Latest Conference Coverage

George Koshy Vilanilam, MBBS: Migraine as a Risk Factor for Ischemic Stroke

The study found that there has been a significant increasing trend in patients with migraine—irrespective of aura status—having an ischemic stroke.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy, From Bench to Bedside

The Sidney Carter Professor of Neurology at Columbia University Medical Center spoke about the 127 year history of spinal muscular atrophy and how basic science has led to exciting developments.

Anna Heidbreder, MD: Anti-IgLON5 Disease, REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

Heidbreder further described the current understanding of the condition and what she and her colleagues have found out.

Peter Calabresi, MD: Utilizing A Uniform Biomarker Assay

For the director of the Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis Center, a biomarker is perhaps only as useful as the clinician community’s ability to read out its measurements.

Thorsten Mikoteit, MD: Sleep Research, an Excellent Source for Biomarkers

The Psychiatrist at Psychiatric Services Solothurn and University of Basel discussed how heart rate variability correlates with sleep stages, which may indicate nocturnal brain activity.

Jeff Waugh, MD, PhD: Viewing Striatal Injury More Granularly

Despite some mistrusting the abilities of imaging to aid in therapeutic development, a new MRI method could better inform the anatomical understanding of the striatum.

Thorsten Mikoteit, MD: Sleep Biomarkers in Insomnia

Under treatment, the dynamic of REM sleep related heart rate variability shows early changes during the first week, providing a promising biomarker of treatment.

David Holtzman, MD: Difficulties Identifying Dementia With Lewy Bodies

The current president of the American Neurological Association specifically mentioned the work some groups are doing with small molecule imaging methods to help with this issue.

ITI-214 Safe With Signs of Efficacy in Phase 1/2 Parkinson Disease Study

ITI-214 showed favorable safety with early signs of improvement in motor symptoms for patients with Parkinson disease

Elizabeth Ross, MD, PhD: Improving the Field By Understanding Mechanisms

The director of the Center of Neurogenetics at Weill Cornell Medicine spoke about the wealth of improvements that have really turned this area of medicine into a much more hopeful one.

Anti-CGRP Monoclonal Antibodies Transforming Migraine Treatment

The CGRP inhibitors are poised to transform the treatment paradigm for patients with migraine and cluster headache.

Joshua Cohen, MD: Fremanezumab for Medication Overuse Headache

The Global Medical Lead for Migraine and Headache at Teva Pharmaceuticals, the therapy’s developer, discussed its performance in patients with medication overuse headache.

Gene Therapy Shows Promise for Parkinson Disease

VY-AADC01 demonstrated promising early signs of activity and safety for patients with Parkinson disease.

Kate Davis, MD, MSTR: Cognitive Issues In Epilepsy

The assistant professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania discussed the complication of cognitive issues faced by patients with epilepsy, and how these are being addressed in the clinic.

Isabelle Lambert, MD: Spike, Spindle Frequency in Hippocampus During NREM Affect Long-Term Memory

Impairment of physiological spindle activity in the hippocampus during NREM sleep by interictal epileptic activities may have negative consequences on long-term memory consolidation.

Claire Henchcliffe, MD, DPhil: The History of Stem Cell Therapies for Parkinson Disease

Henchcliffe discussed the progress that has been made in this area, and where things are headed going forward.

Novel Agents on the Horizon for Huntington Disease

Several novel therapies in early stage development are beginning to show promise for patients with Huntington disease.

Jeff Waugh, MD, PhD: Using Imaging to Discern the Cause of Diseases

The director of the Pediatric Movement Disorders Program at UT Southwestern spoke about the ability of advanced imaging to help better understand the causes of disease.

The Progress of Micro-Dystrophin Gene Therapy

Since the inception of the idea more than 3 decades ago and its initial development 20 years later, Sarepta Therapeutics’ micro-dystrophin gene therapy has now made its way to human trials.

Rick Wassing, MSc, PhD-C: Restless REM Sleep Contributes to Hyperarousal In Insomnia

Those suffering from significant emotional distress and sleep disturbances may benefit from targeted interventions to restore consolidated REM sleep or prevent the occurrence of fragmented REM sleep.

Thomas Leist, MD: Resetting the Immune System With Cladribine

The director of the Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Center at Thomas Jefferson University discussed the concept of lymphocyte depletion to reset the immune system.

Hideki Garren, MD, PhD: Measuring MS Progression With Floodlight Open

The smartphone application-led program, Floodlight Open, recently initiated in the US and Canada.

Teriflunomide Slows Brain Atrophy In Patients At Risk for MS Conversion

Results suggested that for every 1% of brain volume lost, a 51.7% increase in risk of clinically definite MS conversion was observed.

Richard Rudick, MD: The CogEval App in Clinical Practice

The goal of the free application is to make cognitive assessments routine in multiple sclerosis treatment.

Remyelination As The Next Frontier in Multiple Sclerosis

The next important area of therapeutic development in MS appears to be in disease damage repair.

Alemtuzumab Shows Continuous Long-Term Effect on Multiple Sclerosis

The monoclonal antibody has shown continued success up to 8 years in clinical trials.

Peter Calabresi, MD: Clinically Validating Neurofilament Light

One of the highly debated topics at ECTRIMS 2018 was the use of the investigational biomarker, neurofilament light, in the clinic.

John Corboy, MD: The DISCO-MS Trial

The professor of neurology at Colorado University spoke about the ongoing phase IV trial to determine the safety of DMT discontinuation in MS.

Cell Therapies Offer Hope But Are Often Misused

Cellular therapies have the potential to make a meaningful difference for patients with neurological disorders, if used correctly.

IncobotulinumtoxinA Reduces Sialorrhea Across Neurological Disorders

IncobotulinumtoxinA significantly reduced unstimulated salivary flow rate for patients with sialorrhea.