Neurologic clinics
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Review Case Reports
Medical and Psychiatric Causes of Episodic Vestibular Symptoms.
Dizziness and vertigo are among the most common presenting patient complaints in ambulatory settings. Specific vestibular causes are often not immediately identifiable. ⋯ A large proportion of patients with dizziness and vertigo will not be easily classified or confirmed as having a specific vestibular cause. As with any undifferentiated patient, the focus in this setting is to attempt to exclude serious or threatening causes.
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Diagnosing dizziness can be challenging, and the consequences of missing dangerous causes, such as stroke, can be substantial. Most physicians use a diagnostic paradigm developed more than 40 years ago that focuses on the type of dizziness, but this approach is flawed. This article proposes a new paradigm based on symptom timing, triggers, and targeted bedside eye examinations (TiTrATE). ⋯ By design, cases are not linked with specific articles, to avoid untoward cueing effects for the learner. The cases are real and are meant to demonstrate and reinforce lessons provided in this and subsequent articles. In addition to pertinent elements of medical history, cases include videos of key examination findings.
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Dizziness is a common symptom in emergency departments, general practice, and outpatient clinics. Faced with an acutely dizzy patient, the frontline physician must determine whether or not the symptoms are vestibular in origin and, if they are, which vestibular disorder they best fit. A focused history provides useful clues to the likely cause of dizziness, yet it is the clinical examination that yields the final answer. This article summarizes history and examination techniques that are useful in the assessment of acutely dizzy patients and discusses oculomotor signs that accompany common vestibular disorders.
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Endovascular therapy for acute stroke has evolved with the use of intra-arterial thrombolytics, intravenous/intra-arterial bridging strategies, and mechanical thrombectomy/aspiration devices. Despite widespread use in clinical practice, randomized trials of first-generation devices failed to demonstrate improved outcomes compared with standard care. ⋯ Additional randomized trials are underway and have the potential to confirm clinical efficacy of new-generation devices compared with standard care. The role of additional advanced imaging for patient selection remains unclear, and further trials are needed to demonstrate the role of these techniques for patient selection.
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Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is common and only rarely related to stroke. The high PFO prevalence in healthy individuals makes for difficult decision making when a PFO is found in the setting of a cryptogenic stroke, because the PFO may be an incidental finding. ⋯ The optimal antithrombotic strategy for these patients is also unknown. Recent work has identified a risk score that estimates PFO-attributable fractions based on individual patient characteristics, although whether this score can help direct therapy is unclear.