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EDITORIAL |
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| Year : 2007 | Volume
: 10
| Issue : 2 | Page : 67 |
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From foundation to standards
Sanjeev V Thomas
Department of Neurology, SCTIMST, Trivandrum, India
Correspondence Address:
Sanjeev V Thomas
Department of Neurology, SCTIMST, Trivandrum
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0972-2327.33211
How to cite this article:
Thomas SV. From foundation to standards. Ann Indian Acad Neurol 2007;10:67 |
Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology (AIAN) is commencing a new series on neuropathology with this issue. Neuropathology is one of the corner stones of clinical neurology. Prof. S. K. Shankar from National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences Bangalore has kindly agreed to coordinate this series. We intend to bring out a series of review articles that deal with the neuropathology of various disorders of importance to India. The first among this series is a treatise on neuropathology of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.
There are about 39.5 million people infected with HIV in world and it is likely that India has more persons with HIV infection (5.7 million) than any other country. In the year 2006, globally 4.3 million persons were newly infected with HIV and 2.9 million people died due to AIDS. HIV and AIDS have undoubtedly emerged as one of the most serious public health problems. HIV affects the nervous system and muscles in diverse ways. In this issue we have several papers dealing with HIV. Prof. Scarvilli and colleagues have contributed an excellent review of the neuropathology of HIV and AIDS. In another article, we have a review of the peripheral nerve involvement in HIV particularly in persons who have received retroviral therapy. Lastly we have a case report of multiple opportunistic infections in HIV.
The diagnosis of motor neuron disease (MND) carries enormous impact on the life of affected persons and their families. Several variants of motor neuron disease had been described from India. Madras MND is characterized by younger age of onset, bulbar involvement, deafness and minimal or no upper motor neuron involvement and benign course. Monomelic atrophy and wasted leg syndrome are other syndromes of similar etiopathogenesis common in our country. It is important to keep in mind that there are several MND mimics that deserve careful exclusion. Dr. Panagariya and colleagues have discussed the differential diagnosis of motor neuron disease in this issue.
The practice of clinical neurophysiology in India has several limitations. Traditionally, clinical neurophysiology had been handled by clinical neurologists as an additional responsibility. There is a dearth of neurologists who practice clinical neurophysiology exclusively or as the main responsibility. There are only a handful of Institutions in India that offer formal training program in neurotechnology. Further the clinical neurophysiology laboratories themselves deserve much improvement and standardization. The Clinical Neurophysiology section of the Indian Academy of Neurology probably needs to set up the standards for these laboratories and the training programs. AIAN had been sensitive to the need for technical standards for the various clinical neurophysiological procedures as applicable to Indian settings. In this issue, we have brought out the second technical standards, this time on EEG for management of epilepsy. We hope that this article will help the doctors in charge of the laboratories to improve their standards of practice.
I am delighted to inform all the readers that simultaneous with this issue we are bringing out a supplement on Pediatric Neurology. It is our endeavor to bring out theme based supplements from time to time. I look forward to receive your feed backs on these new developments.
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