News Express

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

July 25, 2021

Ulnar neuropathy at the elbow (UNE) is second only to carpal tunnel syndrome as the most frequently encountered focal neuropathy. The clinical presentation of UNE can vary from intermittent fourth and fifth digit paresthesias to anesthesia as well as weakness and atrophy of the ulnar muscles.

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

July 25, 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: Comparison of Corticosteroid Tapering Regimens in Myasthenia Gravis: A Randomized Clinical Trial

July 13, 2021

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 (MG) treated with Azathioprine (n=117).

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

July 13, 2021

This retrospective review of pure primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) patients seen at Mayo Clinic-Rochester over a 26 year period (1990-2016), describes clinical characteristics and laboratory findings of 43 patients.

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

July 13, 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

July 13, 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

June 29, 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

June 28, 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.
 

Science News: Value of Systematic Genetic Screening of Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

June 23, 2021

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease comprising injury and cell death of upper and lower motor neurons in the brainstem, spinal cord and cortex. The authors sought to determine the value added by screening ALS patients for genetic factors.

Science News: Relation of Exercise and Pain in Patients With Idiopathic Distal Axonal Polyneuropathies

June 23, 2021

This cross-sectional study looked at relation between self-reported exercise and severity of neuropathy in IPN.

Science News: Sensory Neuronopathies: A Case Series and Literature Review

June 14, 2021

In the first article, Drs. Amato and Ropper provide an elegant review of sensory neuronopathies. The article is limited to the acquired sensory ganglionopathies and not the rare hereditary ganglionopathies.

Science News: Amyloid Typing by Mass Spectrometry in Clinical Practice: a Comprehensive Review of 16,175 Samples

June 14, 2021

This is a very extensive summary of the experience of the Mayo Clinic over ten years – from 2008 to 2018 with analyzing the congo red positive biopsy samples from throughout the country from a variety of tissues (heart, fat pad, GI, kidney, liver, muscle, nerve, tendons, breast, lymph nodes, bone marrow, etc.) in a way that is able to report even rare amyloid types usually not detected by the standard amyloid immunohistochemistry panels.

Science News: Long-Term Safety and Efficacy of Patisiran for Hereditary Transthyretin-Mediated Amyloidosis With Polyneuropathy: 12-Month Results of an Open-Label Extension Study

May 31, 2021

This article summarizes the world wide experience of treating patients with HTTR with Patisiran in terms of safety and efficacy.

Science News: An Appraisal of Electrodiagnostic Studies in Stiff Person Syndrome

May 16, 2021

This is a review of electrodiagnostic (EDX) findings for diagnosis of stiff person syndrome (SPS). The authors performed a literature review of EDX findings in SPS as well as an online survey on the use of EDX testing for the evaluation of SPS among EDX laboratory test results accredited by the EDX Laboratory Accreditation Committee of the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM).

Science News: Peripheral Nerve Compression Syndromes in Children

April 21, 2021

Non-traumatic neuropathies of the upper limb are rare in children. Diagnostic and treatment parameters are lacking high quality evidence and guidelines.

Science News: Monitoring Clinical Course and Treatment Response in Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy During Routine Care

April 12, 2021

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is without a disease activity biomarker and has broad clinical heterogeneity. This review article summarizes clinical and diagnostic tools which can be used in clinical practice to help the clinician to just the outcome of the patient and determine if the treatment is effective or not.

Patient Safety: EMG/NCS and Risk of Bleeding

March 30, 2021

Electrodiagnostic testing (needle electromyography) in patients with bleeding diathesis is associated with greater risk of bleeding when compared to general population. It is recommended that caution should be used when deciding on electrodiagnostic testing in patients with platelet counts less than 50,000 and INR greater than 1.5-2.0.

Science News: Comparison Between Rituximab Treatment for New-Onset Generalized Myasthenia Gravis and Refractory Generalized Myasthenia Gravis

March 29, 2021

This was a retrospective cohort study conducted in a university hospital in Sweden to compare efficacy between rituximab and conventional immunosuppressants in the refractory and newly diagnosed generalized myasthenia gravis.

Sandra Hearn, MD, Receives 2021 Surinderjit Singh Young Lectureship Award

March 21, 2021

The AANEM is excited to announce that Sandra Hearn, MD, is the 2021 winner of the Surinderjit Singh Young Lectureship Award. Dr. Hearn was chosen by AANEM President Bonnie Weigert, MD. As part of the award, Dr. Hearn will be a plenary speaker at the 2021 AANEM Annual Meeting in Aurora, Colorado, which will take place October 13-16. Her plenary is called, “Pushing the Boundary of Normal in Electrodiagnostic Interpretation.”

 

Science News: Which Ultrasound Parameter is More Accurate in the Diagnosis of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

March 17, 2021

Ultrasound (US) can be useful to diagnosing carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Most US CTS studies have looked at median nerve cross sectional area (CSA). Others use resistive index (RI) or strain ratio (SR) as the criteria. This study compared CSA with RI and SR in CTS.