria for cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related inflammation may increase sensitivity and specificity enough to forgo brain biopsy.
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Pregnancy Outcomes in Patients with Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorders
Based on a retrospective analysis of an international cohort of women with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders who had at least one pregnancy, the authors report a higher risk for miscarriage and preeclampsia in patients who were diagnosed before pregnancy.
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Prevalence and Progression of Epilepsy in Adults with Mitochondrial Disease
In a prospective study of 182 consecutive patients at a specialized mitochondrial clinic in the United Kingdom, followed for more than 7 years, recording the initial prevalence of epilepsy, and subsequently tracking occurrences of new seizure activity, status epilepticus, stroke-like episodes, and death during the follow-up period, epilepsy was found to be a common feature of these disorders.
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Idiopathic Phrenic Neuropathy
Isolated phrenic neuropathy is a rare syndrome, often associated with a surgical procedure and diabetes mellitus, and has no proven, effective therapy other than respiratory support.
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ICH May Clinically Mimic TIA
In a large retrospective review of 2137 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage, 34 had transient symptoms that could have been misclassified as “transient ischemic attack” if brain imaging had not been performed.
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Optimal Antiplatelet Therapy for Secondary Prevention of Ischemic Stroke
This study strongly suggests that compared with maintaining patients on aspirin alone, switching to a different antiplatelet agent, or adding a second antiplatelet agent to aspirin may be better in preventing subsequent vascular events in patients who experienced a new ischemic stroke while taking aspirin.
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Treatment of AVM-related Epilepsy
There is insufficient evidence to recommend invasive AVM management to reduce epileptic seizure frequency, and this will have to be evaluated in a long-term randomized, controlled clinical trial.