Ed Susman

ORLANDO -- Barely half of patients with atrial fibrillation who were prescribed rivaroxaban (Xarelto) to prevent stroke remained on the treatment after 2 years, but their adherence was still better than Afib patients on warfarin or dabigatran (Pradaxa), researchers said here.

"Sudden death is 24 times more likely in someone with epilepsy than in the normal population," Elizabeth J. Donner, MD, assistant professor of neurology, University of Toronto said in her plenary lecture "Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy."

In a striking case report, the stimulant modafinil was able to dramatically improve neurological functioning in an elderly woman suffering from bilateral thalamic infarction, a disorder that often is fatal.

Getting people who are having an acute stroke to the hospital in time for thrombolytic therapy appears to be thwarted by a variety of barriers, including the desire of a the patient to avoid being embarrassed an ambulance showing up at the front door.