Neurology Minute

In this lab update, Dr. Stacey Clardy focuses on micronutrient screening. 

In this lab update, Dr. Stacey Clardy discusses the latest information on chronic wasting disease. 

In part two of this series, Dr. Aaron Zelikovich discusses the clinical implications for patients with HSV encephalitis.  Show citation:  Solomon T, Hooper C, Easton A, et al. Safety and efficacy of adjunct dexamethasone in adults with herpes simplex virus encephalitis in the UK (DexEnceph): a multicentre, observer-blind, randomised, phase 3, controlled trial. Lancet Neurol. 2026;25(2):136-146. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(25)00454-5 

Dr. Greg Cooper and Dr. Kerry Sheets discuss how hearing aid use affects cognition and the risk of dementia in older adults with hearing impairment.  Show citations: Cribb L, Moreno-Betancur M, Pase MP, et al. Treating Hearing Loss With Hearing Aids for the Prevention of Cognitive Decline and Dementia. Neurology. 2026;106(3):e214572. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000214572  Show transcript: Dr. Greg Cooper: Hi, this is Greg Cooper. I just finished interviewing Kerry Sheets for this week's Neurology Podcast. For today's Neurology Minute, I'm hoping you can tell us the main points of your paper. Dr. Kerry Sheets: The central message of our paper is that hearing aid use in adults aged 70 years or older with hearing impairment may reduce dementia risk over 7 years. Results for the impact of hearing aid use on cognitive decline were less. Dr. Greg Cooper: Well, thank you for that summary and for all of your work on this topic. Please check out this week's podcast to hear the full interview and read the full article publi

Dr. Jessica Ailani and Dr. Richard Lipton discuss future advancements in headache medicine.  Show transcript:  Dr. Jessica Ailani:  Hello and welcome to the Neurology Minute. I'm Jessica Ilani from Georgetown Headache Center in Washington, DC. In the neurology podcast with Richard Lipton from the Montefiore Headache Center, we'll be discussing the latest clinical trials in headache medicine, where our field is going, where it's been, and you'll get lots of great advice on thinking through a clinical trial, what the advances have been, where their pitfalls have been, and really how to think of both positive and negative trials. So Richard, what are you most looking forward to when it comes to new treatment targets within headache? Dr. Richard Lipton:  First, let me say that I'm sure most know about the eight CGRP targeted treatments have been approved for migraine, both as acute and preventive treatments. And it's very clear that those treatments have had incredible benefits for our patients and have really im

In part one of this series, Dr. Aaron Zelikovich discusses the trial design and primary results.  Show citation:  Solomon T, Hooper C, Easton A, et al. Safety and efficacy of adjunct dexamethasone in adults with herpes simplex virus encephalitis in the UK (DexEnceph): a multicentre, observer-blind, randomised, phase 3, controlled trial. Lancet Neurol. 2026;25(2):136-146. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(25)00454-5  Show transcript:  Dr. Aaron Zelikovich:  Welcome to today's Neurology Minute. My name is Aaron Zelikovich. I'm a neuromuscular specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Today, we'll discuss part one of a three-part series reviewing a recent article titled Safety and Efficacy of Adjunct Dexamethasone in Adults with Herpes Simplex Virus Encephalitis in the United Kingdom (DexEnceph) Study, a multicenter observer-blind randomized phase three control trial published in Lancet Neurology. In the first episode, we'll focus on the trial design and primary results. In part two, we'll discuss the clinical im

In the second part of this series, Dr. Tesha Monteith and Dr. Jennifer Robblee discuss updates to the emergency room recommendations for the acute treatment of migraines.  Show citations:  Robblee J, Minen MT, Friedman BW, Cortel-LeBlanc MA, Cortel-LeBlanc A, Orr SL. 2025 Guideline Update to Acute Treatment of Migraine for Adults in the Emergency Department: The American Headache Society Evidence Assessment of Parenteral Pharmacotherapies. Headache. 2026;66(1):53-76. doi:10.1111/head.70016 Robblee J, Khan FA, Marmura MJ, et al. Reaching International Consensus on the Definition of Refractory Migraine Using the Delphi Method. Cephalalgia. 2025;45(9):3331024251367767. doi:10.1177/03331024251367767 Show transcript:  Dr. Tesha Monteith:   Hi, this is Tesha Monteith with the Neurology Minute. I've just been speaking with Jennifer Robblee about her exciting work, defining refractory migraine with an international consensus, as well as her work with the American Headache Society on a guideline update for parental ph

In this episode, Dr. Jason Crowell reviews the March 9th Capitol Hill Report discussing the AAN's advocacy priorities for 2026. Stay updated with what's happening on the hill by visiting aan.com/chr.  Learn how you can get involved with AAN advocacy.  Show transcript:  Dr. Jason Crowell: Hey, this is Jason Crowell. Thanks for listening to today's Neurology Minute. Today, we have an advocacy update from the AAN's Capitol Hill Report. The AAN has come out with its top advocacy priorities for 2026, and the first is access to care which includes affordable prescription drug prices, telehealth, and adequate coverage policies. Neurological conditions can require expensive specialty drugs as we know, so the AAN supports policies that ensure prescription medications are accessible to patients. Related to this priority, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation recently announced the GLOBE and GUARD models, two proposed mandatory drug pricing models that would make manufacturers pay rebates if their drug prices

Dr. Halley Alexander and Dr. Abel Sandmann discuss seizure rates and risk factors in patients with cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) during long-term follow-up without CCM intervention.  Show citation:  Sandmann ACA, Vandertop WP, White PM, Verbaan D, Coutinho JM, Al-Shahi Salman R. Seizures and Epilepsy in Patients With Untreated Cerebral Cavernous Malformations: A Prospective, Population-Based Cohort Study. Neurology. 2025;105(11):e214387. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000214387  Show transcript:  Dr. Halley Alexander: Hi, this is Halley Alexander with today's Neurology Minute. I'm here with Abel Sandmann from Amsterdam University Medical Center, and we just finished recording a full-length podcast about some exciting findings related to cerebral cavernous malformations and the risk of seizures and epilepsy. Abel, can you give our listeners a rundown of the most exciting findings and how it can change practice? Dr. Abel Sandmann:  In our paper, we show that patients with a cerebral cavernous malformation who

In part one of this series, Dr. Tesha Monteith and Dr. Jennifer Robblee discuss an international consensus definition for refractory migraine and why clearer criteria are needed.  Show citations: Robblee J, Minen MT, Friedman BW, Cortel-LeBlanc MA, Cortel-LeBlanc A, Orr SL. 2025 Guideline Update to Acute Treatment of Migraine for Adults in the Emergency Department: The American Headache Society Evidence Assessment of Parenteral Pharmacotherapies. Headache. 2026;66(1):53-76. doi:10.1111/head.70016 Robblee J, Khan FA, Marmura MJ, et al. Reaching International Consensus on the Definition of Refractory Migraine Using the Delphi Method. Cephalalgia. 2025;45(9):3331024251367767. doi:10.1177/03331024251367767 Show transcript:  Dr. Tesha Monteith: Hi, this is Tesha Monteith with the Neurology Minute. I've just been speaking with Jennifer Robblee about her exciting work defining refractory migraine with an international consensus, as well as her work with the American Headache Society on a guideline update for parenta

Dr. Stacey Clardy reviews biotin deficiency and biotin-related lab interference. Show transcript:  Dr. Stacey Clardy: Hi, this is Stacey Clardy from the Salt Lake City VA and the University of Utah, and I'm back with you for another lab minute. Today, let's talk about Biotin or vitamin B7, because the Biotin story in neurology has two very different aspects. The first is a real deficiency, which is uncommon, but clinically really important. And the second is the modern problem of biotin supplementation that's quietly wrecking our lab interpretation. So first, true biotin deficiency in adults is less common, but it can look like a multi-system neurologic syndrome. The classic teaching is dermatitis and alopecia, so keep those in your mind. But neurologists end up seeing the downstream features. So lethargy, depression, paresthesias and sometimes ataxia. Now, in infants and children, the bigger higher stakes entity is biotinidase deficiency, which is fortunately screened in many newborn programs in the US. Untr

In this episode, Dr. Stacey Clardy reviews the February 23rd Capitol Hill Report, recapping key takeaways from Neurology on the Hill. Stay updated with what's happening on the hill by visiting aan.com/chr.  Learn how you can get involved with AAN advocacy.  Show transcript:  Dr. Stacey Clardy: Hi, this is Stacey Clardy with today's Neurology Minute. It's an advocacy update from the AAN's Capitol Hill Report. More than 200 AAN members came to Washington, DC, last week for the AAN's annual advocacy fly-in, Neurology on the Hill. As you probably know, this is the annual chance for neurologists to get some face-to-face time with members of Congress or their aides in the US right on Capitol Hill. AAN members had three asks for this year's event. We did cover them last week individually on the Neurology Minute, so have a listen if you want more detail, but I'll review them quickly.  First, we asked for a permanent inflationary update to physician reimbursement based on the Medicare Economic Index and to raise the o

In the March episode of the President's Spotlight, Dr. Jason Crowell and Dr. Natalia Rost share key updates and strategic insights for the upcoming April meeting in Chicago.  Stay informed by watching the President's Spotlight video.   Show transcript:  Dr. Jason Crowell: Hey, this is Jason Crowell. Thanks for listening to today's Neurology Minute. Once again, this month, we have Natalia Rost joining us, the president of the AAN for her presidential spotlight. Natalia, the sun is starting to come out. The flowers are starting to bloom. Spring is here. What is going on with the academy? What would you like to tell us about this month? Dr. Natalia Rost: These are exciting times indeed. Our annual meeting is just one month away. And so I'm looking forward to all of us coming together to learn, share ideas, and to connect. And this year, the world's largest neurology event is even larger. And I like to say it's my meeting of 15,000 friends. Dr. Jason Crowell: Terrific. For those who are listening today who haven'

Dr. Tesha Monteith and Dr. Patricia Pozo-Rosich discuss the latest advancements in headache medicine, focusing on key research findings from 2025.  Show transcript: Dr. Tesha Monteith: Hi, this is Tesha Monteith with the Neurology Minute. Welcome to our 2026 Headache Medicine Series. I've just been speaking with Patricia Pozo-Rosich about all of the exciting advances in headache medicine in 2025. For a minute, why don't you summarize some of the key advances in headache medicine research? Dr. Patricia Pozo-Rosich: I think that we have good news in headache. We are currently phase two trials for two or three different compounds, anti-part two, packup and new toxins. So we are actually, I think, excited to find out the phase 2B trial results and phase three. So well, that's something that I think is worth mentioning. Then I think it is important to remember that we have new data coming from real world evidence with long-term use of anti CGRP therapies. We also have data that shows that anti CGRP therapies are u

In part two of the series, Dr. Andy Southerland and Dr. Seemant Chaturvedi break down key takeaways from the OCEANIC‑STROKE trial.  Show citation:  Read more about the OCEANIC-STROKE trial.  Show transcript:  Dr. Andy Southerland:  Hello everyone. This is Andy Southerland from the University of Virginia. For today's Neurology Minute, I've just been speaking with my colleague, Seemant Chaturvedi from the University of Maryland, about exciting trials presented at this year's 2026 International Stroke Conference from the American Heart Association, American Stroke Association. And the one we want to discuss for today's Neurology Minute in brief was the OCEANIC-STROKE trial. This was a very large international trial looking at the use of a novel antithrombotic agent, a Factor XI inhibitor, compared to placebo as an adjunct to our traditional antiplatelet therapies for secondary stroke prevention. And it was received with quite a bit of excitement. So Seemant, tell us in brief, what did we learn from OCEANIC-STROK

In part one of this series, Dr. Andy Southerland and Dr. Seemant Chaturvedi discuss two trials highlighted at the 2026 International Stroke Conference.  Show citation:  Read more about the CHOICE-2 trial.  Show transcript:  Dr. Andy Southerland: Hello everyone. This is Andy Southerland. And for this week's Neurology Minute, I have just been speaking once again with my colleague, Seemant Chaturvedi, about his impressions from this year's 2026 American Heart Association, American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference. We've discussed a number of the very exciting pivotal trials presented at this year's meeting that occurred just a couple of weeks ago. But for the minute today, we want to just highlight two that were represented as late breaking trials in the world of acute stroke treatment. And the first was OPTION, which was a trial looking at extended window thrombolysis patients between four and a half and 24 hours. And the second was in the use of thrombolysis as an adjunct local treatment in p

In part four of this series, Dr. Tesha Monteith explores the true potential of AI integration in medical education.  Show transcript:  Dr. Tesha Monteith: Hi. This is Tesha Monteith with the Neurology Minute. I've been speaking with Roy Strowd, Jeff Ratliff, and Justin Abbatemarco about the use of AI in neurology education for the neurology podcast. My take is that we're just getting started with this stuff, including the true potential of AI integration in medical education. In my regular work, I used AI to generate clinical case vignettes that help trainees practice diagnostic reasoning, and also to create patient images that better reflect the cultural diversity of our neurology population. Beyond content creation, AI has helped me evaluate my curriculum by identifying gaps and strengths to better train fellows and residents. I've even used it as a tool to help me frame feedback, highlighting strengths, identifying areas for growth, and to provide a more forward-looking feedback approach. AI still needs wo

In part two of this series, Dr. Justin Abbatemarco, Dr. Marjo S. van der Knaap, and Romy J. van Voorst discuss the patient management card and how patients should use it.  Show citation: and Clinical Management of Vanishing White Matter. Neurology. 2025;105(11):e214320. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000214320  Show transcript:  Dr. Justin Abbatemarco: Hello and welcome back. This is Justin Abbatemarco here with Romy J. van Voorst and Dr. Marjo S. van der Knaap. After discussing her article, Published Neurology Consensus Base Expert Recommendation for Diagnosis and Clinical Management of Vanishing White Matter Disease. Romy, I really want to talk with you about the patient management card. What inspired you to create that in this publication, and how should patients use that? Romy J. van Voorst:  So what the main motivation was of the study was actually a previous study that we did before. And in this study, we looked at the impact of any short matter on unaffected family members. And we found out that actually many

Dr. Andy Southerland and Dr. Shyam Prabhakaran explain the significance of these guidelines and why they are important.  Show citation:  Prabhakaran S, Gonzalez NR, Zachrison KS, et al. 2026 Guideline for the Early Management of Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Guideline From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Stroke. Published online January 26, 2026. doi:10.1161/STR.0000000000000513  Show transcript:  Dr. Andy Southerland: Hello everyone. This is Andy Southerland from the University of Virginia. And for this week's Neurology Minute, I've just been speaking with my colleague, Shyam Prabhakaran, from the University of Chicago, who was the Chair of the 2026 AHA/ASA guidelines for the early management of patients with Acute Ischemic stroke published in the January 2026 online version of the journal, Stroke. So Shyam, in our brief Neurology Minute today, why don't you just give a plea about why these guidelines are so important? Dr. Shyam Prabhakaran: Thanks, Andy. These guidelines

In part one of this two-part series, Dr. Justin Abbatemarco, Dr. Marjo S. van der Knaap, and Romy J. van Voorst discuss vanishing white matter disease, focusing on the clinical and MRI findings that would prompt the consideration of genetic testing.  Show citation: van Voorst RJ, Schoenmakers DH, Bonkowsky JL, et al. Consensus-Based Expert Recommendations for Diagnosis and Clinical Management of Vanishing White Matter. Neurology. 2025;105(11):e214320. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000214320  Show transcript:  Justin Abbatemarco: Hello and welcome. This is Justin Abbatemarco here with Romy J. van Voorst and Marjo S. van der Knaap. After discussing their article published in Neurology, Consensus-Based Expert Recommendation for Diagnosis and Clinical Management of Vanishing White Matter. They both work for Amsterdam University Medical Center in the Netherlands. And we're going to have a two-part episode dissecting maybe two elements of this paper. Marjo, maybe we could start here and just talking about what vanishing w