BrainWaves: A Neurology Podcast

Happy New Year, and good riddance 2020! Hopefully there is more that you will take away from the past 12 months other than your personal experience with the coronavirus pandemic. Whether you lost a job, a loved one, or an invaluable life experience, I think we can all say BRING ON 2021! So let's welcome the new year with positive mental attitude, a bit more luck, and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Produced by James E. Siegler. Music courtesy of Jahzzar, Kevin McLeod, Patches,...

I shouldn’t have to tell you that traumatic brain injury is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. I shouldn’t have to. But I will. And it is. In severe cases of head injury, there can be delayed and irreversible deterioration in the nervous system for which there is no treatment and the prognosis is grim. This week on the program, Dr. Monisha Kumar (University of Pennsylvania) discusses the worst of the worst of these scenarios, what to look out for, and expert recommendations on what to...

COVID-19 is more than just a threat to your physical health. Even if you are never infected, you may not be free of it. In today's program, we take lessons from prior pandemics and consider the sociocultural effects of a global infectious disease. Be advised, this one is of the "sentimental" variety. Produced by James E. Siegler. Music courtesy of Purple Planet Music, Meydn, Kevin MacLeod and Shane Ivers, which you can find at Silvermansound.com. The opening theme was composed by Jimothy...

The mental status exam is a keystone of the neurologic assessment. Dr. Andrea Casher (Cooper University Hospital) builds upon this metaphor in our program this week. Making a special appearance is US President Donald Trump, who underwent a mental status exam and recounts his experience. Produced by James E. Siegler and Andrea Casher. Music courtesy of Unheard Music Concepts, Purple Planet Music, Lee Rosevere, and Scott Holmes. The opening theme was composed by Jimothy Dalton. Sound effects...

As the second most common vascular malformation in the central nervous system, cerebral cavernomas are often incidental radiographic findings. Also incidental is Jim’s interest in mediocre sci-fi television shows, such as Netflix’s recent series, Away—which incidentally includes one character with a symptomatic cerebral cavernoma. This week on the podcast, Dr. Siegler discusses with Dr. Dena Little (Cooper University Hospital) the epidemiology, clinical course, and management (including...

You know the triad for normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH). Wet, wobbly, and wacky. And you have probably heard of the Evan’s index—the relative proportion of the lateral ventricles in reference to the inner table of the skull. But you might not have heard of high-convexity tight sulci. Now you have. Produced by James E. Siegler. Music courtesy of Jason Shaw, Javolenus, and Lee Rosevere, under a Creative Commons License. The opening theme was composed by Jimothy Dalton. Sound effects by...

A lot can happen in two years. You might have matched into residency, graduated from fellowship, had a kid... Or several phase II trials in low grade glioma research could have been published. Since the original airing of this episode in May 2018, there have been a few updates in neuro-oncology. We'll cover some of the major ones this week in the BrainWaves podcast. Produced by James E. Siegler, Brian Nahed and Jorg Dietrich. Music courtesy of Ian Sutherland, Lovira, and Lee Roosevere. The...

The electroencephalogram is a nearly 100-year old neurodiagnostic instrument. And yet, we learn new things from it every day. This week on the BrainWaves podcast, Dr. Tracey Milligan (Mass General Brigham) reviews the indications and utilization of a routine scalp EEG. Also discussed: Produced by James E. Siegler and Tracey Milligan. Music courtesy of Steve Combs, Lee Roosevere, Siddhartha, Soft and Furious, Patches, and Magic in the Other. The opening theme was composed by Jimothy Dalton....

Webster defines ‘idiopathic’ as “arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause”. By definition, this means idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) has no proximate cause. But that’s not exactly true. This week on the podcast, we explore the recent evidence behind the theory that transverse sinus stenosis may contribute to this condition. Disclaimer: No chicken or eggs were harmed in the making of this episode. Produced by James E. Siegler. Music courtesy of Squire Tuck,...

It’s more than just a headache. Migraine is a disturbance of normal neurological function, and as you are aware, it causes more than just severe head pain. This week on BrainWaves, Dr. Deborah Friedman (UT Southwestern) shares her experience evaluating and managing the unusual neurologic manifestations of migraine that aren’t just the misery from recurrent attacks. Produced by James E. Siegler & Deborah Friedman. Music courtesy of Josh Woodward, Kevin McLeod and Lee Rosevere. The opening...

On rounds, I sometimes joke that the two most important organs in the body are the right and left hemisphere. Only one of many, terrible, dad jokes my poor residents and students have to endure. But what happens when one organ fails, or you have to remove it? This week on BrainWaves, we’ll review a unique neurologic condition where such incredible hemispheric dysfunction can only be treated by surgically removing half of the brain. And OMG, a show about pediatrics! ** IF YOU’RE TAKING YOUR...

Lewy Body Dementia may be the second most common neuropathologic cause of dementia behind Alzheimer disease, but it remains largely a clinical diagnosis with limited treatment options. This week on BrainWaves, Dr. Amy Colcher (Cooper University Hospital) reviews the diagnostic criteria and management strategies for patients and their caregivers who suffer from this condition. Plus, a sort of tribute to Robin Williams. ** IF YOU’RE TAKING YOUR NEUROLOGY BOARDS THIS SUMMER, CHECK OUT THE...

Can you hear that too? You can’t? Well, that doesn’t mean I’m having auditory hallucinations. It could just be tinnitus, which describes the irritating sound of ringing, buzzing, clicking, or hissing that affect 10-20% of the world's population. But is this a ringing in the ears, or a ringing in the brain? ** IF YOU’RE TAKING YOUR NEUROLOGY BOARDS THIS SUMMER, CHECK OUT THE PENN NEUROLOGY BOARD REVIEW COURSE AT https://upenn.cloud-cme.com/default.aspx?P=5&EID=65373. AND FOR A DISCOUNTED...

It’s 2020, and for the first time in its 72-year history, the American Academy of Neurology has cancelled its annual meeting because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But that does not mean we (BrainWaves producers, not the AAN) can’t provide a few major updates to advances in neurology and neurotherapeutics! This week on the program, Jim Siegler is joined by Dr. Sammita Satyanarayan (Stanford) on a whirlwind tour of some of the latest advances in neurology from this past year. Enjoy! ** IF YOU’RE...

As my wife and I are raising our 9-month old daughter, and she is eating more solid food, I can’t help but think about how important it is she keep an open mind to new food groups. But being open minded is not just a lesson for toddlers. I emphasize it every day on rounds when seeing patients for a “stroke consult”, or a consult for “ICU delirium”. If you reduce yourself to the same anchoring biases that you've grown accustomed to, you’ll never entertain the possibility of other important,...

Perfusion imaging employs concepts that date back to the early 1830s, and it leverages hardware and software that emerged around the same time at multidetector helical CT scans. But it has only become popular in recent years for thrombectomy decision-making. If I'm being honest, I often never use it for this purpose. So what other purposes might it serve? And how does it work? This week, we review the fundamental concepts of perfusion CT, its utility in stroke care, and how it might prove...

Imagine what it would have been like, to have lived in 1918. Spanish influenza killed approximately 3% of the world’s population. Other than the world war, international travel was fairly limited. There was no social media. No flu vaccine. No mechanical ventilators. No World Health Organization. A century later, we’re facing the next great pandemic. And what have we learned? What do we know? From the neurologic complications of SARS-CoV-2, to non-infectious consequences, the environmental...

They say the eyes are the window to the soul. Well, maybe. They also happen to be the first organ we (perhaps, unknowingly) examine whenever we encounter a patient. This week on the program, we build on the prior episode about anisocoria (featuring Dr. Ali Hamedani, episode 74) and discuss the examination of the pupil, and all that these 3-5 millimeters of tissue can teach us. Plus, some Dad jokes at the end... Produced by James E. Siegler. Music courtesy of Chris Haugen, Daniel Birch, and...

This week on BrainWaves, we're revisiting the 2017 episode on recurrent meningitis featuring Dr. Jon Rosenberg (New York Presbyterian-Columbia). While we may not have made much headway in the treatment of these patients since the original show came out, we have made some progress in the neurodiagnostics. Produced by James E. Siegler and Jon Rosenberg. Music courtesy of Coldnoise, Three Chain Links, and Uncanny. Unless otherwise mentioned in the podcast, no competing financial interests...

Immune checkpoint inhibitors have revolutionized cancer treatment. Unlike chemotherapy, which essentially includes cellular toxins that can cause widespread and unnecessary tissue damage, checkpoint inhibitors are used to train the body’s natural immune system to fight off the cancer. And while they are extraordinarily effective options for patients with malignant disease, they are not without risk. Every day, we are learning more and more about the autoimmune side effects of these novel...