Pediatric movement disorders are characterized by impaired voluntary movements, abnormal involuntary movements or movements at inappropriate times. Tic disorders are the most common pediatric movement disorders and can be divided into motor tics and phonic or vocal tics. They tend to peak between the ages of 8 and 12 and are much more common in…
The patient A 6-year-old girl was admitted to Norton Children’s Hospital on May 11, 2020, with uncontrolled seizures that progressed to status epilepticus. The challenge After maximal medical intervention, neurosurgery was consulted on June 12, 2020. Her electroencephalogram (EEG) showed a possible seizure focus in the left central and posterior regions, but her MRI showed…
Dementia is an umbrella term that includes a range of symptoms associated with cognitive decline. Perhaps one of the best known and most common types — Alzheimer’s dementia — represents 60% to 80% of all dementia. It’s characterized by memory loss and, from a biological perspective, amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary (tau protein) tangles and neurodegeneration, which…
Time saved is brain saved when it comes to stroke care. “Stroke is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S,” said Shervin R. Dashti, M.D., Ph.D., endovascular neurosurgeon and spine surgeon at Norton Neuroscience Institute. “Three-quarters of a million strokes per year, many million stroke survivors, and it’s one of the leading…
Additional data could lead to stronger guidelines extending the tPA window for ischemic strokes beyond the current 4½ hour limit in coming years, according to a Norton Neuroscience Institute stroke specialist. A common scenario faced in stroke centers is a patient who awoke with a deficit but doesn’t know when they had a stroke. The…
Patients who are cognitively normal but have a family history or other concern about developing Alzheimer’s may be eligible to participate in a study looking at whether an investigational drug can slow or prevent the disease. Norton Neuroscience Institute is one of 230 centers around the country participating in the phase 3 trial of a…
When children have headaches or experience migraine, it is usually not necessary to make a referral to a neurologist right away. Michael K. Sowell, M.D. and Elizabeth S. Doll, M.D., pediatric neurologists at Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, share tips for how to begin treating a patient before making…
When are headache symptoms consistent with migraine or red flags of a condition warranting urgent or emergency medical attention? Migraine occurs in a recurring pattern and can be diagnosed clinically, without MRI or other tests, according to Brian M. Plato, D.O., neurologist and director of headache medicine at Norton Neuroscience Institute. Because migraine occurs in…
Ischemic stroke is the among the leading causes of death in the United States, but so-called stroke mimics and stroke chameleons also can be deadly. At a recent presentation, Bryan J. Eckerle, M.D., neurologist with Norton Neuroscience Institute, discussed the differences. “A stroke mimic initially presents like an acute ischemic stroke, but the final diagnosis…
Most seizures in newborns and children stop on their own, usually within about three minutes. The longer a seizure goes, however, the less likely it is to stop without treatment. Children who have continuous seizures lasting longer than five minutes or who have two or more seizures with incomplete recovery between them have status epilepticus….
Not all headache or migraine symptoms in children signify red flags that require additional referrals or advanced treatment, said Elizabeth S. Doll, M.D., child neurologist at Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine. “There are over 200 different types of headaches, but the majority of what we encounter in clinic are…
Anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody therapy represents a major advance in treating relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) in adult patients, reducing relapse risk and mitigating disability progression. These monoclonal antibody therapies deplete circulating B cells by targeting CD20, a surface marker expressed on pre-B cells, naïve B cells and memory B cells. A review article in CNS Drugs,…