American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM)

Dr. Behzad Elahi interviews Dr. Devin I. Rubin on his article, Needle Electromyography and Histopathologic Correlation in Myopathies. Fibrillation potentials and short-duration MUPs predict pathologic changes of muscle fiber necrosis, splitting, and/or vacuolar changes (as seen with inflammatory myopathies and muscular dystrophies). Absence of fibrillation potentials suggests other myopathologic changes (e.g., congenital myopathy). Muscle Nerve 59:315-320, 2019.

Dr. Scott Speelziek interviews Dr. Elie Naddaf on his article, Muscle Biopsy EMG Correlation. In myopathies, the correlation of individual electromyographic and histopathologic findings remains poorly explored, as most previous studies have focused on the ability of muscle biopsy and electromyography to distinguish the neuropathic vs. myopathic nature of the underlying neuromuscular disease. By demonstrating a clear correlation of various electromyographic and histopathologic findings, this study improves interpreting electrodiagnostic testing in myopathies, and serves as the basis to further assess the correlation between clinical, electromyographic, and histopathologic findings.

Dr. Justin Willer interviews Dr. Athar Parveen on her article, Long‐term neuromuscular outcomes of west nile virus infection A clinical and electromyographic evaluation of patients with a history of infection. The study found that 33% of these patients (10 of 30) showed abnormalities on either nerve conduction or needle electromyography due to primary or secondary outcomes of WNV infection. Most common electrodiagnostic findings and causes of long-term disability were related to anterior horn cell poliomyelitis (WNV poliomyelitis). Electrical data on these patient populations were similar to those observed in chronic poliomyelitis. With more than 16,000 cases of WNV neuroinvasive disease reported across the USA since 1999, understanding clinical outcomes from infection will provide a resource for physicians managing long-term care of these patients. Muscle Nerve 57: 77-82, 2018.

Dr. Justin Willer interviews Dr. Jeffrey Allen on his article, Electrodiagnostic Errors Contribute to Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy Misdiagnosis.

Dr. Ted Burns interviews Dr. William Litchy and Drs. Jim and Peter Dyck on their articles, Amyloid TTR treatment studies. The articles are Inotersen Treatment for Patients with Hereditary Transthyretin Amyloidosis (N Engl J Med. 2018 Jul 5;379(1):22-31. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1716793) and Patisiran, an RNAi Therapeutic, for Hereditary Transthyretin Amyloidosis (N Engl J Med. 2018 Jul 5;379(1):11-21. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1716153.)

Dr. Speelziek interviews Dr. Kurt Kimpinski and Dr. Luciano Sposato on their article, Subcutaneous versus intravenous immunoglobulin for chronic autoimmune neuropathies. A meta-analysis. High-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is an evidence-based treatment for multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). Recently, subcutaneous immunoglobulin (SC-Ig) has received increasing attention. The authors performed a meta-analysis of reports of efficacy and safety of SC-Ig versus IVIg for inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathies.The efficacy of SC-Ig is similar to IVIg for CIDP and MMN and has a significant safety profile. Muscle Nerve 55: 802-809, 2017.