Casey Albin, MD Profile picture
Feb 27 13 tweets 4 min read
1/
A #ContinuumCase to start the week off!

21 yo👨 w/ a hx of traumatic brain & spinal cord injury presents to the ED for post-traumatic seizures.

MRI is ordered.

“No known implanted devices” is checked ✅

Then...The patient nearly suffers a life-threatening complication.
2/
What device was present?
3/
⛔️ANY of these devices can be MR-unsafe! ⛔️

Many are also MRI-conditional and can result in life-threatening emergencies if the conditions are not followed!

....A further clue🕵️

Several days later the patient has fever, altered mental status, rigidity and another seizure.
4/
What device was it...?
5/
Yes an IT baclofen pump!

Some IT pumps will stop infusing during MRI, and a select number will *never* resume after the scan is complete unless reprogramed

It is of extreme importance to know which device the patient has so that the conditions can be followed!
6/
Acute baclofen withdrawal can put the patient at risk for serious withdrawal complications such as
- respiratory failure
- refractory seizures
- blood pressure lability
- delirium
- fever
- rigidity

emcrit.org/ibcc/baclofen/
7/
Why?

Because Downregulation of GABA type B occurs with prolonged use, allowing tolerance.

When IT baclofen decreases--> hyperactivity of afferent nerve impluses.
8/
What to do??

There is not a definitive treatment. but oral baclogen, bentos, propofol, cyroheptadine, dantrolene have all been tried.

unfortunately, oral baclofen takes a long time to reach steady-state and is inconsistently absorbed even at large doses (>120mg/day).
9/
In cases where the IT pump must be withdrawal, it may be necessary to have a temporary IT catheter to prevent severe withdrawal.

this is an EXCELLENT review:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20717751/
10/
It is believed that IT pumps cause the greatest number of MRI device complications.

So while we think of pacemakers as the big MR concern, these might be even more important to eval for.
11/
Speaking of cardiac devices..
Many newer cardiac devices are MR-conditional. The ENTIRE system: leads+the pulse generator must be MR-conditional to be so.

If medically necessary, even *some* MR-unsafe cardiac devices can be scanned if there are appropriate teams in place.
12/
Other important devices to consider:
-VNS (particularly for lumbar spine MR)
-Deep brain stimulators
-Spinal cord stimulators
-Hypoglossal nerve stimulators
-Cochlear implants
‼️NEVER, never just check "no device" without actually talking to a reliable surrogate, reviewing the history!

For more great tips about maintain MR-safety, check out by Drs Robert Watson and Lifeng Yu @AANmember @ContinuumAAN @LyellJ

journals.lww.com/continuum/Full…

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More from @caseyalbin

Nov 9, 2022
1/ Step 1 - Don’t
👉Shut anything off
👉Touch the vent
👉Remove restraints
👉Pause sedation
if you have not explicitly asked permission to do so.

[This is a survival thing! For the pt… (and you 😉)]

A #tweetorial @medtweetorial about critical care things for #neurologists
2/
Vibe check for the #neurologists out there. Do you like doing ICU consults?
#MedEd #NeuroTwitter #NeuroTwitterNetwork #EmoryNCCTweetorials
3/
Tip 1⃣: Induction meds for intubation have different hemodynamic profiles.

In emergent situations, explicitly tell whoever is intubating the patient’s BP goals.

For ex: AIS = ⬆️ BP good; induction with propofol (frequently = hypotension) is suboptimal.

Reminders are 🔑
Read 25 tweets
Sep 2, 2022
1/
Wrote a #tweetorial (the first one in awhile!) about the role of hypercoag testing in acute ischemic stroke (Check out ⬇️)

But Twitter cut me off before we could think about the role of hyperhomocysteinemia.

In case you couldn’t sleep without this info… (lol)
✨Part II✨
2/
Also @CroninNeuro pointed out that high RoPE (>= 7) and PFO and you should close regardless thus no testing needed for FVL or PT gene mutation.

True! You could throw away all venous testing… closing a PFO in this situation is evidenced based regardless of test outcome.
3/
BUT, TBH, I think I might want to know if I were at potentially higher than average for benefit from closure since no procedure has zero risk...But, has not been looked at in any RCT!

Just another data for personalization, and these tests aren't
Read 14 tweets
Sep 1, 2022
1/
I *LOVE* candy (srsly love.)

Recently, at the airport, I saw a bag of sour patch kids (fav!).

It was v overpriced.
I did not NEED it.
And it might take a while to get.

‼️Same with the hypercoag panel in acute stroke‼️

A #tweetorial @MedTweetorials #NeuroTwitter
2/
There is small fraction of patients for whom some of these tests make sense.

But, what I hope this thread will address is a reflexic rx to send a hypercoag panel in any “young” stroke pt.

Out of curiosity has *anyone* ever diagnosed legit inherited Protein C deficiency?
3/
Goals for the scroll:

1⃣The concept of stroke in the young
2⃣The yield for the hypercoag panel tests
3⃣When it might be reasonable to send these tests
Read 28 tweets
Jul 7, 2022
1/
#NeuroPostItPearls #8 (early!): Practice thinking like a Neurologist.

To help you, a #Tweetorial Case adapted from my colleague and dear friend @emeltzermd's new book
“How to Think like a Neurologist.” amazon.com/How-Think-Like…

✨The Case✨
The Man Who Began To Drool.
2/
A 41 yo M w/ history of testicular cancer presents with a vague headache & several days of fatigue. A few days after these vague symptoms began, he developed burning over with left abdomen and right retroauricular pain. A day later his wife points out that he’s drooling.
🤤
3/
🛑Pause Here! (the book instructs you to do so!) 🛑

Just as suggested by this awesome chart shared by @LyellJ & @mayoneurores, all neurologic diagnosis starts with determining the tempo and focal/diffuse Image
Read 22 tweets
May 31, 2022
1/
I posted this case last week as a mystery case.

Lots of votes for dissection, which I agree would seem totally plausible. But...

This was not a dissection!

I left out some key details to make it more interesting

So... what *was* going on here?
#EmoryNCCTweetorials
2/
Before diving in, major shout outs to fellows @maness_caroline & @stevefylypiw & @b3ta_lacTAM for their help investigating!!🤩

So... best guess, where is the stroke?
Reminder, the symptoms:
👁️ Unilateral (Left) Miosis
😵‍💫Vertigo
😴 Altered consciousness
3/
Of these, the best guess is the lateral medulla.

✨Descending sympathetic fibers = Horner’s syndrome (miosis. Hard to eval ptosis, anhidrosis in this acute situation)
✨Vestibular nuclei = vertigo

(Lateral pons can cause these as well, but that wasn’t an option)
Read 26 tweets
May 4, 2022
1/
Awhile ago, on a triage call: “I’ve got a guy here, pretty young, came in looking terrible. GCS 4, we intubated him. Scan shows a big bleed. ICH score 4. Not sure much you’ll be able to do, but need to transfer him.”

A #tweetorial about the ICH score. @medtweetorials
2/
When you hear ICH score 4 you think...
3/
97% morality was associated with Score 4 in the original paper (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11283388/)

The score, developed to be a reliable/easy to calc severity index, was determined from a

👉 Retrospective cohort
👉 By logistic regression analysis of independent predictors of mortality
Read 26 tweets

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