Why
on-line neurological algorithms?
 o
provide the reader a quick and reliable insight in the potential differential
diagnosis of commonly (and less commonly) encountered neurological
syndromes in adolescence
and adulthood. Neurological
disorders occurring in childhood are beyond the scope of this web
page.
he website is aimed
for: medical students doing their rotations in neurology and/or preparing
for their neurology exam, physicians doing their residency training
in neurology and young neurologists. However I am convinced that many
of my fellow colleagues will find some of the information also most useful.
he most frustrating thing
for young clinicians is to learn about common and rare neurological
diseases and to found out later that the presentation in adults is
totally different than that in children. Hence I attempted to
clearly delineate the clinical picture in adults.
hese
algorithms have been developed based on my years of clinical experience
as neurologist and academician. The information was supplemented by
classical neurological textbooks and was updated by core journals in Neurology
(such as Neurology, Annals of Neurology, European Neurology, Journal
of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, Journal of Neurosciences,
Current Opinion in Neurology) and Internal Medicine (New England Journal
of Medicine, Lancet). No effort has been spared to include the most recent
described disease entities and their criteria for diagnosis, giving neurology
a dimension different from what is perceived from classical textbooks. Finally
no algorithm is perfect and is not intended to cover all circumstances. Hence there will still be situations where the exercise
is doubtful. It is then up to the reader to critically revise the neurological
syndrome and/or follow up the case until more evidence is available. Keep
in mind that time often will lead you to the right diagnosis.
he content is organized
as such that following the identification of a recognizable neurological
syndrome, an algorithm of differential diagnoses is provided together
with the appropriate diagnostic tests. To facilitate the understanding of the algorithms
a short up-to-date description of the disease or syndrome is given by
hyperlink. I have tried to focus as much as possible on the most common
neurological signs and symptoms or syndromes (e.g. akinetic-rigid syndrome,
headache in the elderly, myoclonus etc. ), which explains why the list
is not exhaustive. As the reader might notice quite some emphasis has
been put on adding genetic information wherever available. The reason
for this is the fast evolution of diagnostic possibilities in neurology.
he
chapters are divided in common recognizable neurological signs, symptoms
and syndrome chapters, which implicates that a basic knowledge and interpretation
of neurological history and synthesis of neurological examination is
desirable. This website will not be able to provide this. To a certain
extent, this web page also focuses on therapy of neurological disorders.
hroughout
the text mostly standard abbreviations are used to facilitate reading.
A list of these conventional and less common abbreviations is added
as hyperlink. The italic highlights in the text indicate important features.
The non-possessive form of disease description (Alzheimer disease in
stead of Alzheimer’s disease) is used throughout the sections.
o
avoid information overload the references have been restricted to the
minimum. New sections and regular updates will be provided.
Back to Top
|
