When a patient comes to the ED with vague neurological complaints, what’s your usual reaction? If you’re cringing right now, you’re not alone, said Matthew Siket, MD, MS, FACEP, assistant professor in the department of emergency medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and director of emergency stroke services at Rhode Island and The Miriam hospitals. “For many of us in the ED, those vague neurological complaints are among our least favorite,” he said. However, Dr. Siket believes that his Monday session, “Case Studies of Subtle Presentations of Devastating Neurological Conditions,” should ease some of the discomfort felt about neurological issues.

“If you feel uncomfortable with neurological conditions, that is all the more reason to come to this session.” —Dr. Siket

Using a case-based approach, Dr. Siket will address less common neurological conditions that often have a subtle presentation, including cerebral venous thrombosis, posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, and cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy.

“I’ll try to go fairly rapid fire through obscure cases. The intention is to help physicians gain confidence in the realm of subtle but potentially devastating neurologic emergencies,” he said. If you feel uncomfortable with neurological conditions, that is all the more reason to come to this session, Dr. Siket said.

Last year, Dr. Siket took part in ACEP’s New Speakers Forum and won the Rising Star Speaker Award.