Lancet neurology
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Review
Approach and management to patients with neurological disorders reporting sexual dysfunction.
Sexual difficulties are common in patients with neurological disorders, and different domains of sexual function-desire, arousal, orgasm, and ejaculation-can be affected. Advances in the past 7 years in structural and functional neuroimaging have contributed to a greater understanding of the neural pathways involved in the regulation of sexual functions in health and disease, and this increased knowledge might help with development of future therapeutic strategies. ⋯ PDE5A inhibitors and intracavernosal injections of the prostaglandin alprostadil are effective for treating erectile dysfunction; however, options for managing other domains of sexual dysfunction in men and women remain poor. Research into different domains of sexual dysfunction is likely to lead to additional therapeutic strategies in the future.
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Functional neurological disorder is common in neurological practice. A new approach to the positive diagnosis of this disorder focuses on recognisable patterns of genuinely experienced symptoms and signs that show variability within the same task and between different tasks over time. Psychological stressors are common risk factors for functional neurological disorder, but are often absent. ⋯ All four entities have distinctive features and can be diagnosed with the support of clinical neurophysiological studies and other biomarkers. The pathophysiology of functional neurological disorder includes overactivity of the limbic system, the development of an internal symptom model as part of a predictive coding framework, and dysfunction of brain networks that gives movement the sense of voluntariness. Evidence supports tailored multidisciplinary treatment that can involve physical and psychological therapy approaches.