VBCN - July 2014 Volume 1, No 2

Philadelphia, PA—Molecular subtyping and classification of patients for the selection of appropriate treatment and prognosis can now be used in routine clinical care in neurology, according to Teri Manolio, MD, PhD, Director, Division of Genomic Medicine, National Human Genome Research Institute, Rockville, MD, at the 2014 American Academy of Neurology meeting.
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Philadelphia, PA—Neurologists are amidst a social transformation that threatens their professionalism, their ethical foundation, and their patients, said James L. Bernat, MD, Professor of Neurology and of Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH.
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Philadelphia, PA—Patients with breakthrough seizures despite adherence to antiepileptic drugs have much higher emergency department and inpatient utilization compared with patients without breakthrough seizures, according to a poster presented during the 2014 meeting of the American Academy of Neurology by Charles Makin, MS, MBA, Health Economics and Outcomes Research, IMS Health, and colleagues.
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Philadelphia, PA—Multiple formulations and generic equivalents of anti­epileptic drugs are prevalent, and choosing between them can help optimize seizure control and minimize adverse effects, said Carl W. Bazil, MD, PhD, Director, Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, at the 2014 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) meeting.
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Philadelphia, PA—Estriol may represent a future novel treatment option for patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). In a phase 2 randomized, double-blind, placebo-­controlled trial of women with RRMS, estriol, given with glatiramer acetate, reduced the relapse rate by almost 50% with only 1 year of treatment and improved cognition, reported Rhonda Voskuhl, MD, Director of the MS program, University of California, Los Angeles, at the 2014 meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.
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Philadelphia, PA—Extending the dosing interval of natalizumab to every 6 to 8 weeks may lower the risk for progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) without affecting efficacy in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
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Philadelphia, PA—A systematic literature review conducted by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) shows that certain forms of medical marijuana can be useful to treat some symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), but the evidence is insufficient to support its use in other neurologic diseases, and there are a number of safety concerns with medical marijuana.
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Philadelphia, PA—Achieving no evidence of disease activity (NEDA) in the treatment of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) is a clinically meaningful goal, but a strategy to achieve it remains untested, said Robert Bermel, MD, a neurologist at the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis, the Cleveland Clinic, at the 2014 American Academy of Neurology meeting.
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Philadelphia, PA—Changing from monotherapy to the early initiation of adjunctive therapy with a second antiepileptic drug in patients with partial-onset seizures may lead to a substantial reduction in healthcare utilization and costs, according to a retrospective claims database analysis presented in a poster at the 2014 American Academy of Neurology meeting.
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Philadelphia, PA—Some of the most expensive diagnostic tests for stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) do not affect patient management but expose patients to potential harm, said Pratik D. Bhattacharya, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.
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