This presentation will enable the learner to:

1. 1. Reconsider recent updates in the WHO classification of infiltrating gliomas.

2. 2. Discuss advanced bioinformatics profiling of the brain cancer transcriptome.

In Canada, standard dementia workup consists of clinical, neurological, and cognitive evaluation, as well as structural brain imaging. For atypical dementia presentations, additional FDG-PET brain imaging is recommended. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers have recently been proposed as the gold standard for in vivo detection of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathophysiology (NIA-AA research framework, 2018). As clinical implementation of CSF assessment is still limited in Canada, the present study assessed its impact on diagnostic accuracy in atypical neurodegenerative disorders in the clinical practice.

This retrospective clinical chart review included patients with cognitive complaints who underwent lumbar puncture (LP) in addition to the standard diagnostic workup. CSF analysis determined the presence of biological AD based on reduced amyloid-β42-to-total-tau index (ATI) and increased phosphorylated-tau (p-tau) levels. CSF-based diagnoses were compared to standard workup and FDG-PET-based diagnoses.

A total of 28 patients with atypical dementia presentations were included in the present study after evaluation for cognitive complaints at a specialized dementia clinic between November 2017 and July 2019. CSF analysis changed or better specified the initial clinical diagnosis in 43.0% of cases (alternative diagnosis revealed in 25% and excluded in 18%). In patients with additional FDG-PET imaging (n = 23), FDG-PET and CSF-based diagnosis did not correspond in 35% of patients, even though FDG-PET appeared to increase diagnostic accuracy compared to the initial clinical diagnosis.

CSF biomarkers improved diagnostic accuracy in atypical cognitively-impaired patients beyond standard workup and FDG-PET imaging. These results support CSF analysis implementation for atypical dementias in Canada, in addition to the standard diagnostic workup.

To describe the experience with Anterior Nucleus of the Thalamus-Deep Brain Stimulation (ANT-DBS) for the treatment of epilepsy at a Canadian Center.

All patients who underwent ANT-DBS implantation between 2013 (first patient implanted at our center) and 2020 were included. These patients had therapy-resistant epilepsy (TRE), were not candidates for resective surgery, and failed vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) treatment. Baseline of monthly seizure frequency was calculated within 3 months prior to VNS placement. Monthly seizure frequency was assessed at different points along the timeline: 3 months before ANT-DBS implantation as well as 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 months after ANT-DBS device placement. At each time point, seizure frequency was compared to baseline.

Six patients were implanted with ANT-DBS. Three (50%) patients had multifocal epilepsy, one (16.6%) had focal epilepsy, and two (33.4%) had combined generalized and focal epilepsy. Two patients with multifocal epilepsy experienced a seizure reduction >50% in the long-term follow-up. Three (50%) patients did not showed improvement: two with combined generalized and focal epilepsy and one with focal epilepsy. There were not surgical or device-related side effects. Two (33.3%) patients presented mild and transient headaches as a stimulation-related side effect.

ANT-DBS is an effective and safe treatment for focal TRE. Our experience suggests that patients with multifocal epilepsy due to regional lesion may benefit from ANT-DBS the most. Further investigations are required to determine optimal parameters of stimulation.

• Discuss complicated immune response to toxoplasmosis in patients with autoimmune diseases.

• Describe clinical, radiological, and pathological features of brain toxoplasmosis in patients with autoimmune diseases.

To describe clinical characteristics of Canadian patients with myelin-oligodendrocyte glycoprotein immunoglobulin-G optic neuritis (MOG-IgG ON).

Retrospective observational case series of MOG-IgG seropositive patients with ON referred to tertiary neuro-ophthalmology practices. Outcome measures included clinical characteristics, radiologic findings, and visual outcomes.

Forty-six eyes of 30 patients were included. Twenty-three (76.7%) were women, mean onset age was 40.7 years (range 16–77), and most were Caucasian. Seventeen (56.7%) presented with their first ON episode. Sixteen (53.3%) had bilateral eye involvement. Isolated ON without associated neurological symptoms occurred in 90.0%. In 22 patients with acute ON (seen within 1 month of onset), presenting mean visual acuity (VA) was 20/258 (logMAR 1.11), mean deviation (MD) on Humphrey visual fields was −16.90 ± 10.83 dB, and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness on ocular coherence tomography (OCT) was 164.23 ± 46.53 um. Orbital magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within 1 month of symptom onset for 19 patients demonstrated orbital optic nerve enhancement in 11 (57.9%) and perineural enhancement in 11 (57.9%). Brain MRI was normal in 28 (93.3%) patients. Twenty out of 22 patients with acute presentation were treated with high-dose glucocorticoids and 5 with plasma exchange in addition to corticosteroids. Long-term immunosuppression was utilized in 9 (30%) out of all 30 patients. Final VA was 20/30 (logMAR 0.18), MD was −7.17 ± 8.85 dB, and RNFL thickness was 72.15 ± 20.16 um.

MOG-IgG ON in Canada has a variable presentation with most patients having substantial initial vision loss with good recovery. This is the largest characterization of the disease in Canada to date.

• Define anti-MOG encephalitis.

• Recognize the pathologic spectrum of reported cases of anti-MOG encephalitis.

• Contrast the pathologic features of pediatric and adult CNS vasculitis.

• Describe the histologic overlap of vasculitis and encephalitis.

Acute ischemic stroke may affect women and men differently. We aimed to evaluate sex differences in outcomes of endovascular treatment (EVT) for ischemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion in a population-based study in Alberta, Canada.

Over a 3-year period (April 2015–March 2018), 576 patients fit the inclusion criteria of our study and constituted the EVT group of our analysis. The medical treatment group of the ESCAPE trial had 150 patients. Thus, our total sample size was 726. We captured outcomes in clinical routine using administrative data and a linked database methodology. The primary outcome of our study was home-time. Home-time refers to the number of days that the patient was back at their premorbid living situation without an increase in the level of care within 90 days of the index stroke event. In adjusted analysis, EVT was associated with an increase of 90-day home-time by an average of 6.08 (95% CI −2.74–14.89, p-value 0.177) days in women compared to an average of 11.20 (95% CI 1.94–20.46, p-value 0.018) days in men. Further analysis revealed that the association between EVT and 90-day home-time in women was confounded by age and onset-to-treatment time.

We found a nonsignificant nominal reduction of 90-day home-time gain for women compared to men in this province-wide population-based study of EVT for large vessel occlusion, which was only partially explained by confounding.

This presentation will enable the learner to:

Discuss the costs and benefits of using CSF flow cytometry to diagnose CNS lymphoma

1. 1. Identify appropriate clinical indications for using CSF flow cytometry as a first-line test

2. 2. Apply a testing algorithm to increase the diagnostic yield of CSF flow cytometry

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) refractory to conventional therapy can lead to marked disability and represents a therapeutic challenge.

To report five cases of treatment-refractory disabling CIDP treated with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT).

This was a retrospective cohort study from a tertiary care referral center for both neuromuscular disease and AHSCT. Patients with CIDP treated with AHSCT between 2008 and 2020 were included. All patients had major persistent and disabling neuropathic deficits despite combinations of intensive immunosuppressive therapy. The primary outcome measures were: Medical Research Council sum score, Overall Neuropathy Limitations Scale and requirement for ongoing CIDP immunotherapy after transplantation. We also analyzed safety outcomes by documenting all severe AHSCT-related complications.

Five patients with refractory CIDP underwent AHSCT. Three were classified as manifesting a typical syndrome, two were classified as the multifocal Lewis Sumner variant. The mean age at time of CIDP diagnosis was 33.4 years (range 24–46 years), with a median delay of 46 months (range 21–135 months) between diagnosis and AHSCT. The median follow-up period was 41 months. All five patients were able to wean off CIDP-related immunotherapy. Marked improvements in Medical Research Council scale and overall Neuropathy Limitations Scale were noted in 4/5 patients. One patient with longstanding neurogenic atrophy showed no improvement in disability scales. There were no treatment-related deaths or critical illnesses.

AHSCT can achieve marked sustained clinical improvement of refractory CIDP and may allow for weaning off long-term complex immunotherapies.

Albeit primarily a disease of respiratory tract, the 2019 coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) has been found to have causal association with a plethora of neurological, neuropsychiatric and psychological effects. This review aims to analyze them with a discussion of evolving therapeutic recommendations.

PubMed and Google Scholar were searched from 1 January 2020 to 30 May 2020 with the following key terms: “COVID-19”, “SARS-CoV-2”, “pandemic”, “neuro-COVID”, “stroke-COVID”, “epilepsy-COVID”, “COVID-encephalopathy”, “SARS-CoV-2-encephalitis”, “SARS-CoV-2-rhabdomyolysis”, “COVID-demyelinating disease”, “neurological manifestations”, “psychosocial manifestations”, “treatment recommendations”, “COVID-19 and therapeutic changes”, “psychiatry”, “marginalised”, “telemedicine”, “mental health”, “quarantine”, “infodemic” and “social media”. A few newspaper reports related to COVID-19 and psychosocial impacts have also been added as per context.

Neurological and neuropsychiatric manifestations of COVID-19 are abundant. Clinical features of both central and peripheral nervous system involvement are evident. These have been categorically analyzed briefly with literature support. Most of the psychological effects are secondary to pandemic-associated regulatory, socioeconomic and psychosocial changes.

Neurological and neuropsychiatric manifestations of this disease are only beginning to unravel. This demands a wide index of suspicion for prompt diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 to prevent further complications and mortality.

Recurrent events account for approximately one-third of all strokes and are associated with greater disability and mortality than first-time strokes. Blood pressure (BP) is the most important modifiable risk factor. Objectives were to determine the proportion of post-stroke patients enrolled in cardiac rehabilitation (CR) meeting systolic and diastolic BP (SBP/DBP) targets and to determine correlates of meeting these targets.

A retrospective study of 1,804 consecutively enrolled post-stroke patients in a CR program was conducted. Baseline data (database records 2006–2017) included demographics, anthropometrics, clinical/medication history, and resting BP. Multivariate analyses determined predictors of achieving BP targets.

Mean age was 64.1 ± 12.7 years, median days from stroke 210 (IQR 392), with most patients being male (70.6%; n = 1273), overweight (66.8%; n = 1196), and 64.2% diagnosed with hypertension (n = 1159), and 11.8% (n = 213) with sleep apnea. A mean of 1.69 ± 1.2 antihypertensives were prescribed, with 26% (n = 469) of patients prescribed 3–4 antihypertensives. SBP target was met by 71% (n = 1281) of patients, 83.3% (n = 1502) met DBP target, and 64.3% (n = 1160) met both targets. Correlates of meeting SBP target were not having diabetes, younger age, fewer prescribed antihypertensives, and more recent program entry. Correlates of meeting DBP target were not having diabetes, older age, fewer prescribed antihypertensives, and more recent stroke.

Up to one-third of patients were not meeting BP targets. Patients with diabetes, and those prescribed multiple antihypertensives are at greater risk for poorly controlled SBP and DBP. Reasons for poor BP control such as untreated sleep apnea and medication non-adherence need to be investigated.