tau PET better than amyloid PET and MRI for predicting cognitive decline in AD
tau PET has topped amyloid PET and established magnetic resonance imaging for predicting cognitive change in patient with Alzheimers Disease, according to a head to head comparison of the imaging types.
In the study of 1431 participants, baseline tau PET predicted change in Mini-Mental State Examination scores during a mean (SD) follow-up of 1.9 years.
What’s more, the tool outperformed established volumetric magnetic resonance imaging and amyloid PET markers in head-to-head comparisons, especially in participants with mild cognitive impairment and cognitively normal individuals who were positive for amyloid-β.
Researchers from the Clinical Memory Research Unit at Lund University in Sweden have said it’s a ‘promising prognostic tool for predicting cognitive decline in preclinical and prodromal stages of Alzheimer disease’.
Victorian neurologists report epilepsy success with stereo EEG
Neurologists at Austin Health, Melbourne are achieving excellent results treating epilepsy with imaging guided stereotactically placed invasive EEG monitoring combined with ‘super focal’ treatment.
They are highlighting the success of the technique in a female patient with refractory epilepsy who has become seizure free without the need for open-brain surgery in some epilepsy patients.
Associate Professor John Archer said the patient was diagnosed with epilepsy 15 years ago at the age of seven and was previously having seizures multiple times a day.
“A series of very fine ‘wires’, only 0.8mm in diameter, were inserted into her brain to continuously record EEG brain waves. Through this process, we were able to identify that all of her seizures were being driven from a tiny 7mm area deep in the brain, despite the apparently ‘generalised appearance’ of EEG discharges,” he said.
“We then passed an electrical current through the wires to make tiny 5mm ‘burns’ in the area of the brain the driving these seizures.
“This avoided the need for open surgery on the brain and avoided the risk of potential damage to uninvolved brain areas.”
“The impact of this procedure has been enormous. Emily has gone from having daily seizures, and seizures almost hourly overnight, to not having a single seizure since she was discharged home more than four months ago.”
Associate Professor Archer said stereo EEG was a relatively recent technique for understanding complex epilepsy and the successful merging with ablation was even more rare again.
Antidepressant therapy linked to fracture risk in stroke survivors
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) used for 6 months more than double the risk of fractures in stroke survivors, an Australian study shows.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of the RCT evidence, comprising more than 6,500 participants, showed treatment with a SSRI increased the risk of fractures compared to placebo (RR 2.36).
The results support earlier findings from observational studies and individual RCTs.
The meta-analysis, co-authored by senior investigator Professor Graeme Hankey from the University of Western Australia, found no statistically significantly increased risk of falls, seizures, and recurrent stroke as mediators of fracture risk.
Given the studies only included fluoxetine and citalopram, the investigators said the generalisability of their findings to other SSRIs was as yet uncertain.