Marco Meglio

The director of the Joseph Epstein Center for Emergency Medicine Research provided context on a study that showed wide variation in EDs diagnosis, treatment, and management of headache.

Neurology News Network for the week ending December 25, 2021.

These news stories dominated the conversations in the field and were often included in NeurologyLive®’s coverage in headache and migraine.

After years of research showing that it demonstrates similar benefit to alteplase, tenecteplase’s benefit in a large patient cohort with acute ischemic stroke will be tested in the TIMELESS trial.

Darcy Krueger, MD, PhD, director, Tuberous Sclerosis Clinic, Cincinnati Children’s, provided insight on a new trial that aims to stop the onset and progression of tuberous sclerosis complex.

The research assistant professor at the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center provided insight on a new study that looks at the connection between brain structure and cognitive decline in patients with multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Although similar in reducing the risk of recurrent stroke, the use dual antiplatelet therapy with clopidogrel and aspirin was associated with a decreased risk of functional disability compared with ticagrelor and aspirin.

These findings have clinical implications for the diagnosis of AQP4-NMOSD and in helping clinicians differentiating it from other demyelinating diseases such as MOGAD.

The newly awarded programs complement AC Immune’s portfolio in PD, which includes an anti-α-syn vaccine, next generation PET imaging tracer, and a preclinical stage anti-α-syn antibody.

Clinicians have begun to incorporate more holistic ways to approach the treatment of multiple sclerosis symptoms by focusing on better overall health, exercising, and dieting.

Over a 10-year period, apomorphine sublingual film was projected to be dominant in 70% of patients compared with apomorphine hydrochloride injection and 71% vs levodopa inhalation powder.

The director of the Tuberous Sclerosis Clinic at Cincinnati Children’s provided insight on promising drug developments for tuberous sclerosis complex and other notable priorities within the space.

Jessica Fesler, MD, MEd, staff epileptologist, Cleveland Clinic, offered insight on the future of seizure apps and how if improved, they could alter the treatment of patients with epilepsy.

The newly adopted AASM guidelines are designed to help health care providers treating obstructive sleep apnea know when to discuss referral for upper airway or bariatric surgery evaluation with their patients.

The medical director of the Epilepsy program at the University of Toronto discussed her presentation at AES 2021 regarding the need to change how clinicians view and treat patients with developmental epileptic encephalopathies.

Those who demonstrated amyloid-ß positivity with clinical anxiety were at a statistically significant increased risk of incident mild cognitive impairment.

Leaders in the epilepsy space provided their thoughts on the most promising aspects, initial takeaways, and dominating conversations at the 2021 American Epilepsy Society annual meeting.

Despite displaying safety, after accounting for baseline differences between groups, statistically significant clinical improvement was not observed in key secondary outcomes, exploratory clinical outcomes, or responder analyses.

Jeffrey Cummings, MD, ScD, discussed how the successes of new biomarkers and composite instruments will be crucial to the development of disease-modifying agents for Alzheimer disease.

Across all surgical procedures, the percentage of patients with seizure freedom for at least 12 months ranged from 20% to 35.7% for patients receiving cenobamate.

The staff epileptologist at Cleveland Clinic’s Epilepsy Center discussed the current state of seizure tracking applications, their limitations, and their untapped potential to be integrated in clinical care and with electronic medical records.

In total, 6.4% of those with intellectual disability achieved seizure freedom and 37.5% had at least a 50% responder rate after treatment with perampanel.

While typically thought of as a disease that affects younger populations, Rebecca O’Dwyer, MD, stressed the importance and nuances of caring for older adults with epilepsy.

Half of the patients who were on a flexible, longer-term Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-informed psychotherapy treatment schedule demonstrated improvements in seizure frequency by more than 50%.

At the 12-month mark, more than 64% of patients had remained on perampanel, with an overall mean retention time of 10.8 months.

More than two-thirds of patients who received prednisolone after showing no response to vigabatrin demonstrated complete electroclinical response at 2 weeks, with most sustaining response at 6 weeks.

After previously showing proof-of-concept in a phase 2 setting, investigators will continue to evaluate efficacy and safety of apitegromab, potentially the first muscle-directed therapy for patients with SMA.

There was a statistically significant difference in epileptic seizure frequency means across baseline and the 6- and 12-month follow-up visits.

The FDA-approved preventive therapy for migraine was well-tolerated, with low dropout rates, and showed sustained clinically meaningful outcomes across a 2-year stretch.

The director of the Chambers-Grundy Center for Transformative Neuroscience at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas discussed new data that highlights wasted expenditures from Alzheimer trials and the importance of understanding their impacts. [WATCH TIME: 3 minutes]