Narrative Medicine to integrate patients', caregivers' and clinicians' migraine experiences: the DRONE multicentre project.

Background: Although migraine is widespread and disabling, stigmatisation and poor awareness of the condition still represent barriers to effective care; furthermore, research on migraine individual and social impact must be enhanced to unveil neglected issues, such as caregiving burden. The project investigated the migraine illness experience through Narrative Medicine (NM) to understand daily life, needs and personal resources of migraneurs, their caregivers and clinicians, and to provide insights for clinical practice.

Methods: The project involved 13 Italian headache centres and targeted migraneurs, their caregivers and migraine specialists at these centres.

P300 auditory event-related potentials and neuropsychological study during donepezil treatment in vascular dementia.

After Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular dementia (VaD) is the most common cause of dementia among the elderly. Abnormalities in neurotransmitter pathways are common pathogenic mechanisms shared by AD and VaD. For one month we studied the effects of donepezil, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (5 mg daily), on the cognitive system using P300 auditory event-related potentials (P300) and neuropsychological tests in 10 patients affected by probable VaD according to the NINDS-AIREN criteria.

The use of entacapone in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease: 2 years' experience.

Since January 2000 we have administered entacapone (200 mg) to 75 patients with severe Parkinson's disease in combination with their routine levodopa dose. At baseline the mean UPDRS (item III) score was 38+/-6. After 3 months of entacapone therapy the patients presented a significant improvement of motor fluctuations; the mean UPDRS score (item III) was 20+/-4.

Symptoms and neurophysiological picture of carpal tunnel syndrome in pregnancy.

Objective: To evaluate the incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in pregnancy through a validated and multiperspective assessment of CTS.

Methods: During 2000, the Italian CTS study group focussed on the occurrence of CTS in women during the final stages of pregnancy, enrolled in 7 Italian centers. In addition to the physician-centered and neurophysiologic traditional evaluations, we used a validated patient-oriented measurement to obtain more comprehensive and consistent data for severity of symptoms and functional impairment.