Looking for a quick evidence based review of medications for your seizing patient?  Dr. Mansfield provides us guidelines for your treatment algorithm for a seizing patient.  

Benzos not stopping your seizing patient and you are preparing to order phenytoin?  This week Dr. Nicole Mansfield discussed an evidence based approach to the seizing patient, focusing on this risks/benefits of phenytoin.  

How to add this quick and simple trick to your migraine treatment repertoire

Mr. Clean, Escape, Extend IA. So many trials...just tell me the bottom line! Here are some of the most critical neuro-interventional trials and their take home points.

Ever wonder where the the current American Heart Association and American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) guidelines for thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke come from?   Included is a summary of the landmark studies that have contributed to these recommendations (NINDS& ECASS III) as well as a review of IST-3. 

Do you routinely recommend rest for your post-concussive pediatric patient?  You may reconsider this adivce.  This week Dr. Lou Argentine reviewed this clincal question for his critically appraised topic.    

A 34 yo female with a history of trigeminal neuralgia presented to the Emergency Department with a chief complaint of 5 days of severe, worsening paroxysms of pain in the left trigeminal nerve distribution. The pain was refractory to carbamazepine and gabapentin. Neurology was consulted and an unconventional therapy was recommended.

Following a severe brain injury the goal of the clinician is to prevent secondary brain injury. This entails increasing oxygen delivery to the brain by preventing hypoxia and increasing cerebral perfusion. Hyperosmolar therapy, including mannitol and hypertonic saline, is often used to decrease ICP.

Beyond mortality, the plague of bacterial meningitis on the body and central nervous system has been well described. Included in post-meningitis neurologic sequelae are sensorineural hearing loss, seizures, and focal neurologic deficits. Early administration of dexamethasone serves to reduce CNS cytokine production and limit the severe inflammation contributing to the development of these long-lasting neurologic effects. Furthermore, appropriate timing and dosing of dexamethasone therapy in these patients is crucial and can be easily overlooked.

The differentiation between peripheral vertigo and central vertigo can be exceedingly difficult as symptoms of both clinical entities largely overlap. This diagnostic dilemma can be particularly painful for Emergency Medicine physicians and their patients as the workup for central vertigo rules out "can't miss" pathology with imaging that typically takes hours to obtain.