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.…
Space, the final frontier. A new domain for the podcast opens, as we learn how astronauts are preparing for Mars transit by lying in bed. But first - the ophthalmology department refers a patient with a swollen optic disc. When is it papilloedema, and when is it not? And what does that have to do with Martian vistas? In this editors' choice podcast, PN podcast editor Dr. Amy Ross Russell…
The latest highlights from the journal will deliver confidence when managing complex everyday presentations. In this podcast for the August 2026 issue of Practical Neurology, co-editors Phil Smith and Geraint Fuller present the key highlights from a cracking 100-page edition spanning the full spectrum of neurological care. They examine how to accurately diagnose papilloedema and distinguish…
In this special episode coming live from the Association of British Neurologists (ABN) annual meeting in Birmingham, Practical Neurology co-editors Phil Smith and Geraint Fuller join hosts Ruth Wood and Babak Soleimani to discuss the perennial clinical and educational value of case reports in which, in a rare event, the patients are actually referred to directly by their first names. The team…
What's the real difference between a night owl and a morning lark? The Editors' Choice paper for the June 2026 issue of Practical Neurology is a review of all the ways sleep intersects with neurological practice. Last author Prof. Guy Leschziner¹ joins PN podcast editor Dr. Amy Ross Russell to the wide variety of sleep-related disorders: insomnia, hypersomnolence, and sleep-related movement…
The latest highlights from the journal are set to give confidence when trying something new. In this podcast for the June 2026 issue of Practical Neurology, co-editors Phil Smith and Geraint Fuller bring a distillation of the wisdom found in the journal's pages. They explain the crucial role of a Zeitgeber for healthy sleep cycles, question the involvement of drugs like SSRIs in seizures, and…
It's the return of Merlin. Not the birdsong identification app this time, but the Rolls-Royce Merlin - engine of the historic Supermarine Spitfire warplane. The Case Reports trio are faced with another set of patient puzzles to work through in this latest episode. In the first case (1:25), a 68-yo man, retired from farming, presents with a 6-year history of behavioural changes. Most notably, he…
What should a neurologist do when a routine MRI for migraine reveals incidental white matter lesions that look remarkably like Multiple Sclerosis (MS), despite the patient having no neurological symptoms? The Editors' Choice paper for the April 2026 issue of Practical Neurology is a practical guide to the clinical diagnosis and management of radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS). Author Dr.…
In this Practical Neurology bonus international podcast linked to the February issue, host Alasdair Coles (Cambridge, UK) is joined by movement disorder specialist Dr. Ashley Paul (Johns Hopkins, US) and epilepsy expert Dr. Lata Vadlamudi (Brisbane, Australia) to discuss the integration of bone health into neurology clinics. They discuss the identification of osteoporosis in patients on steroids…
As with any Darwinian subject, neurology is under constant evolution. This podcast for the April 2026 issue of Practical Neurology has co-editors Phil Smith and Geraint Fuller taking a look at some intriguing specimens from the neurological field. Populating the menagerie for this episode are the "reversed clock phenomenon", a new study on brain problems in retired sportspersons, a practice guide…
What unsuspecting dangers lie within a garden compost bin? The Case Reports team are back to uncover a new pair of neurological mysteries. The first case this episode (1:24) comes from Edinburgh, centred on an 88-yo woman who presents with headache and eye-pain on her right side. She receives an early diagnosis of migraine, but returns a few weeks later with intermittent vomiting and subsequent…
Many patients will affirm seeing clouds shaped like animals or other similar phenomena, which is why confirming pareidolia (seeing meaningful images in meaningless visual stimuli) is such a tricky symptom in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). While it may not be exclusive to DLB, placing such symptoms in the context of "the company it keeps" is a key method to narrowing down the diagnosis. The…