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Background: 'Definite Neuroborreliosis (NB)' is diagnosed with the presence of NB-specific symptoms, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis and an elevated Borrelia Burgdorferi antibody index. However, some diagnostic uncertainties exist. The B-cell chemokine CXCL13 represents an emerging biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of NB because its intrathecal concentration rises prior to the Borrelia antibody index and drops rapidly after antibiotic therapy. Nevertheless, due to lacking prospective data, a definite CXCL13 cut-off for the diagnosis of NB is still pending. Objective: Definition of a CSF CXCL13 cut-off for the diagnosis of acute and untreated NB in a prospective study setting. Design and methods: This multicentre prospective study involved 6 neurological departments treating patients in the Lower Austria district (1.7 million inhabitants). The controls were patients scheduled for a spinal tap but not clinically diagnosed with NB. Demographic data, clinical characteristics and blood counts, as well as inflammatory CSF values and CSF CXCL13-concentration were analysed. Results: We recruited 440 adult patients, of whom 42 have been diagnosed as having an acute and untreated 'definite NB'. Three hundred ninety-eight patients were assigned to the control group. The median intrathecal CXCL13 concentration was 2384 pg/ml for patients with NB and 0 pg/ml for controls. The difference was highly statistically significant (P ≤.001). A CSF CXCL13 cut-off of 271 pg/ml resulted in a sensitivity of 95.2% and a specificity of 97.2% for the confirmation or exclusion of NB. Conclusion: Based on our results, we propose a CSF CXCL13 cut-off of 271 pg/ml with Euroimmun-Elisa for the diagnosis of acute and untreated NB. Due to its high sensitivity and specificity, CXCL13 is a strong candidate biomarker for routine NB assessment, especially in clinically unclear cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background To date we are lacking prospective data for field testing of ICHD-3 beta criteria for periictal headache (PIH). Methods Patients with focal epilepsy diagnosed by means of prolonged video-EEG monitoring completed a paper-pencil diary for three months and recorded seizures and headaches on a daily basis. According to ICHD-3 beta, we classified PIH, defined as headache present on a day with at least one seizure, as "7.6 headache related to epileptic seizure", "7.6.1 hemicrania epileptica" or "7.6.2 postictal headache". In addition, we compared the ICHD-3 beta diagnoses to the diagnoses according to ICHD-2. Results Thirty two patients completed the diary. Data analysis included 2,668 patient days, 300 seizures and 37 episodes of PIH. Two of these episodes (5.4%) were classified as headache related to seizure, three (8.1%) fulfilled both the criteria of headache related to seizure and hemicrania epileptica and four (10.8%) were postictal headaches. Twenty eight episodes (75.7%) did not fulfil any of the ICHD-3 beta criteria of seizure-related headaches, mostly because headache onset was before seizure onset. Applying ICHD-2 criteria allowed only one single episode of PIH to be classified as postictal headache. Discussion Our study is the first to present prospective field testing data of the ICHD-3 beta criteria for three types of seizure-related headaches. The majority of PIH episodes do not fulfil any of these criteria. One quarter can be classified according to ICHD-3 beta, whereas purely clinical diagnosis of PIH is markedly restricted in ICHD-2 because of mandatory electroencephalographic evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Anti-Xa serves as a clinical surrogate for assessing the efficacy and bleeding risk in patients treated with enoxaparin for thromboembolic events. Evidence from the literature and empirical observations suggest that patients are underdosed in clinical practice to avoid bleeding complications. This study aimed to investigate such underdosing of enoxaparin and its potential impact on achieving therapeutic anti-Xa levels., Methods: This multicentric, retrospective, observational study included patients with acute ischemic stroke due to atrial fibrillation. All patients received enoxaparin in the therapeutic setting with subsequent anti-Xa measurements. The one-sample, one-tailed Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to identify a significant difference between the doses administered and the recommended daily dose. Logistic regression model analysis was performed to identify additional predictors affecting achievement of the therapeutic anti-Xa target range. Stepwise forward-backward selection with Akaike's information criterion as metric was applied to refine the logistic regression model., Results: A total of 145 patients from the university hospitals of St. Pölten and Tulln in Lower Austria were included. The median daily enoxaparin dose administered was 1.23 mg/kg, resulting in an overall target range achievement rate of 66%. As compared to recommended therapeutic doses, significant underdosing of enoxaparin was evident in both participating centers ( p < 0.001). The calculated threshold dose to achieve the therapeutic target range with a 90% probability was 1.5 mg/kg enoxaparin daily. Female sex was found to be a strong independent predictor of achieving a therapeutic target range (OR 9.44; 95% CI 3.40-30.05, p < 0.001)., Conclusion: Despite the underdosing observed in both centers, therapeutic anti-Xa levels were achieved with lower than recommended doses of enoxaparin, and women required even lower doses than men. These findings warrant further confirmation by prospective studies., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Tinchon, Brait, Klee, Graichen, Baumgartner, Friedrich, Freydl, Oberndorfer, Struhal, Hain, Waiß and Stoiber.)