Moyamoya phenomenon following clipping of intracranial aneurysm: case report.

Subarachnoid haemorrhage from aneurysmal rupture is a common emergency in neurosurgery. Depending on aneurysm position, morphology, size, associated clot, and symptoms, it is either managed by endovascular occlusion or by clipping. Here we report the first known case of secondary Moyamoya phenomenon following the clipping of a supraclinoid internal carotid artery Aneurysm.

Quantitative Sensory Testing in Spinal Cord Stimulation: A Narrative Review.

Objectives: Quantitative sensory testing (QST) has been used for decades to study sensory abnormalities in multiple conditions in which the somatosensory system is compromised, including pain. It is commonly used in pharmacologic studies on chronic pain but less so in conjunction with neuromodulation. This review aims to assess the utility of QST in spinal cord stimulation (SCS) protocols.

Diagnostic and interventional neuroradiology training in the UK: a national trainee survey.

Aim: Training structure in neuroradiology can be variable, nationally and internationally. Globally, there is a trend towards standardised training pathways, curricula and targeted competencies. Currently, there is limited understanding of the structure of neuroradiology training in the UK.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy compared with standardised medical care for adults with dissociative non-epileptic seizures: the CODES RCT.

Background: Dissociative (non-epileptic) seizures are potentially treatable by psychotherapeutic interventions; however, the evidence for this is limited.

Objectives: To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of dissociative seizure-specific cognitive-behavioural therapy for adults with dissociative seizures.

Design: This was a pragmatic, multicentre, parallel-arm, mixed-methods randomised controlled trial.

Computed tomography in patients with epileptic seizures admitted acutely to hospital: A population level analysis of routinely collected healthcare data.

Approximately 1.4% of emergency medical admissions are due to epileptic seizures. For the majority of such cases, computed tomography (CT) will not inform acute management and is unnecessary.

Health Utilities and Costs for Motor Neurone Disease.

Background: Motor neurone disease (MND) places a significant burden on patients, their carers, and healthcare systems.

Objectives: To estimate health utilities and costs of MND within the UK setting.

Methods: Patients with MND, recruited via 22 regional clinics, completed a postal questionnaire of a cost and quality-of-life survey.

Mapping ALSFRS-R and ALSUI to EQ-5D in Patients with Motor Neuron Disease.

Background: The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R) is the preferred measure of health outcome in clinical trials in motor neuron disease (MND). It, however, does not provide a preference-based health utility score required for estimating quality-adjusted life-years in economic evaluations for health technology assessments.

Objectives: To develop algorithms for mapping from measures used in MND clinical studies to allow for future prediction of the five-level EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) utility in populations of patients with MND when utility data have not been collected.

Does magnesium sulfate have a role in the management of severe traumatic brain injury in civilian and military populations? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant cause of combat morbidity. Currently, the medical management of TBI is limited to supportive critical care. Magnesium sulfate has been studied as a potentially beneficial therapeutic agent.

Correction to: Secondary antibody deficiency: a complication of anti-CD20 therapy for neuroinflammation.

In the original article, the co-author's family name has been published incorrectly. The correct family name should be Constantinescu.

Secondary antibody deficiency: a complication of anti-CD20 therapy for neuroinflammation.

B-cell depleting anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody therapies are being increasingly used as long-term maintenance therapy for neuroinflammatory disease compared to many non-neurological diseases where they are used as remission-inducing agents. While hypogammaglobulinaemia is known to occur in over half of patients treated with medium to long-term B-cell-depleting therapy (in our cohort IgG 38, IgM 56 and IgA 18%), the risk of infections it poses seems to be under-recognised. Here, we report five cases of serious infections associated with hypogammaglobulinaemia occurring in patients receiving rituximab for neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders.

Meta-analysis of pharmacogenetic interactions in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis clinical trials.

Objective: To assess whether genetic subgroups in recent amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) trials responded to treatment with lithium carbonate, but that the treatment effect was lost in a large cohort of nonresponders.

Methods: Individual participant data were obtained from 3 randomized trials investigating the efficacy of lithium carbonate. We matched clinical data with data regarding the and genotype.

Economic Studies in Motor Neurone Disease: A Systematic Methodological Review.

Background: Motor neurone disease (MND) is a devastating condition which greatly diminishes patients' quality of life and limits life expectancy. Health technology appraisals of future interventions in MND need robust data on costs and utilities. Existing economic evaluations have been noted to be limited and fraught with challenges.

A randomised, patient-assessor blinded, sham-controlled trial of external non-invasive peripheral nerve stimulation for chronic neuropathic pain following peripheral nerve injury (EN-PENS trial): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Eight percent of people in the UK are estimated to have persistent (chronic) neuropathic pain, and for many there is no effective treatment. Medications are the most common first-line treatment but often have limited benefit or adverse events. Surgical treatments, such as spinal cord stimulation, are then often considered.

Feature driven classification of Raman spectra for real-time spectral brain tumour diagnosis using sound.

Spectroscopic diagnostics have been shown to be an effective tool for the analysis and discrimination of disease states from human tissue. Furthermore, Raman spectroscopic probes are of particular interest as they allow for in vivo spectroscopic diagnostics, for tasks such as the identification of tumour margins during surgery. In this study, we investigate a feature-driven approach to the classification of metastatic brain cancer, glioblastoma (GB) and non-cancer from tissue samples, and we provide a real-time feedback method for endoscopic diagnostics using sound.

Brain tumour differentiation: rapid stratified serum diagnostics via attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy.

The ability to diagnose cancer rapidly with high sensitivity and specificity is essential to exploit advances in new treatments to lead significant reductions in mortality and morbidity. Current cancer diagnostic tests observing tissue architecture and specific protein expression for specific cancers suffer from inter-observer variability, poor detection rates and occur when the patient is symptomatic. A new method for the detection of cancer using 1 μl of human serum, attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and pattern recognition algorithms is reported using a 433 patient dataset (3897 spectra).

Long-Term Treatment of Chronic Neuropathic Pain Using External Noninvasive External Peripheral Nerve Stimulation in Five Patients.

Background: External noninvasive peripheral nerve stimulation (EN-PNS) is a neuromodulation technique in which a low-frequency electrical stimulation is applied via a ball-shaped electrode that is placed directly onto the skin.

Objectives: To examine how this modality is being used in the long term, by patients with chronic neuropathic pain who had responded to this treatment in a short-term trial.

Materials And Methods: All patients with a diagnosis of neuropathic pain who had obtained a machine for continued long-term use (via special funding requests), following a successful trial between 2009 and 2012 were contacted.

International consensus diagnostic criteria for neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders.

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory CNS syndrome distinct from multiple sclerosis (MS) that is associated with serum aquaporin-4 immunoglobulin G antibodies (AQP4-IgG). Prior NMO diagnostic criteria required optic nerve and spinal cord involvement but more restricted or more extensive CNS involvement may occur. The International Panel for NMO Diagnosis (IPND) was convened to develop revised diagnostic criteria using systematic literature reviews and electronic surveys to facilitate consensus.

Posterior spinal cord herniation: a novel occurrence following surgery for an intramedullary cyst at the thoracolumbar junction.

Background: Dorsal herniation of the spinal cord through the dura is an uncommon phenomenon and this is only the fifth reported case in the thoracolumbar spine, the first following surgery at the thoracolumbar junction.

Case: A 57-year-old male underwent marsupialisation of a benign intramedullary cyst at the T12-L1 level and subsequently returned with symptoms of dorsal column compromise. He was found to have a posterior herniation of the cord into a pseudomeningocele at the level of the previous surgery.

Hyperosmolar non-ketotic hyperglycaemia: an important and reversible cause of acute bilateral ballismus.

An 83-year-old lady with type 2 diabetes mellitus was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. After 3 days of oral amoxicillin she developed ballism-choreiform movements of all four limbs. Her serum glucose and osmolality were raised.

A case of complex regional pain syndrome with agnosia for object orientation.

This systematic investigation of the neurocognitive correlates of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) in a single case also reports agnosia for object orientation in the context of persistent CRPS. We report a patient (JW) with severe long-standing CRPS who had no difficulty identifying and naming line drawings of objects presented in 1 of 4 cardinal orientations. In contrast, he was extremely poor at reorienting these objects into the correct upright orientation and in judging whether an object was upright or not.