Clinical and Neuroimaging Correlates of Post-Transplant Delirium.

Delirium is common among adults undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT), although the clinical and neuroimaging correlates of post-HCT delirium have not been adequately delineated. We therefore examined the frequency of delirium and neuroimaging correlates of post-transplant delirium in a retrospective cohort of 115 adults undergoing neuroimaging after allogeneic HCT. Delirium was established using previously validated methods for retrospective identification of chart-assessed postprocedural delirium. Chart reviews were independently conducted by a multidisciplinary team with expertise in HCT, psychiatry, and psychology on consecutive allogeneic HCT patients who underwent neuroimaging assessments and transplantation at a single center between January 2009 and December 2016. Neuroimaging markers of white matter damage and brain volume loss were also recorded. In total, 115 patients were included, ranging in age from 20 to 74 years (mean [SD] age, 49 [13]). Fifty-three patients (46%) developed post-HCT delirium. In an adjusted model, delirium incidence was associated with older age (odds ratio [OR], 1.92 [1.28, 2.87] per decade, P = .002), greater severity of white matter hyperintensities (OR, 1.95 [1.06, 3.57], P = .031), and conditioning intensity (OR, 6.37 [2.20, 18.45], P < .001) but was unrelated to cortical atrophy (P = .777). Delirium was associated with fewer hospital-free days (P = .023) but was not associated with overall survival (hazard ratio, 0.95 [0.56, 1.61], P = .844). Greater incidence of delirium following HCT was associated with greater age, microvascular burden, and conditioning intensity. Pre-HCT consideration of microvascular burden and other neuroimaging biomarkers of risk may be warranted.

Cognitive training and neuroplasticity in mild cognitive impairment (COG-IT): protocol for a two-site, blinded, randomised, controlled treatment trial.

INTRODUCTION: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is common in older adults and represents a high-risk group for progression to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Medication trials in MCI have generally failed, but new discoveries with brain plasticity in ageing have led to the study of cognitive training as a potential treatment to improve cognitive abilities. Computerised cognitive training (CCT) involves computerised cognitive exercises that target specific cognitive abilities and neural networks to potentially improve cognitive functioning through neuroplasticity. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: In a two-site study (New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University Medical Center and Duke University Medical Center), we will randomise 100 patients with MCI (Wechsler Memory Scale-III Logical Memory II score 0-11; Folstein Mini Mental State Examination ≥23) to home-based CCT (suite of exercises: memory, matching, spatial recognition, processing speed) or a home-based active control condition (computerised crossword puzzle training (CPT)) with 12 weeks of intensive training followed by regular booster sessions up to 78 weeks. All patients will receive standard neuropsychological and functional assessments in clinic as well as structural/functional brain MRI scans at study entry and endpoint. We will test if CCT, versus CPT, leads to improved cognitive functioning, transfers to functional ability and tasks of everyday life and impacts hippocampal volume changes and changes in the default mode network of the brain measured by resting-state functional MRI. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study will be conducted following ethics approval and written informed consent will be obtained from all subjects. Study results will be disseminated via publication, clinicaltrials.gov, media and conference presentations. This will be the first controlled long-term trial to evaluate the effects of home-based CCT versus computerised CPT on cognitive abilities and functional measures and neural outcomes as determined by MRI indices in patients with MCI. Positive results from trial may support further development of home-based CCT. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT03205709).

Catheter-based high-frequency intraluminal ultrasound imaging is a powerful tool to study esophageal dysmotility patients.

High-resolution manometry (HRM) is currently the most important diagnostic test for esophageal motility disorders, providing information on the contraction pattern of the circular muscle layer, which helps classify these esophageal motor diseases. However, with the increasing development of ultrasound, other techniques, such as high-frequency intraluminal ultrasound (HFIUS), have gained importance. This technique uses a flexible shaft with a central wire integrated into a standard endoscope, which facilitates real-time sonography. Its main utility is to provide anatomical information on the structure of the esophageal wall, including both the circular and longitudinal layers that constitute the esophageal muscularis propria. Increasing knowledge about these motility disorders has led to the hypothesis that, in addition to an abnormal contraction pattern of the circular muscle, an overall increased muscle thickness and an abnormal longitudinal muscle contraction could be added as pathophysiological factors. The increase in muscle thickness could be an important indicator of the severity of diseases, such as achalasia, distal esophageal spasm, or hypercontractile esophagus. More studies are required before definitive conclusions can be reached, but HFIUS employed simultaneously with HRM could provide a more complete and precise evaluation of these esophageal motor disorders.