Standardized computer-based organized reporting of EEG: SCORE.

The electroencephalography (EEG) signal has a high complexity, and the process of extracting clinically relevant features is achieved by visual analysis of the recordings. The interobserver agreement in EEG interpretation is only moderate. This is partly due to the method of reporting the findings in free-text format.

Functional brain reorganization after spinal cord injury: systematic review of animal and human studies.

Plastic changes of neural circuits occur after spinal cord injury (SCI) at various level of the central nervous system. In this review we will focus on delineating the pathophysiological mechanisms of the brain plasticity changes following SCI, based on the existing neuroimaging and neurophysiological evidence in experimental models and humans. In animal experiments, reorganization of the sensory topography as well as of the topographical map of primary motor and premotor cortices have been reported in several studies.

Usability and potential of geostatistics for spatial discrimination of multiple sclerosis lesion patterns.

Background And Purpose: In multiple sclerosis (MS) the individual disease courses are very heterogeneous among patients and biomarkers for setting the diagnosis and the estimation of the prognosis for individual patients would be very helpful. For this purpose, we are developing a multidisciplinary method and workflow for the quantitative, spatial, and spatiotemporal analysis and characterization of MS lesion patterns from MRI with geostatistics.

Methods: We worked on a small data set involving three synthetic and three real-world MS lesion patterns, covering a wide range of possible MS lesion configurations.

[18F]-fluoro-ethyl-L-tyrosine PET: a valuable diagnostic tool in neuro-oncology, but not all that glitters is glioma.

Background: To assess the sensitivity and specificity of [(18)F]-fluoro-ethyl-l-tyrosine ((18)F-FET) PET in brain tumors and various non-neoplastic neurologic diseases.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated (18)F-FET PET scans from 393 patients grouped into 6 disease categories according to histology (n = 299) or distinct MRI findings (n = 94) (low-grade/high-grade glial/nonglial brain tumors, inflammatory lesions, and other lesions). (18)F-FET PET was visually assessed as positive or negative.

Lacosamide as a new treatment option in status epilepticus.

Status epilepticus is among the most common neurologic emergencies, with a mortality rate of up to 20%. The most important therapeutic goal is fast, effective, and well-tolerated cessation of status epilepticus. Intravenous phenytoin/fosphenytoin, phenobarbital, or valproate is the current standard treatment after failure of benzodiazepines.

Ictal unilateral eye blinking and contralateral blink inhibition - A video-EEG study and review of the literature.

Introduction: There is limited information on ictal unilateral eye blinking (UEB) as a lateralizing sign in focal seizures. We identified two patients with UEB and propose a novel mechanism of UEB based on a review of the literature.

Materials And Methods: We report on two patients with intractable focal epilepsy showing UEB among 269 consecutive patients undergoing noninvasive video-EEG monitoring from October 2011 to May 2013.

Cause-specific mortality among patients with epilepsy: results from a 30-year cohort study.

Purpose: Death rates of patients with epilepsy are two to three times higher than expected. The aim of our study was to further delineate the causes and the patterns of premature death in patients with epilepsy.

Methods: We included all patients who were prospectively enrolled between 1970 and 1999 in our epilepsy outpatient clinical database.

Antiepileptic drug use in Austrian nursing home residents.

Purpose: Currently around 30% of all newly developed seizures are diagnosed in persons older than 65 years. Five to 17% of nursing home-residents take antiepileptic drugs. The aim of our study was to analyze the type and frequency of prescribed antiepileptic drugs, as well as their indication, co-morbidities and co-medications in institutionalized elderly in Austria.

Real movement vs. motor imagery in healthy subjects.

Motor imagery tasks are well established procedures in brain computer interfaces, but are also used in the assessment of patients with disorders of consciousness. For testing awareness in unresponsive patients it is necessary to know the natural variance of brain responses to motor imagery in healthy subjects. We examined 22 healthy subjects using EEG in three conditions: movement of both hands, imagery of the same movement, and an instruction to hold both hands still.

Ideal characteristics of an antiepileptic drug: how do these impact treatment decisions for individual patients?

Effective management of epilepsy requires a holistic approach that takes into account the needs of the individual patient. Antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment must therefore look beyond efficacy to ensure that the patient's overall health status and quality of life (QoL) are optimized. Because the primary objective of AED treatment is to control seizures over the long term, the ideal AED should, first and foremost, demonstrate sustained efficacy and favourable tolerability.

Decision making in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.

Recent neuroimaging studies have reported structural and functional brain abnormalities in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME), which may also involve cortical and subcortical networks that are important for decision making. This study is the first attempt to examine decision making in JME. Twenty-two patients with JME (median age 26.

Individual brain-frequency responses to self-selected music.

Music is a stimulus which may give rise to a wide range of emotional and cognitive responses. Therefore, brain reactivity to music has become a focus of interest in cognitive neuroscience. It is possible that individual preference moderates the effectof music on the brain.

Causes of status epilepticus.

Status epilepticus (SE) is the most extreme form of epilepsy. It describes a prolonged seizure that may occur in patients with previous epilepsy or in acute disorders of the central nervous system. It is one of the most common neurologic emergencies, with an incidence of up to 41 per 100,000 per year and an estimated mortality is 20%.

Non-invasive brain stimulation in the functional evaluation of alcohol effects and in the treatment of alcohol craving: a review.

Acute and chronic consumption of alcohol have direct effects on central nervous system by altering predominantly gamma-aminobutyric acidergic and glutamatergic neurotransmission. Abnormalities in these neurotransmitter systems can be demonstrated by changes in cortical excitability parameters assessed with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Furthermore, integrated approaches utilizing TMS combined with electroencephalography (EEG) enable the evaluation of the focal effects of alcohol on the human cortex, providing useful information, different from that obtained using other functional brain imaging modalities.

Clinical characteristics, risk factors and pre-surgical evaluation of post-infectious epilepsy.

Background And Purpose: Epilepsy is a frequent complication of central nervous system (CNS) infections. Post-infectious epilepsy is commonly refractory to medical treatment and plays a pivotal role for the poor long-term outcome of CNS infections.

Objectives: To provide an overview of clinical characteristics and risk factors of seizures associated with CNS infections.

KOMET: an unblinded, randomised, two parallel-group, stratified trial comparing the effectiveness of levetiracetam with controlled-release carbamazepine and extended-release sodium valproate as monotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of levetiracetam (LEV) with extended-release sodium valproate (VPA-ER) and controlled-release carbamazepine (CBZ-CR) as monotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy.

Methods: This unblinded, randomised, 52-week superiority trial (NCT00175903) recruited patients (≥16 years of age) with ≥2 unprovoked seizures in the previous 2 years and ≥1 in the previous 6 months. The physician chose VPA or CBZ as preferred standard treatment; each patient was randomised to standard treatment or LEV.

Functional evaluation of central cholinergic circuits in patients with Parkinson's disease and REM sleep behavior disorder: a TMS study.

Central cholinergic dysfunction has been reported in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and hallucinations by evaluating short latency afferent inhibition (SAI), a transcranial magnetic stimulation protocol which gives the possibility to test an inhibitory cholinergic circuit in the human brain. REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) was also found to be associated with cognitive impairment in PD patients. The objective of the study was to assess the cholinergic function, as measured by SAI, in PD patients with RBD (PD-RBD) and PD patients without RBD (PD-nRBD).

Comparison of stent-retriever devices versus the Merci retriever for endovascular treatment of acute stroke.

Background And Purpose: Revascularization of large cerebral artery occlusion is the therapeutic goal in stroke therapy. Currently, many recanalization devices are in clinical use. This study compares the outcome parameters, efficacy, and safety of the new generation of stent-retriever devices with the well-established Merci retriever.

Cortical afferent inhibition is reduced in patients with idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder and cognitive impairment: a TMS study.

Objectives: Impaired cognitive profile and electroencephalography (EEG) slowing have been reported in patients with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), but the neurobiological significance of these findings remains unknown. The cholinergic system is known to play a key role in all attentional processes and cognitive functions. A transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol may give direct information about the function of some cholinergic circuits in the human brain; this technique relies on short latency afferent inhibition (SAI) of the motor cortex.

Coiling after treatment with the woven EndoBridge cerebral aneurysm embolization device. A case report.

Retreatment options after the use of the newly launched Woven EndoBridge cerebral aneurysm embolization device (WEB II) are mostly unknown. Nine months after WEB II implantation, a 55-year-old female patient presented with regrowth of an MCA aneurysm. For the first time, standard balloon-assisted coiling was used to close the regrown aneurysm proximal to the WEB II implant.

Cerebral hypoperfusion during carotid artery stenosis can lead to cognitive deficits that may be independent of white matter lesion load.

Studies investigating cognitive impairment in stroke-free patients with carotid artery stenosis have led to inconsistent results. Furthermore, the pathophysiological mechanism leading to cognitive impairment remains unclear. Cerebral hypoperfusion and arterio-arterial microembolization are discussed.

Seizures and epilepsy in herpes simplex virus encephalitis: current concepts and future directions of pathogenesis and management.

Mortality related to herpes simplex virus encephalitis (HSE) dropped dramatically with the systematic initiation of antiviral treatment in encephalitic syndromes. Further efforts need to be taken to reduce long-term morbidity in the survivors. In this regard, the high rate of postencephalitic epilepsy, which is frequently refractory to medical treatment, contributes significantly to the unfavorable clinical outcome of the disease.

Cerebral vasospasm following temporal lobe epilepsy surgery.

Objective: Selective amygdalohippocampectomy (AHE) has been associated with postoperative cerebral vasospasm (CVS) in patients with medically intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. The incidence in temporal lobe resection (TLR) is unknown. This retrospective cohort study evaluates the incidence of and risk factors for the development of CVS in patients with TLR and AHE.

Current therapies in ischemic stroke. Part B. Future candidates in stroke therapy and experimental studies.

Stroke still remains a major healthcare problem. The growing understanding of the mechanism of cell death in ischemia leads to new approaches in stroke treatment. The aim of neuroprotection is to reduce the post-stroke impairment and the overall costs that are accompanied in patients with severe disability.