Veronica E. Santini, MD, MA

All Publications

• Neurology Residents as Comprehensive Educators (Neuro RACE). The neurologist Santini, V. E., Wu, C. K., Hohler, A. D. 2018; 23 (5): 149–51

  Abstract

  Residents are expected to be educators often without any formal schooling, and many continue a career in academic medicine where they play a pivotal role in education. However, few resident curricula have been published to include instruction in teaching, particularly in the field of Neurology. To guide Neurology residents as they take on their role as a clinician-educator, we developed a 1-year curriculum (Neurology Residents as Comprehensive Educators "Neuro RACE") with monthly sessions divided into didactics, small group discussions, and interactive kinetic learning. A postcurriculum survey was used to evaluate the residents' response to this curriculum. Residents reported an overall improvement in their comfort and confidence in their teaching abilities. As an integral part of academic training, residents-as-teachers curricula should take a prominent role in Neurology training programs.

  View details for DOI 10.1097/NRL.0000000000000191

  View details for PubMedID 30169365

• Slower saccadic reading in Parkinson's disease PLOS ONE Jehangir, N., Yu, C., Song, J., Shariati, M., Binder, S., Beyer, J., Santini, V., Poston, K., Liao, Y. 2018; 13 (1): e0191005

  Abstract

  Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease (PD) is characterized by degeneration of dopaminergic and other neurons, leading to motor and non-motor deficits. Abnormal eye movements in PD, including fixations, saccades, and convergence, are well described. However, saccadic reading, which requires serial and alternating saccades and fixations, is not well studied, despite its obvious impact on the quality of life. In this study, we assessed saccadic reading using variations of the King-Devick (KD) test, a rapid single digit number naming test, as a way to assess the ability to make serial left-to-right ocular motor movements necessary for reading. We recruited 42 treated PD patients and 80 age-matched controls and compared their reading times with a variety of measures, including age, duration of disease, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), the National Eye Institute 25-Item Visual Functioning Questionnaire 25 (VFQ-25), and Montreal Cognitive assessment (MoCA) test. The subjects performed 4 trials of reading 120 single digit numbers aloud as fast as possible without making errors. In each trial, they read 3 pages (KD1, KD2, and KD3), and each page contained 40 numbers per page in 8 lines with 5 numbers/line. We found that PD patients read about 20% slower than controls on all tests (KD1, 2, and 3 tests) (p < 0.02), and both groups read irregularly spaced numbers slower than regularly spaced numbers. Having lines between numbers to guide reading (KD1 tests) did not impact reading time in both PD and controls, but increased visual crowding as a result of decreased spacing between numbers (KD3 tests) was associated with significantly slower reading times in both PD and control groups. Our study revealed that saccadic reading is slower in PD, but controls and PD patients are both impacted by visuospatial planning challenges posed by increased visual crowding and irregularity of number spacing. Reading time did not correlate with UPDRS or MoCA scores in PD patients but significantly correlated with age, duration of disease, and VFQ-25 scores. The presence of convergence insufficiency did not significantly correlate with reading time in PD patients, although on average there was slower reading time in those with convergence insufficiency by 8 s (p = 0.2613). We propose that a simple reading task using 120 single-digit numbers can be used as a screening tool in the clinical setting to assess functional ocular motor difficulties in Parkinson's disease that can have a profound impact on quality of life.

  View details for DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0191005

  View details for Web of Science ID 000423412500032

  View details for PubMedID 29364897

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5783375

• Cost-effectiveness of focused ultrasound, radiosurgery, and DBS for essential tremor. Movement disorders Ravikumar, V. K., Parker, J. J., Hornbeck, T. S., Santini, V. E., Pauly, K. B., Wintermark, M., Ghanouni, P., Stein, S. C., Halpern, C. H. 2017

  Abstract

  Essential tremor remains a very common yet medically refractory condition. A recent phase 3 study demonstrated that magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy significantly improved upper limb tremor. The objectives of this study were to assess this novel therapy's cost-effectiveness compared with existing procedural options.Literature searches of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy, DBS, and stereotactic radiosurgery for essential tremor were performed. Pre- and postoperative tremor-related disability scores were collected from 32 studies involving 83 magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomies, 615 DBSs, and 260 stereotactic radiosurgery cases. Utility, defined as quality of life and derived from percent change in functional disability, was calculated; Medicare reimbursement was employed as a proxy for societal cost. Medicare reimbursement rates are not established for magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy for essential tremor; therefore, reimbursements were estimated to be approximately equivalent to stereotactic radiosurgery to assess a cost threshold. A decision analysis model was constructed to examine the most cost-effective option for essential tremor, implementing meta-analytic techniques.Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy resulted in significantly higher utility scores compared with DBS (P < 0.001) or stereotactic radiosurgery (P < 0.001). Projected costs of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy were significantly less than DBS (P < 0.001), but not significantly different from radiosurgery.Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy is cost-effective for tremor compared with DBS and stereotactic radiosurgery and more effective than both. Even if longer follow-up finds changes in effectiveness or costs, focused ultrasound thalamotomy will likely remain competitive with both alternatives. © 2017 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/mds.26997

  View details for PubMedID 28370272

• Neuroacanthocytosis: A case with unusual clinical features & novel response to treatment JOURNAL OF THE NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES Wu, C. K., Santini, V. E., Dittus, C., Saint Hilaire, M. H. 2017; 373: 346

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jns.2016.12.002

  View details for Web of Science ID 000394200700078

  View details for PubMedID 27988032

• Transcranial MRI-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound for treatment of essential tremor: A pilot study on the correlation between lesion size, lesion location, thermal dose, and clinical outcome. Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI Federau, C., Goubran, M., Rosenberg, J., Henderson, J., Halpern, C. H., Santini, V., Wintermark, M., Butts Pauly, K., Ghanouni, P. 2017

  Abstract

  Transcranial MR-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (tcMRgFUS) is a promising noninvasive method to treat medication-refractory essential tremor.To define the correlation between lesion size after ablation, thermal dose, and clinical outcome in tcMRgFUS treatment of essential tremor.Retrospective.Eight patients with medication-refractory essential tremor were treated using a tcMRgFUS system at 3T.T2 -weighted images were acquired immediately and at 1 year posttreatment at 3T.An atlas of the thalamic nuclei and dose maps were warped to the posttreatment images. The thermal dose, the immediate posttreatment lesion volume and 1-year final lesion volume, and the volumes confined inside the ventral division of the ventral lateral posterior thalamic nucleus (VLpv) were correlated to clinical outcome at 1 month and 1 year using Pearson's coefficient. The spatial region of treatment correlating with maximal clinical outcome was derived in a normalized space from average maps of clinical tremor score improvement at 1 year.Statistical significance was assessed using the Wilcoxon two-tailed rank test.The correlations between thermal dose, lesion volume posttreatment and at 1 year, and outcome at 1 year were good (r = 0.73, 0.65, 0.73, respectively), and were slightly better than at 1 month (r = 0.57, 0.49, 0.65). Reducing the measurement to include only the portion within the VLpv did not significantly modify the correlations (P = 0.09). The center of the spatial region of treatment was found in the anterior commissure - posterior commissure plane, 14.3 mm lateral from the midline, and 8.3 mm rostral to the posterior commissure.In this pilot study a good correlation was found between the size of the lesion, the thermal dose, and the clinical outcome in patients treated for essential tremor with ablation of the VLpv with tcMRgFUS.1 Technical Efficacy: Stage 4 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/jmri.25878

  View details for PubMedID 29076274

• Neuroacanthocytosis: A case with unusual clinical features & novel response to treatment JOURNAL OF THE NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES Wu, C. K., Santini, V. E., Do, C. 2016; 370: 55–56

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jns.2016.09.008

  View details for Web of Science ID 000387627800014

  View details for PubMedID 27772787

• Abnormal eye movement behavior during reading in Parkinson's disease PARKINSONISM & RELATED DISORDERS Yu, C. Y., Lee, T., Shariati, A., Santini, V., Poston, K., Liao, Y. 2016; 32: 130–32

  Abstract

  Reading difficulties are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) but not well studied. We report a case of reading difficulties in a 40-year-old man with 6-year history of PD on dopamine replacement therapy.We performed detailed neuro-ophthalmic examination and assessment of reading with and without infrared oculography.Clinical examination revealed visual acuity of 20/20, no evidence of vision loss, and normal eye movement and ocular alignment with normal saccades, pursuit, and normal convergence. During King-Devick test, a rapid number reading task performed on a book, patient had normal number reading speed. More detailed study of number and word reading using infrared oculography revealed that while this patient had normal speed and eye movement behavior during number reading, he had dramatic slowing and eye movement abnormality during word reading. The slower reading speed during word reading was due to increased number of progressive saccades, smaller saccade amplitudes, increased number of regressive saccades, and longer fixation durations.This case nicely illustrated the importance of comprehensive neuro-ophthalmic evaluations in Parkinson's disease and shows that reading difficulties can arise even when there is good visual acuity, ocular motor abilities necessary to read, and accommodation. In this case, reading difficulty was due to higher order ocular motor planning or cognitive abilities involved in word reading since the patient had no difficulty with ocular motor planning while reading numbers. These findings may have important implications towards our understanding of PD and can serve to spark further research in this important area.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2016.08.008

  View details for Web of Science ID 000388777000022

  View details for PubMedID 27592009

• Mon Chéri Haiti: Neurology lessons learned. Neurology Sharma, M., Santini, V., Auguste, M., Hohler, A. D., Etienne, M., Jones, E., Alessi, A. 2015; 85 (2): 169-171

  View details for DOI 10.1212/WNL.0000000000001735

  View details for PubMedID 26170399

• Increasing student recruitment into neurology: Joining the family. Neurology Larsen, D. P., Santini, V. E. 2015; 84 (23): 2302-2303

  View details for DOI 10.1212/WNL.0000000000001668

  View details for PubMedID 25957335

• Huntington Disease Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Santini, V. E. 2015; 6
• Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Athletes: Progressive Tauopathy After Repetitive Head Injury JOURNAL OF NEUROPATHOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL NEUROLOGY McKee, A. C., Cantu, R. C., Nowinski, C. J., Hedley-Whyte, E. T., Gavett, B. E., Budson, A. E., Santini, V. E., Lee, H., Kubilus, C. A., Stern, R. A. 2009; 68 (7): 709-735

  Abstract

  Since the 1920s, it has been known that the repetitive brain trauma associated with boxing may produce a progressive neurological deterioration, originally termed dementia pugilistica, and more recently, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). We review 48 cases of neuropathologically verified CTE recorded in the literature and document the detailed findings of CTE in 3 profession althletes, 1 football player and 2 boxers. Clinically, CTE is associated with memory disturbances, behavioral and personality changes, parkinsonism, and speech and gait abnormalities. Neuropathologically, CTE is characterized by atrophy of the cerebral hemispheres, medial temporal lobe, thalamus, mammillary bodies, and brainstem, with ventricular dilatation and a fenestrated cavum septum pellucidum. Microscopically, there are extensive tau-immunoreactive neurofibrillary tangles, astrocytic tangles, and spindle-shaped and threadlike neurites throughout the brain. The neurofibrillary degeneration of CTE is distinguished from other tauopathies by preferential involvement of the superficial cortical layers, irregular patchy distribution in the frontal and temporal cortices, propensity for sulcal depths, prominent perivascular, periventricular, and subpial distribution, and marked accumulation of tau-immunoreactive astrocytes. Deposition of beta-amyloid, most commonly as diffuse plaques, occurs in fewer than half the cases. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a neuropathologically distinct slowly progressive tauopathy with a clear environmental etiology.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000267557400001

  View details for PubMedID 19535999

• Clock drawing performance in cognitively normal elderly ARCHIVES OF CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY Hubbard, E. J., Santini, V., Blankevoort, C. G., Volkers, K. M., Barrup, M. S., Byerly, L., Chaisson, C., Jefferson, A. L., Kaplan, E., Green, R. C., Stern, R. A. 2008; 23 (3): 295-327

  Abstract

  The Clock Drawing Test (CDT) is a common neuropsychological measure sensitive to cognitive changes and functional skills (e.g., driving test performance) among older adults. However, normative data have not been adequately developed. We report the distribution of CDT scores using three common scoring systems [Mendez, M. F., Ala, T., & Underwood, K. L. (1992). Development of scoring criteria for the Clock Drawing Task in Alzheimer's Disease. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 40, 1095-1099; Cahn, D. A., Salmon, D. P., Monsch, A. U., Butters, N., Wiederholt, W. C., & Corey-Bloom, J. (1996). Screening for dementia of the Alzheimer type in the community: The utility of the Clock Drawing Test. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 11(6), 529-539], among 207 cognitively normal elderly. The systems were well correlated, took little time to use, and had high inter-rater reliability. We found statistically significant differences in CDT scores based on age and WRAT-3 Reading score, a marker of education quality. We present means, standard deviations, and t- and z-scores based on these subgroups. We found that "normal" CDT performance includes a wider distribution of scores than previously reported. Our results may serve as useful comparisons for clinicians wishing to know whether their patients perform in the general range of cognitively normal elderly.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.acn.2007.12.003

  View details for Web of Science ID 000256559500007

  View details for PubMedID 18243644