The Epilepsy Foundation is spearheading a “public awareness campaign to reduce the stigma associated with epilepsy” as part of November National Epilepsy Awareness Month. One in ten people will have at least one seizure during their lifetime. Four percent of Americans will develop epilepsy, leading to 3.4 million people in the United States with epilepsy, many of whom are taken care of by neurology trainees. This month’s blog post will highlight a variety of unique cases from neurology trainees taking care of epilepsy patients. A 2010 clinical reasoning article discussed the case of a 4-y ..read more

During medical school, students are tasked with learning the complexities of neurologic localization and the physical exam. Neurology can be a daunting field, and to inspire future neurologists, the Wake Forest University School of Medicine Student Interest Group in Neurology (SIGN) chapter puts on an annual event that aims to show another side of neurology. The SIGN procedures workshop was first conceived six years ago by the leaders of our chapter with the goal to increase exposure to neurology earlier in training. First- and second-year students expressed an interest in seeing “hands-on” ap ..read more

The Boston subway system, endearingly nicknamed the “T,” can be a confusing mode of transport to master. With color-coded lines, sporadic transfer points that take you from one line to the next, and directions that change with respect to your location, you are likely to get lost along the way! All the more so for someone who is traveling to Boston for the first time, which is exactly where I found myself when I came here for college. I had grown up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, all my life and moved halfway across the country to a place where I knew no one. With two suitcases in hand and $75 in ..read more

Sunday, October 29th is World Stroke Awareness Day hosted by the World Stroke Organization. Neurology residents are on the front lines of stroke care. Strokes can present in many ways reflecting the many different etiologies and treatments. This month we will review stroke cases published in the Neurology® Resident and Fellow Section to highlight the impact that trainees have on stroke management. Two Teaching NeuroImages from 2006 highlighted the utility of CT scans and MRIs in stroke care. The first article described false-negative diffusion weighted imaging in acute stroke care management ..read more

Case A 9-year-old male presented with abnormal eyelid movement since birth. No birth trauma, ocular surgery, or similar family conditions were reported. Examination revealed mild bilateral blepharoptosis and right eyelid retraction during mastication or mouth opening. Marcus-Gunn jaw-winking syndrome, a congenital blepharoptosis, entails synkinetic eyelid movement during jaw movements. It involves momentary upper eyelid elevation upon ipsilateral pterygoid muscle stimulation, followed by a rapid return to a lower position. The pathophysiology remains unclear; however, an aberrant connection be ..read more

Case An 11-year-old girl underwent valve-replacement surgery for congenital aortic stenosis with prolonged aortic clamping and extra-corporeal circulation. After three weeks, she developed asymmetric involuntary movements, gait abnormalities, and speech impairment. These included random finger movements, choreiform gait and ballistic-like movements in the right arm during walking. Handwriting difficulties and dysarthria also occurred. Initial treatment with carbamazepine (for efficacy and safety reasons) resolved symptoms. Laboratory tests and brain MRI were normal. Post-pump chorea affects 1 ..read more

September is childhood cancer awareness month. To raise awareness for pediatric neuro-oncology, this month we will review prior Neurology® Resident & Fellow articles that discuss the field of neuro-oncology, including a Pearls & Oy-sters case about germinomas and several Teaching NeuroImages. Neuro-oncologists are considered experts in both the neurological complications of systemic cancer and cancer-associated treatments in addition to the management of primary nervous system tumors.1 A neuro-oncologist commonly encounters oncologic patients with seizures, strokes, vasogenic edema, an ..read more

The life cycle of a neurology trainee starts when a medical student applies to residency. After matching into neurology residency, completing their residency training program, and either pursuing a fellowship or becoming a practicing neurologist upon graduation, they can assist the next generation of trainees. In August, medical students and senior residents begin considering the next phase of their training or practice. To honor this transition, this month’s #ThrowbackThursday blog will revisit two articles from the archives of the Neurology® Resident and Fellow Section that highlight 1) medi ..read more

More than halfway through my first year of fellowship and a few short weeks into my maternity leave, a funny thing happened: I developed the persistent urge to write. To be clear, this was not an urge to write clinic notes or case reports, but, rather, an urge to write creatively. To explore and reflect; to engage with the realm of novel thoughts and unconventional ideas; to utilize my all-too-frequently-dormant right brain.  To be fair, creative writing isn’t something completely unfamiliar to me. Prior to medical school, I studied literature, published short stories ..read more

The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) will host its annual summer conference this month in Minneapolis, MN. This year’s theme is emergency and hospital neurology, including brain death exams, transcranial dopplers, intracranial shunts, and how to run neuro-inpatient and consult services. In keeping with this theme, we will look back at three previously published Neurology® Resident and Fellow Section (RFS) articles on neurologic emergencies and neuro-hospitalist medicine as an emerging subspecialty, two of which were published when the RFS was still called the “Resident and Fellow Page.” Whi ..read more