This week on the program, we have remastered one of our earliest (and most interesting!) episodes on Guillain-Barre syndrome. With an important announcement from Jim Siegler. Produced by James E. Siegler. Music courtesy of Lee Rosevere. The ope

#181 A primer on ICP management

Apr 22nd, 2021 35m 2s

The field of neurocritical care and traumatic brain injury management is rapidly evolving. We are shifting from older (but not entirely outdated) monitoring techniques to novel diagnostic and therapeutic advances in critical care medicine. Mana

#180 The art of the pivot

Apr 8th, 2021 16m 27s

What do hip weakness, headache, and neglect have in common? At minimum, they can all be approached with simple neurodiagnostic heuristics. But there's more to neurology and medicine than having an approach to "leg weakness" or an approach to "

#179 RBD and synucleinopathies

Mar 25th, 2021 24m 58s

Who doesn’t enjoy their sleep? For most of us, it can be the most relaxing escape. And for others, a disturbance of sleep may be the first clue to a neurodenerative condition. Produced by James E. Siegler. Dr. Avidan reports that he receives r

#178 First seizure of life

Mar 4th, 2021 15m 55s

As many as 1% of the world has epilepsy, but far more than will have a seizure in their lifetime. Not everyone needs a seizure medication, some people are even harmed by them. So who warrants treatment, and what do you start with. Consider tod

#177 Agnosia

Jan 28th, 2021 14m 48s

To quote Donald Rumsfeld, “there are things we know we know…. we know there are some things we do not know... But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know…it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones

#33 Controversies in chronic traumatic encephalopathy

Jan 14th, 2021 18m 58s

Almost 5 years ago, we published a show on chronic traumatic encephalopathy and its relationship to American football. But a lot has happened since 2016. New rules in the NFL. Emerging data on how the developing human brain of a child or adoles

Best of BrainWaves 2020

Dec 31st, 2020 1h 7m

Happy New Year, and good riddance 2020! Hopefully there is more that you will take away from the past 12 months other than your personal experience with the coronavirus pandemic. Whether you lost a job, a loved one, or an invaluable life experi

#176 Mind blown

Dec 17th, 2020 30m 3s

I shouldn’t have to tell you that traumatic brain injury is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. I shouldn’t have to. But I will. And it is. In severe cases of head injury, there can be delayed and irreversible deterioration in the nervous

#175 Call your Mom

Dec 3rd, 2020 20m 34s

COVID-19 is more than just a threat to your physical health. Even if you are never infected, you may not be free of it. In today's program, we take lessons from prior pandemics and consider the sociocultural effects of a global infectious disea

#174 The mental status

Nov 19th, 2020 29m 49s

The mental status exam is a keystone of the neurologic assessment. Dr. Andrea Casher (Cooper University Hospital) builds upon this metaphor in our program this week. Making a special appearance is US President Donald Trump, who underwent a ment

#93 Aspirin vs. Plavix: The showdown

Oct 29th, 2020 20m 20s

October 29 is World Stroke Day! Might as well know how it is best treated. This week, Jim Siegler revisits a 2017 episode on the differences between two of the most commonly prescribed post-stroke treatments, with some key updates, recent trial

#173 Matching during the COVID-19 pandemic

Oct 22nd, 2020 31m 29s

This week on the program, we bring to you a special episode on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the neurology 2021 match--and potentially MANY subsequent matches. Jim Siegler is joined by the Assistant Program Director of the Cooper Neuro

#83 Halloween Special: Zombies in neurology

Oct 15th, 2020 24m 57s

Halloween is one of the most exciting and festive holidays, but this year I imagine many of us are going to spend it indoors. To help pass the time, enjoy this seasonal special about the neurologic manifestations of zombie-ism. Today's program

#172 Cavernoma

Oct 1st, 2020 18m 10s

As the second most common vascular malformation in the central nervous system, cerebral cavernomas are often incidental radiographic findings. Also incidental is Jim’s interest in mediocre sci-fi television shows, such as Netflix’s recent serie

#171 High-convexity tight sulci

Sep 17th, 2020 10m 30s

You know the triad for normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH). Wet, wobbly, and wacky. And you have probably heard of the Evan’s index—the relative proportion of the lateral ventricles in reference to the inner table of the skull. But you might no

#170 Myoclonus and neurodegenerative diseases

Sep 3rd, 2020 25m 42s

Myoclonus is the most etiologically non-specific motor manifestation of neurologic and systemic disease. It’s like slurred speech or altered mental status. But in the appropriate context, it can become a useful clue in your differential diagnos

#109 Misnomers in medicine: Low grade glioma

Aug 20th, 2020 25m 19s

A lot can happen in two years. You might have matched into residency, graduated from fellowship, had a kid... Or several phase II trials in low grade glioma research could have been published. Since the original airing of this episode in May 20

#169 The interictal EEG

Aug 6th, 2020 22m 27s

The electroencephalogram is a nearly 100-year old neurodiagnostic instrument. And yet, we learn new things from it every day. This week on the BrainWaves podcast, Dr. Tracey Milligan (Mass General Brigham) reviews the indications and utilizatio

#168 (Mis)understanding the locked-in state

Jul 23rd, 2020 26m 12s

The locked-in syndrome is a rare clinical consequence following many types of neurologic injury. In general, the locked-in patient is fully paralyzed, with perhaps minimal function of the fingers, the eyes, or the mouth. What's more, the gross

#167 The role of sinovenous stenosis in IIH

Jul 9th, 2020 16m 27s

Webster defines ‘idiopathic’ as “arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause”. By definition, this means idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) has no proximate cause. But that’s not exactly true. This week on the podcast, we

#166 Not just a headache

Jun 25th, 2020 33m 7s

It’s more than just a headache. Migraine is a disturbance of normal neurological function, and as you are aware, it causes more than just severe head pain. This week on BrainWaves, Dr. Deborah Friedman (UT Southwestern) shares her experience ev

#165 How the other half lives

Jun 11th, 2020 23m 35s

On rounds, I sometimes joke that the two most important organs in the body are the right and left hemisphere. Only one of many, terrible, dad jokes my poor residents and students have to endure. But what happens when one organ fails, or you hav

#164 Lewy Body Dementia

May 28th, 2020 25m 33s

Lewy Body Dementia may be the second most common neuropathologic cause of dementia behind Alzheimer disease, but it remains largely a clinical diagnosis with limited treatment options. This week on BrainWaves, Dr. Amy Colcher (Cooper Universit

#163 What’s the buzz?

May 14th, 2020 23m 2s

Can you hear that too? You can’t? Well, that doesn’t mean I’m having auditory hallucinations. It could just be tinnitus, which describes the irritating sound of ringing, buzzing, clicking, or hissing that affect 10-20% of the world's population