Recent randomized trials

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses

• Thrombectomy in medium and distal vessel occlusion: J Am Heart Assoc 2025 (meta-analysis of RCTs) and Frontiers in Neurology 2026 (systematic review on evidence, strategies and pathways).
• Large-core stroke: Neurosurgery 2025 (6 RCTs) and Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2025 (meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis).
• Thrombectomy after cardiac interventions: Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol 2025.
• Stroke in heart failure with reduced EF: JACC Heart Failure 2025.
• Vagus nerve stimulation for rehabilitation: Adjuvant VNS meta-analysis, BMJ Open 2025 (n=954) and a taVNS meta-analysis in Frontiers in Neurology 2026. I only saw these through a secondary website, not PubMed.

Reviews on thrombolysis and acute management

• Thrombolysis, Thrombectomy, and Antithrombotic Therapy for Acute Ischemic Stroke, Continuum 2026.
• Thrombolytic drugs for ischemic stroke: state of play and future developments, J Thromb Haemost 2026.
• Novel thrombolytic agents for acute ischemic stroke, J Neurol Sci 2025.
• Thrombolysis for acute ischaemic stroke: development and update, Brain Communications 2025.
• Thrombolysis before Thrombectomy in Stroke - A Bridge Not Fallen, NEJM editorial 2025.
• Non-immunogenic staphylokinase in the extended window, a single-center retrospective study (Korsakov J Neurol Psychiatry 2026).

Caveats

• ORIENTAL-MeVO and DISCOUNT came from PubMed abstracts. MILD-MT came from the NEJM abstract page, because the full text is paywalled.
• MILD-MT was open-label and run in China. Its high rate of serious procedural complications (13.2%) matters when weighing benefit against risk.
• The search was not exhaustive. I haven't covered tenecteplase trials, secondary prevention, intracerebral hemorrhage or rehabilitation in depth.

Stroke (verified earlier, PubMed)

• NEJM 2026, ORIENTAL-MeVO: thrombectomy for medium-vessel occlusion with NIHSS ≥6. Functional independence was 58.6% vs 46.6% (PMID 42127389).
• JAMA 2026, DISCOUNT: thrombectomy for medium or distal vessel occlusion. It was stopped for futility and showed more symptomatic ICH (PMID 42485024).
• NEJM, Oct 2026, MILD-MT: endovascular therapy for mild stroke with large-vessel occlusion. mRS 0-1 was 69.4% vs 50.0%, with 13.2% serious procedural complications.
• Continuum 2026: a review of thrombolysis, thrombectomy and antithrombotic therapy for acute ischemic stroke (PMID 42233826).

Where to find recent epilepsy and neuropathy papers

Topics to search for each area

• Epilepsy: post-stroke epilepsy and seizure prophylaxis, newer antiseizure medications such as cenobamate, and surgery and neuromodulation for drug-resistant epilepsy.
• Neuropathy: diabetic peripheral neuropathy, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, small fiber neuropathy, CIDP and Guillain-Barre treatment, and neuropathic pain drugs.

Core neurology journals

• JAMA Neurology. Its November 2026 online issue covers dementia, traumatic brain injury, cerebellar stroke and herpes. A recent study there projects new dementia diagnoses rising from 11.4 million to 24.7 million a year worldwide, mostly because people are living longer. I only saw that figure in a secondary social media summary, so check it against the paper.
• Neurology (AAN), Lancet Neurology, Annals of Neurology, Brain, and Nature Reviews Neurology.
• Subspecialty journals: Stroke, Epilepsia, Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders, and Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System.

Recent papers by area

• Treatment response to antiseizure medications in newly diagnosed focal epilepsy, JAMA Neurology 2025. This is a multicenter observational study.
• Personalised medication selection for newly diagnosed adult epilepsy, BMJ Open 2025. This is a protocol for a double-blind RCT, so it has no results yet.
• Seizure prophylaxis versus epilepsy prevention after acquired brain injury, BMC Neurology 2026. This is a registry analysis of trials.
• Deep brain stimulation trials for epilepsy, Cureus 2025. This is a review.

• Magnetic peripheral nerve stimulation for painful diabetic neuropathy, Neuromodulation 2025. This is a double-blind multicenter RCT.
• Brachial plexus nerve stimulation for refractory upper-limb neuropathic pain, a 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis.
• Peripheral nerve stimulation for upper-extremity neuropathies, a 2025 systematic review.
• Peripheral nerve stimulation for essential tremor, Neurosurgical Review 2026. This is a GRADE-assessed meta-analysis.
• Treatment of functional neurological disorder, J Neurol 2025. This is an umbrella review.

• Precision therapeutics and innovative trial design in neurodegenerative diseases, 2026 review.
• Neurodegenerative diseases need more mechanism-informed trials, Nature Medicine 2026 editorial.
• Trial participation in neurodegenerative diseases: barriers and facilitators, Neurology 2025. This is a systematic review and meta-analysis, and the link is to its editor's note.
• Neuroprotective drug development with emphasis on Alzheimer's disease, Molecules 2026. This is a review.

• Early prognostic factors in multiple sclerosis, Medicina 2026 systematic review.
• The HLA paradox in MS progression, BMC Neurology 2026 systematic review.
• MS epidemiology in Iran, 2026 meta-analysis.

Caveats

• Most of these papers are reviews, protocols or editorials. Few are definitive randomized trials.
• Parkinson's disease, dementia treatments, migraine and neuromuscular disease are not covered. A web result mentioned noninvasive focused ultrasound for Parkinson's motor symptoms, but I didn't verify it.

Parkinson's disease

• ARISE (solengepras, Cerevance, Oct 2026): a double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial of once-daily oral solengepras, a non-dopaminergic drug. It was added to levodopa in people with motor fluctuations. The company says it met its primary endpoint with motor and non-motor benefits. I saw only the press release. I don't have effect sizes, safety data or a peer-reviewed paper, so treat it as preliminary.

• tDCS to reduce falls, PM&R 2026. Feasibility RCT.
• Exergame program for moderate to advanced PD, J Parkinsons Dis 2026. Pilot RCT.
• Tai Chi for core motor symptoms, Behav Brain Res 2026. Three-arm RCT.
• Transcranial photobiomodulation for posture stability, Lasers Med Sci 2025.
• Foot reflexology for chronic pain, PLoS One 2025. Double-blind RCT.
• Home touchscreen training, J Neurol 2025. Pilot RCT.
• Fatigue management, J Parkinsons Dis 2025. Preparatory work for a future RCT.

• Temporal trends in PD prevalence, 1980 to 2023, Lancet Healthy Longevity 2024.
• Suicidal ideation and behavior in PD, JAMA Neurology 2024. Both are meta-analyses.

Alzheimer's disease and dementia

• Dronabinol for agitation in Alzheimer's disease, Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2026. This is a multicenter, double-blind phase II RCT. I haven't read the abstract, so I can't give its results.
• FINGER trial: Alzheimer and cardiovascular genetic scores and cognition, Brain 2026. This looks at whether genetic risk relates to cognition within the multidomain lifestyle trial.
• HD-tDCS for cognitive deficits, J Prev Alzheimers Dis 2025. Pilot RCT.
• Tablet-based multimodal training, PLoS One 2025.
• Online caregiver intervention and quality of life, Clin Gerontol 2026.

• TRONTIER 1 and 2 (trontinemab): phase 3 trials in early Alzheimer's disease, per NeurologyLive. The earlier data were small, early-phase biomarker and safety studies. Whether amyloid clearance slows cognitive decline is still untested.
• Buntanetap (Annovis Bio): a phase 3 trial (about 850 participants) is fully enrolled after a 2024 phase 2/3 trial did not meet its goals, according to Being Patient.
• Zervimesine (CT1812) in dementia with Lewy bodies: the company says it has aligned with the FDA on a phase 3 design.
• Other phase 3 readouts expected in 2026: AriBio's AR1001, BMS's KarXT for agitation and psychosis, and Cognito's Spectris device (all from Being Patient). Simufilam failed its phase 3 trial and its development was halted.

• Dementia risk in type 1 diabetes.
• Suicide and dementia.
• Regional vs general anesthesia and dementia risk.
• Headache as a dementia risk factor.

Caveats

• I read abstracts only for the dronabinol trial's metadata, not its results. For everything else I haven't read the full text. The company claims above are unverified.
• The PubMed ranking favored small, non-pharmacologic trials. Major pharmacologic RCTs (for example lecanemab, donanemab, or Parkinson's therapies such as GLP-1 agonists and alpha-synuclein agents) did not appear. That reflects the search, not a lack of such trials.