Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Feb 2021
ReviewPharmacovigilance during treatment of multiple sclerosis: early recognition of CNS complications.
An increasing number of highly effective disease-modifying therapies for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) have recently gained marketing approval. While the beneficial effects of these drugs in terms of clinical and imaging outcome measures is welcomed, these therapeutics are associated with substance-specific or group-specific adverse events that include severe and fatal complications. These adverse events comprise both infectious and non-infectious complications that can occur within, or outside of the central nervous system (CNS). ⋯ In this review, we discuss the current role of MRI in safety monitoring during pharmacovigilance of patients treated with (selective) immune suppressive therapies for MS. MRI, particularly brain MRI, has a pivotal role in the early diagnosis of CNS complications that potentially are severely debilitating and may even be lethal. Early recognition of such CNS complications may improve functional outcome and survival, and thus knowledge on MRI features of treatment-associated complications is of paramount importance to MS clinicians, but also of relevance to general neurologists and radiologists.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Feb 2021
ReviewFluid biomarkers in frontotemporal dementia: past, present and future.
The frontotemporal dementia (FTD) spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders includes a heterogeneous group of conditions. However, following on from a series of important molecular studies in the early 2000s, major advances have now been made in the understanding of the pathological and genetic underpinnings of the disease. In turn, alongside the development of novel methodologies for measuring proteins and other molecules in biological fluids, the last 10 years have seen a huge increase in biomarker studies within FTD. ⋯ However, understanding of whether drugs restore cellular function will also be important, and studies of key pathophysiological processes, including neuroinflammation, lysosomal function and synaptic health, are also now becoming more common. There is much still to learn in the fluid biomarker field in FTD, but the creation of large multinational cohorts is facilitating better powered studies and will pave the way for larger omics studies, including proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics, as well as investigations of multimodal biomarker combinations across fluids, brain imaging and other domains. Here we provide an overview of the past, present and future of fluid biomarkers within the FTD field.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Feb 2021
Late onset depression: dopaminergic deficit and clinical features of prodromal Parkinson's disease: a cross-sectional study.
Late onset depression (LOD) may precede the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) or dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). We aimed to determine the rate of clinical and imaging features associated with prodromal PD/DLB in patients with LOD. ⋯ LOD is associated with increased rates of motor and non-motor features of PD/DLB and of abnormal 123I-ioflupane SPECTs. These results suggest that patients with LOD should be considered at increased risk of PD/DLB.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Feb 2021
Cumulative health deficits, APOE genotype, and risk for later-life mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
To determine whether health-deficit accumulation is associated with the risks of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia independently of APOE genotype. ⋯ Among older Americans, health-deficit accumulation affects the likelihood of progressive cognitive impairment and the likelihood of cognitive improvement independently of a strong genetic risk factor for dementia. Frailty represents an important risk factor for cognitive dysfunction and a marker of potential prognostic value.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Feb 2021
Comparative Study Observational StudyAutologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation compared with alemtuzumab for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: an observational study.
To compare outcomes after treatment with autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) and alemtuzumab (ALZ) in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. ⋯ In this observational cohort study, treatment with AHSCT was associated with a higher likelihood of maintaining 'no evidence of disease activity'. Adverse events were more frequent with AHSCT in the first 100 days, but thereafter more common in patients treated with ALZ.