Shruti Agnihotri, MD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Igor J. Koralnik, MD, of Harvard Medical School presented a poster at the recent American Academy of Neurology meeting in which they described the role that cyberconsults may play in managing rare neurologic diseases. They defined cyberconsults as distance consultation via telephone calls, emails, and videoconferencing.
Specifically, Drs. Agnihotri and Koralnik described their own experiences in working with the rare disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. While the distance consults have obvious limitations, the two noted, they also provide significant opportunities to connect with—and help—patients and medical experts worldwide.