Diagnosing TM, NMO and ADEM
January 27, 2016 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm UTC-5
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A diagnosis of TM, NMO or ADEM involves a complex series of tests, understanding the clinical and radiological findings and the history of onset of symptoms. Why are these disorders difficult to diagnose, what tests are required to arrive at an accurate diagnosis, how do diagnosticians differentiate between these disorders and between these disorders and MS. How is it possible that a person can initially receive a diagnosis of transverse myelitis and then later receive a diagnosis of NMO or MS?
If you have questions about how these rare neuroimmune disorders are diagnosed, please email them to [email protected]. Our experts will address as many topics as possible about Diagnosing TM, NMO and ADEM.
During the podcast, you can interact with the speakers and the moderator to ask questions through our SRNA Facebook page, or by using the GoToWebinar “raise your hand” feature.
About Our Guest Speakers
Benjamin M. Greenberg, MD, MHS
Associate Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center & Children’s Health, Director of the Transverse Myelitis and Neuromyelitis Optica Program, Dallas, TX
Dr. Greenberg is recognized internationally as an expert in rare autoimmune disorders of the central nervous system. He splits his clinical time between seeing both adult and pediatric patients. He routinely consults on the inpatient units of Zale-Lipshy University Hospital, Parkland Memorial Hospital, and Children’s Health. His research interests are in both the diagnosis and treatment of transverse myelitis, neuromyelitis optica, encephalitis, multiples sclerosis, and infections of the nervous system. He is actively involved in developing better ways to diagnose and prognosticate for patients with these disorders. He has led an effort to improve biorepository development and has created uniform protocols for sample handling and analysis. As part of this initiative, his research has identified novel biomarkers that may be able to distinguish between patients with various neurologic disorders. He also coordinates trials that study new treatments to prevent neurologic damage and restore function to those who have already been affected. He currently serves as the Director of the Neurosciences Clinical Research Center at UT Southwestern and is a Cain-Denius Foundation Scholar. Dr. Greenberg is a member of The Board of Directors of The Siegel Rare Neuroimmune Association and also Chairs SRNA Medical and Scientific Council.
Izlem Izbudak, MD
Assistant Professor in the Johns Hopkins Medicine Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences
Dr. Izlem Izbudak is a board certified neuroradiologist and an Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins Medicine Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Division of Neuroradiology and Pediatric Neuroradiology. She earned her M.D. from Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. She completed her residency at Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey, and she performed two fellowships in pediatric radiology and neuroradiology at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Izbudak joined the Johns Hopkins neuroradiology faculty in 2006 after finishing her fellowships. Dr. Izbudak has been an active member of the Transverse Myelitis Clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She most recently served as activity director for the 2015 Johns Hopkins Neuroradiology Review. Her research interests are about differential diagnosis of transverse myelitis, MRI findings of neuromyelitis optica in spinal cord and brain and she has published multiple articles on these topics.
Dr. Izbudak has been interested in advanced imaging of spinal cord by using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in both adults and children. She has also investigated the normal spinal cord DTI scalars in developing children. She has published and presented her experience and research results on DTI of the spinal cord at major international radiology meetings such as ASNR, ISMRM, SPR, ENRS, and World Neuroradiology Symposium. She gave an invited lecture recently at London’s largest tertiary care pediatric hospital on DTI imaging of the spinal cord. There is limited number of researchers working on this field worldwide due to the inherent challenges of quantitative functional MR imaging of the spinal cord. It is a small structure surrounded by a pulsating CSF and bone, ligaments and adjacent beating heart and breathing motion in lungs and swallowing motion.
