Billy McLaughlin talks about dystonia

E-Pearl of the Week

Brought to you by the Resident and Fellow Section of Neurology.

Motor movements in brain death

A variety of spontaneous and reflexive movements may be seen in patients with brain death. The most common are myoclonus-like finger jerks. Others often seen are undulating toe flexion and triple flexion response. The most dramatic of these movements is the classic “Lazarus sign,” which includes flexion of the arms at the elbow, adduction of the shoulders, lifting of the arms, dystonic posturing of the hands, and crossing of the hands. Neurologists must be able to identify these movements and recognize that their presence does not preclude the determination of brain death.

Reference

Saposnik G, Bueri JA, Mauriño J, Saizar R, Garretto NS. Spontaneous and reflex movements in brain death. Neurology 2000;54:221-223.

Submitted by Aamir Hussain, M.D.

Disclosure: Dr. Hussain has nothing to disclose.

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Dragon speech to text software

While at the AAN annual meeting I attended a course that highlighted the use of new technologies relevant to neurologists. I was motivated to finally put to use the Dragon software I bought a year ago (this course was also my motivation for creating this blog). I've just started using it and I'm in the process of training it to recognize terms that I use often in my clinic notes. So far I love it and I think it's going to make my life a lot easier. I highly recommend this product. So far I don't believe that it's necessary to pay over $1000 for the medical version as a number of people have already told me. Teaching the software new words has been a piece of cake so far.