The birdsong of the brain, cognitive flexibility, and a guideline update - Editors' Highlights October 2025
Another packed episode for this month's issue of the journal. There's a special emphasis on case reports this time, showing their value as a way to understand the rarely encountered. For the more common conditions there are guidelines, and the editors give you an introduction to the new ABN guidelines on myasthenia gravis, as a preview to an upcoming full episode on the topic. There's a birder's take on the use of EEG for status epilepticus, a review of the benefits and challenges for digital health records, and some deliberation on ophthalmological pronunciation. Plus, an opportunity to test your knowledge on illicit drug slang: do you know your "jeff" from your "khat"?
Read the highlights: https://pn.bmj.com/content/25/5/391
Please subscribe to the Practical Neurology podcast on your favourite platform to get the latest podcast every month. If you enjoy our podcast, you can leave us a review or a comment on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/3vVPClm) or Spotify (https://spoti.fi/4baxjsQ). We'd love to hear your feedback on social media - @PracticalNeurol.
Production by Brian Kennedy, Letícia Amorim. Editing by Brian O'Toole. Thank you for listening.
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Dangers from the deep, and prolonged pituitary inflammation - Case Reports August 2025
The wonders of the animal kingdom make an absorbing reappearance this episode, so grab your scuba mask before listening - or your chef’s hat.
The first case this month is the kind that even an experienced neurologist would be nervous to encounter (1:35). A holidaymaker in his sixties presents to the emergency department with vomiting, dizziness, and an inability to walk, amongst several other symptoms. A suspicion of stroke was quickly replaced by a different hypothesis following discussions with the patient’s family members.
https://pn.bmj.com/content/25/4/377
The second case follows a presentation over the span of multiple decades (18:44). A woman first presents in her thirties with extreme lethargy and occasional migraines. She was diagnosed with panhypopituitarism and treated with steroid replacement. Following breast cancer in her late forties, treated by surgery and radiotherapy, the migraines worsened, prompting further investigation.
https://pn.bmj.com/content/25/4/359
The case reports discussion is hosted by Prof. Martin Turner¹, who is joined by Dr. Ruth Wood² and Dr. Babak Soleimani³ for a group examination of the features of each presentation, followed by a step-by-step walkthrough of how the diagnosis was made. These case reports and many others can be found in the June 2025 issue of the journal.
(1) Professor of Clinical Neurology and Neuroscience at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, and Consultant Neurologist at John Radcliffe Hospital.
(2) Neurology Registrar, University Hospitals Sussex.
(3) Clinical Research Fellow, Oxford Laboratory for Neuroimmunology and Immunopsychiatry, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford
Please subscribe to the Practical Neurology podcast on your favourite platform to get the latest podcast every month. If you enjoy our podcast, you can leave us a review or a comment on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/3vVPClm) or Spotify (https://spoti.fi/4baxjsQ). We'd love to hear your feedback on social media - @PracticalNeurol.
Production by Brian Kennedy, Letícia Amorim. Editing by Brian O'Toole. Thank you for listening.
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Health anxiety: patient paradoxes and successful treatment
"This is a disorder that you don't want to miss", says Prof. Jon Stone¹, describing the condition at the heart of this episode, alongside co-author Dr. Huw Green². Their paper "Health anxiety in a neurological setting" is the subject of the Editors' Choice podcast for the August 2025 issue, hosted by Dr. Amy Ross Russell. They cover the assumptions to avoid, the problematic pattern of patient reassurance and return, effective treatment methods, and even touch on a light bit of existentialism.
Read the paper: https://pn.bmj.com/content/25/4/330
See also: https://neurosymptoms.org/
(1) Neuropsychology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK
(2) Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Please subscribe to the Practical Neurology podcast on your favourite platform to get the latest podcast every month. If you enjoy our podcast, you can leave us a review or a comment on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/3vVPClm) or Spotify (https://spoti.fi/4baxjsQ). We'd love to hear your feedback on social media - @PracticalNeurol.
Production by Amy Ross Russell and Brian O'Toole, editing by Brian O'Toole. Thank you for listening.
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Electrolyte abnormalities, unhelpful reassurance, and the essence of tremor - Editors' Highlights August 2025
Simplification is everything - that's the message for the latest issue of the journal. Assisted by a cast of characters including Albert Einstein and deep sea sponges, your editors Phil Smith and Geraint Fuller take on topics from hyponatraemia to health anxiety. You'll also find bread and butter epileptology, somatosensory evoked potentials, creatine kinase, and a guide for exploring the hinterlands of essential tremor.
Read the issue: https://pn.bmj.com/content/25/4/297
Please subscribe to the Practical Neurology podcast on your favourite platform to get the latest podcast every month. If you enjoy our podcast, you can leave us a review or a comment on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/3vVPClm) or Spotify (https://spoti.fi/4baxjsQ). We'd love to hear your feedback on social media - @PracticalNeurol.
Production and editing by Brian O'Toole. Thank you for listening.
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An international approach to the use of immunoglobulin
In the latest bonus podcast, the practical use of intravenous immunoglobulin is discussed with perspectives from three continents.
Participants:
Professor Alasdair Coles is Head of Department for Clinical Neuroscience and also Co-Director of the Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair, UK.
Dr. Lynette Kiers is a Clinical Associate Professor at The University of Melbourne, and Director of Clinical Neurophysiology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia.
Dr. Christopher Hahn is a Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine, and the Medical Director of the Calgary Neuromuscular Program, Canada.
Read the paper (https://pn.bmj.com/content/25/3/228) which is part of the June issue of the Practical Neurology journal.
Please subscribe to the Practical Neurology podcast on your favourite platform to get the latest podcast every month. If you enjoy our podcast, you can leave us a review or a comment on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/3vVPClm) or Spotify (https://spoti.fi/4baxjsQ). We'd love to hear your feedback on social media - @PracticalNeurol.
Production and editing by Letícia Amorim. Thank you for listening.
The Practical Neurology Podcast is the essential guide for the everyday life of all neurologists. Just like our journal Practical Neurology, this podcast is useful for everyone who sees neurological patients and who wants to keep up-to-date and safe in managing them. In other words, this is a podcast for jobbing neurologists who plough through the tension headaches and funny turns week in and week out.
Subscribe to enjoy deep dives into each journal issue with editors Prof. Philip Smith and Dr. Geraint Fuller, discussions on recent case reports with Prof. Martin Turner, and Editor’s Choice article discussions between authors and Dr. Amy Ross Russell.
Practical Neurology - pn.bmj.com - is included as part of a subscription to JNNP and provided in print to all members of the Association of British Neurologists.
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