Oculocephalic and oculovestibular reflexes are primarily used to determine whether a patient's brainstem is intact (e.g. coma or brain death assessment)
HSV Encephalitis: severe viral infection of the central nervous system, caused by a herpes simplex virus and usually localised to the temporal and frontal lobe; most commonly identified cause of infectious encephalitis; 5-10% of encephalitis cases worldwide
Hypoxic Brain Injury: in adults, typically occurs after cardiac arrest, trauma or drug overdose; degree of injury proportional to duration and severity of oxygen deprivation to the brain
Myasthenia Gravis: autoimmune disruption of post-synaptic acetylcholine receptors at NMJ; up to 80% of functional receptors loss; typically young woman; may have thymus hyperplasia; prevalence = 14.2 cases per 100,000
Non-Convulsive Status Epilepticus (NCSE) is a persistent change in the level of consciousness, behaviour, autonomic function, and sensorium from baseline associated with continuous epileptiform EEG changes, but without major motor signs
Critical illness is associated with a spectrum of neurological failure (largely under-reported), including polyneuropathy, encephalopathy and long-term cognitive impairment after critical illness (LTCI-CI)
Septic encephalopathy is brain dysfunction mediated by the septic inflammatory response, independent of other co-existent causes such as liver or renal dysfunction
Encephalitis an acute encephalopathy due to an inflammatory cause
Underlying causes are numerous and may be infectious or non-infectious, many of which lack effective therapies
Stroke Thrombolysis: thrombolysis for acute ischaemic stroke is a controversial intervention; it is supported by a number of guidelines and in general is viewed favourably by the neurological community