AANEM News Express

Sandra L. Hearn, MD Recipient of 2021 Scientific Impact Award

    7/27/2021
Sandra L. Hearn, MD, has been named as the winner of our 2021 Scientific Impact Award. She served as the second author on an article titled Motor Amplitudes May Predict Electromyography-Confirmed Radiculopathy in Patent Referred for Radiating Limb Pain.

Teerin Liewluck, MD is Named 2021 Scientific Impact Award Winner

    7/27/2021
Teerin Liewluck, MD, has been chosen as one of two recipients for the 2021 Scientific Impact Award. Dr. Liewluck was the senior author on a published paper titled, Neuromuscular Transmission Defects in Myopathies: Rare but Worth Searching For.

Science News: Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy Type 2 in CT, USA: A Single-Center Experience With 50 Patients

    7/26/2021
Myotonic muscular dystrophy type 2 (DM2) is a an autosomal dominant genetic disease stemming from expansion of the first intron of the Cellular Nucleic acid Binding Protein (CNBP) gene which encodes for a zinc finger protein. This disease tends to course with wasting muscle weakness, characteristic myotonia, and cataracts.

Science News: Comorbidities, Anthropometric, Demographic, and Lifestyle Risk Factors for Ulnar Neuropathy at the Elbow: A Case Control Study

    7/26/2021

Ulnar Neuropathy at the Elbow is second only to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome as the most frequently encountered focal neuropathy. The clinical presentation of UINE can vary from intermittent fourth and fifth digit paresthesias to anesthesia as well as weakness and atrophy of the ulnar muscles.

Science News: Comparison of Corticosteroid Tapering Regimens in Myasthenia Gravis: A Randomized Clinical Trial

    7/14/2021
Submitted by: Niranjan N. Singh, MD
Edited by: Betul Gondogdu, MD

This multicenter, parallel, single-blind randomized trial was conducted to compare the efficacy of the standard slow-tapering regimen of prednisone therapy with a rapid-tapering regimen in patients with generalized Myasthenia Gravis treated with Azathioprine (n=117). The slow-tapering arm included a gradual increase of the prednisone dose to 1.5 mg/kg every other day and a slow decrease once remission was achieved.

Science News: Natural History of "Pure" Primary Lateral Sclerosis

    7/14/2021
Submitted by: Hristelina Ilieva, MD, PhD
Edited by: Betul Gondogdu, MD

This retrospective review of pure PLS patients seen at Mayo Clinic-Rochester over a 26 year period (1990-2016), describes clinical characteristics and laboratory findings of 43 patients. Of these, 25 (58%) were female; median onset-age was 50 years (range: 38-78), and median follow-up duration was 9 years (range:4- 36).

Michael Cartwright, MD, MS, Receives Jun Kimura Outstanding Educator Award

    7/14/2021
AANEM has selected Michael Cartwright, MD, MS to receive the Jun Kimura Outstanding Educator Award in 2021. AANEM Outstanding Educator Awards honor members for their significant contributions related to neuromuscular and electrodiagnostic medicine education. Dr. Cartwright, currently a Professor of Neurology, Neuromuscular Fellowship Director, and MDA Clinic Director, has been a member of AANEM since 2004. He has been a practicing neurologist/physiatrist for 15 years.

Andrew H. Dubin, MD, Receives Ernest Johnson Outstanding Educator Award

    7/14/2021
AANEM has selected Andrew H. Dubin, MD to receive the Ernest Johnson Outstanding Educator Award in 2021. AANEM Outstanding Educator Awards honor members for their significant contributions related to neuromuscular and electrodiagnostic medicine education. Dr. Dubin, currently Professor of PM&R and Program Director at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Florida, has been a member of AANEM since 1995. He has been a practicing physiatrist for 31 years.
 

Dr. Janice M. Massey Receives 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award

    6/30/2021
AANEM’s Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor bestowed to a member. The award celebrates a lifetime’s worth of dedication to the field of NM or EDX medicine through teaching, research, or publications. The recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award has checked all of these boxes over her more than 30 years of service. Janice M. Massey, MD is the second woman in history to receive this prestigious award. She currently serves as the Executive Vice Chair in the Department of Neurology at Duke University Medical Center.
 

Patient Safety: Safety of DOACs in Needle EMG

    6/29/2021
Limited data is available regarding the risk of bleeding with EMG in patients taking DOACs. One small retrospective study looked at the risk of bleeding after EMG in this patient population and in those taking warfarin, using ultrasound of studied muscles. Nine patients out of the 58 included had hemorrhagic complications, six of which were classified as clinically relevant non-major bleeding and three as asymptomatic bleeding, with a higher incidence of hemorrhage in the DOAC group as compared to the warfarin group. No cases of major bleeding were found.