Placental Pathology in Neonatal Stroke: A Retrospective Case-Control Study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of placental abnormalities with neonatal stroke. STUDY DESIGN: This retrospective case-control study at 3 academic medical centers examined placental specimens for 46 children with neonatal arterial or venous ischemic stroke and 99 control children without stroke, using a standard protocol. Between-group comparisons used χ2 and Fisher exact t test. Correlations used Spearman correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Case placentas were more likely than controls to meet criteria for ≥1 of 5 major categories of pathologic abnormality (89% vs 62%; OR, 5.1; 95% CI, 1.9-14.0; P = .0007) and for ≥2 categories (38% vs 8%; OR, 7.3; 95% CI, 2.9-19.0; P < .0001). Fetal vascular malperfusion occurred in 50% of cases and 17% of controls (OR, 4.8; 95% CI, 2.2-10.5; P = .0001). Amniotic fluid inflammation occurred in 46% of cases with arterial ischemic stroke vs 25% of controls (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.1-6.1; P = .037). There was evidence of a "stress response" (meconium plus elevated nucleated red blood cells) in 24% of cases compared with 1% of controls (OR, 31; 95% CI, 3.8-247.0; P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Placental abnormality was more common in children with neonatal stroke compared with controls. All placental findings represent subacute-to-chronic intrauterine stressors. Placental thrombotic processes were associated with both arterial and venous stroke. Our findings provide evidence for specific mechanisms that may predispose to acute perinatal stroke. Amniotic fluid inflammation associated with neonatal arterial ischemic stroke deserves further investigation.

Workup for Perinatal Stroke Does Not Predict Recurrence.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Perinatal stroke, including neonatal and presumed perinatal presentation, represents the age in childhood in which stroke occurs most frequently. The roles of thrombophilia, arteriopathy, and cardiac anomalies in perinatal ischemic stroke are currently unclear. We took a uniform approach to perinatal ischemic stroke evaluation to study these risk factors and their association with recurrent stroke. METHODS: We reviewed records of perinatal stroke patients evaluated from August 2008 to February 2016 at a single referral center. Demographics, echocardiography, arterial imaging, and thrombophilia testing were collected. Statistical analysis was performed using Fisher exact test. RESULTS: Across 215 cases, the median follow-up was 3.17 years (1.49, 6.46). Females comprised 42.8% of cases. Age of presentation was neonatal (110, 51.2%) or presumed perinatal (105, 48.8%). The median age at diagnosis was 2.9 days (interquartile range, 2.0-9.9) for neonatal stroke and 12.9 months (interquartile range, 8.7-32.8) for presumed perinatal stroke. Strokes were classified as arterial (149, 69.3%), venous (60, 27.9%), both (4, 1.9%), or uncertain (2, 0.9%) by consensus imaging review. Of the 215 cases, there were 6 (2.8%) recurrent ischemic cerebrovascular events. Abnormal thrombophilia testing was not associated with recurrent stroke, except for a single patient with combined antithrombin deficiency and protein C deficiency. After excluding venous events, 155 patients were evaluated for arteriopathy and cardioembolic risk factors; neither was associated with recurrent stroke. Positive family history of thrombosis was not predictive of abnormal thrombophilia testing. CONCLUSIONS: Thrombophilia, arteriopathy, or cardioembolic risk factors were not predictive of recurrent events after perinatal stroke. Thrombophilia evaluation in perinatal stroke should only rarely be considered.

Synthetic cannabis and acute ischemic stroke.

An association between marijuana use and stroke has been previously reported. However, the health risks of newer synthetic cannabinoid compounds are less well known. We describe 2 cases that introduce a previously unreported association between synthetic cannabis use and ischemic stroke in young adults. A 22-year-old woman presented with dysarthria, left hemiplegia, and left hemianesthesia within hours of first use of synthetic cannabis. She was healthy and without identified stroke risk factors other than oral contraceptive use and a patent foramen ovale without venous thromboses. A 26-year-old woman presented with nonfluent aphasia, left facial droop, and left hemianesthesia approximately 12 hours after first use of synthetic cannabis. Her other stroke risk factors included migraine with aura, oral contraceptive use, smoking, and a family history of superficial thrombophlebitis. Both women were found to have acute, large-territory infarctions of the right middle cerebral artery. Our 2 cases had risk factors for ischemic stroke but were otherwise young and healthy and the onset of their deficits occurred within hours after first-time exposure to synthetic cannabis. Synthetic cannabis use is an important consideration in the investigation of stroke in young adults.

Big Assumptions in Online and Blended Continuing Professional Development: Finding Our Way Forward Together.

ABSTRACT: Continuing professional development (CPD) providers and faculty face a practice gap between our knowledge of effective practices in CPD and our implementation of them, particularly in online environments. Developmental psychologists Bob Kegan and Lisa Lahey have attributed such knowledge-implementation gaps to an "Immunity to Change" rooted in tacit "Big Assumptions." These Big Assumptions produce fears or worries, reveal competing commitments, and result in actions or inactions that hinder intended change. We sought to understand the barriers to change in online and blended CPD, to support CPD leaders in pursuing their goals for optimal use of technology in CPD. This inquiry arose from the 13th National Continuing Professional Development Accreditation Conference of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the College of Family Physicians of Canada, a virtual conference held in October 2022. After introducing the Immunity to Change framework and best practices in online and blended learning, we invited audience members to list Big Assumptions in CPD through chat and polling software. These responses were analyzed and grouped into five interrelated Big Assumptions that suggest a number of key barriers to optimal implementation of online CPD. We present data that counter each Big Assumption along with practical approaches to facilitate desired change for CPD.

Training in Neurology: Rapid implementation of cross-institutional neurology resident education in the time of COVID-19.

In-person resident didactics are traditionally limited to the faculty within a single institution. Tele-education efforts have been implemented in neurology to various degrees historically, but the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated a broad and immediate overhaul in neurology didactic training. To respond to the immediate need for resident didactics, we created a rapid onset, volunteer tele-education didactic series publicized on online forums to the American Academy of Neurology A.B. Baker Section via Synapse and the Women Neurologists Group via Facebook. We describe how, with just 1 week of lead time, we created an ongoing neurology lecture series featuring faculty from across the country lecturing on a diverse range of neurology topics. The series is ongoing and draws upwards of 120 residents per lecture. Tele-education offers unique benefits to enhance the education of all neurology trainees everywhere.

Stroke After Cardiac Catheterization in Children.

BACKGROUND: Children with cardiac disease are at high risk for stroke. Approximately one-quarter of strokes in children with cardiac disease occur in the peri-procedural period; yet, the risk factors, clinical presentation, and treatment of post-catheterization stroke in children have not been well defined. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of the medical records of patients aged zero to 18 years with a new clinically-apparent arterial ischemic stroke after cardiac catheterization at a tertiary children's hospital from 2006 to 2016. We excluded patients who had cardiac surgery, a cardiac arrest, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a ventricular assist device, or an arrhythmia proximate to their stroke. RESULTS: Twenty children had a new clinically-apparent post-catheterization arterial ischemic stroke. The median age was one year (range, two days to 16 years). The most common procedures were balloon dilation for pulmonary vein stenosis (n = 6) and systemic pulmonary collateral closure (n = 5). The most common presenting symptoms were arm weakness (n = 10) and seizure (n = 8). The median time from catheterization to symptom discovery was 31.5 hours (interquartile range, 16.2 to 47.8 hours; n = 18). The median Pediatric Stroke Outcome Measure score 12 months post-stroke was 0.75 (range, 0 to 2; n = 6). CONCLUSIONS: Although arterial ischemic stroke after cardiac catheterization is rare, better understanding this entity is important as children with cardiac disease and stroke have ongoing morbidity. Ameliorating this morbidity requires efforts aimed at preventing and rapidly detecting stroke, thereby enabling timely institution of neuroprotective measures and treatment with hyperacute therapies.

The Child Neurology Trainee-as-Teacher: A Clinical Teaching Curriculum Tailored to Learners' Needs and Developmental Roles.

BACKGROUND: Clinical teaching skills programs for resident physicians are increasingly offered. Less attention has been devoted to the unique educational roles of specialty residents and subspecialty fellows, many of whom will become academic faculty physicians. These teaching roles, and therefore a trainee's learning needs and motivation, also change over the course of training. METHODS: We designed and implemented a two-year longitudinal teaching curriculum for child neurology and neurodevelopmental disabilities residents using adult learning theory principles: experiential learning and immediate applicability to specific roles. Core modules included teaching in clinical settings, adult learning, and giving feedback. Training-year-specific modules for second-year residents (n = 11) and final-year residents (n = 10) included teaching through consultation and promoting clinical reasoning in supervisory roles. Learners completed an 11-item self-assessment before and after intervention. RESULTS: The overall program significantly increased residents' self-assessed knowledge of how to assess the level of a learner (P = 0.02, Cohen d = 0.84) and comfort and skill in giving feedback (P = 0.04, d = 0.64; P = 0.04, d = 0.71). The final-year-specific curriculum additionally increased self-assessed skill in teaching same-specialty residents (P = 0.05, d = 1.07) and in promoting clinical reasoning (P = 0.03, d = 1.14). The program was rated highly by trainees and faculty, and has been adopted as an ongoing part of our training program. CONCLUSIONS: Our experience offers a reproducible model and theoretical framework for child neurology, neurodevelopmental disabilities, and other specialty programs to develop customized trainee-as-teacher curricula with specialty- and training-year-specific content.

Journal club: pretreatment EEG in childhood absence epilepsy.

Childhood absence epilepsy (CAE) is defined by absence seizures in a normally developing child, with onset between 4 and 10 years of age.(1) Typical absence seizures consist of behavioral arrest with or without automatisms, usually last 30-60 seconds, and demonstrate a characteristic 3-Hz generalized spike-wave (GSW) pattern on EEG, often in response to hyperventilation.(2) Children may have hundreds of episodes daily, many of them subclinical, which can impair sustained attention and memory processing. There is a strong association between CAE and disorders of attention and executive function. This association persists even when seizures are well-controlled. An underlying structural or functional abnormality of the brain has been postulated to explain both observations.(3,4) This article by Dlugos et al.(5) is a post hoc analysis of a randomized, double-blinded trial(6) that seeks to characterize the relationship between EEG characteristics prior to treatment, measures of attention, and the outcome of initial antiepileptic treatment.

Increased pediatric functional neurological symptom disorders after the Boston marathon bombings: a case series.

BACKGROUND: Functional neurological symptom disorders are frequently the basis for acute neurological consultation. In children, they are often precipitated by high-frequency everyday stressors. The extent to which a severe traumatic experience may also precipitate functional neurological abnormalities is unknown. METHODS: For the 2-week period after the Boston Marathon bombings, we prospectively collected data on patients whose presentation suggested a functional neurological symptom disorder. We assessed clinical and demographic variables, duration of symptoms, extent of educational impact, and degree of connection to the Marathon bombing. We contacted all patients at 6 months after presentation to determine the outcome and accuracy of the diagnosis. RESULTS: In a parallel study, we reported a baseline of 2.6 functional neurological presentations per week in our emergency room. In the week after the Marathon bombings, this frequency tripled. Ninety-one percent of presentations were delayed by 1 week, with onset around the first school day after a city-wide lockdown. Seventy-three percent had a history of a prior psychiatric diagnosis. At the 6 months follow-up, no functional neurological symptom disorder diagnoses were overturned and no new organic diagnosis was made. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric functional neurological symptom disorder may be precipitated by both casual and high-intensity stressors. The 3.4-fold increase in incidence after the Boston Marathon bombings and city-wide lockdown demonstrates the marked effect that a community-wide tragedy can have on the mental health of children. Care providers must be aware of functional neurological symptom disorders after stressful community events in vulnerable patient populations, particularly those with prior psychiatric diagnoses.