Lancet neurology
-
Migraine is one of the most common neurological diseases and it has a huge social and personal impact. Although head pain is the core symptom, individuals with migraine can have a plethora of non-headache symptoms that precede, accompany, or follow the pain. ⋯ Once the pain stops, the involvement of most brain areas ends, although the pons, hypothalamus, and visual cortex remain active after acute treatment intake and resolution of migraine symptoms. A better understanding of the correlations between imaging findings and migraine symptomatology can provide new insight into migraine pathophysiology and the mechanisms of novel migraine-specific treatments.
-
For decades, the hypothesis that brain deposition of the amyloid β protein initiates Alzheimer's disease has dominated research and clinical trials. Targeting amyloid β is starting to produce therapeutic benefit, although whether amyloid-lowering drugs will be widely and meaningfully effective is still unclear. ⋯ This variability suggests that the benefits of lowering amyloid β might depend on how strongly an amyloid pathway is manifest in an individual in relation to other coexisting pathophysiological processes. A new approach to research and treatment, which fully considers the multiple factors that drive cognitive decline, is necessary.
-
Dysphagia is a major complication following an acute stroke that affects the majority of patients. Clinically, dysphagia after stroke is associated with increased risk of aspiration pneumonia, malnutrition, mortality, and other adverse functional outcomes. Pathophysiologically, dysphagia after stroke is caused by disruption of an extensive cortical and subcortical swallowing network. ⋯ Emerging diagnostic procedures, technical innovations in assessment tools, and digitalisation will improve diagnostic accuracy in the future. Advances in the diagnosis of dysphagia after stroke will enable management based on individual patterns of dysfunction and predisposing risk factors for complications. Progess in dysphagia rehabilitation are essential to reduce mortality and improve patients' quality of life after a stroke.
-
Accurate diagnosis of multiple sclerosis requires careful attention to its differential diagnosis-many disorders can mimic the clinical manifestations and paraclinical findings of this disease. A collaborative effort, organised by The International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in Multiple Sclerosis in 2008, provided diagnostic approaches to multiple sclerosis and identified clinical and paraclinical findings (so-called red flags) suggestive of alternative diagnoses. ⋯ For example, CNS inflammatory disorders that present with syndromes overlapping with multiple sclerosis can increasingly be distinguished from multiple sclerosis with the aid of specific clinical, MRI, and laboratory findings; studies of people misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis have also provided insights into clinical presentations for which extra caution is warranted. Considering these data, an update to the recommended diagnostic approaches to common clinical presentations and key clinical and paraclinical red flags is warranted to inform the contemporary clinical evaluation of patients with suspected multiple sclerosis.
-
Drug resistance is estimated to affect about a third of individuals with epilepsy, but its prevalence differs in relation to the epilepsy syndrome, the cause of epilepsy, and other factors such as age of seizure onset and presence of associated neurological deficits. Although drug-resistant epilepsy is not synonymous with unresponsiveness to any drug treatment, the probability of achieving seizure freedom on a newly tried medication decreases with increasing number of previously failed treatments. ⋯ Substantial evidence indicates that a delay in identifying an effective treatment can adversely affect ultimate outcome and carry an increased risk of cognitive disability, other comorbidities, and premature mortality. Research on mechanisms of drug resistance and novel therapeutics is progressing rapidly, and potentially improved treatments, including those targeting disease modification, are on the horizon.