We report the case of a young woman affected by an aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) and numerous anatomic abnormalities. A Transcranial Colour-Coded Duplex Sonography, performed with the aim ...of monitoring the vasospasm, showed a non-pulsatile flow with loss of sharp systolic peak and lowering of mean flow velocities in the right extracranial Internal Carotid Artery (ICA) and all its intra-cranial branches. This event suggested a possible concomitant acute right ICA sub-occlusion with a lack of collateral circulation. This type of flow is typically found in systemic and brain arteries of patients undergoing to venous–arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or to left ventricular assist devices. The absence of an adequate cerebral collateral circulation might be the explanation for this type of atypical flow. Aneurysms and arterial dissections contribute to SAH and ischemic stroke events, leading to long-term physical and cognitive disability. In our case, the prompt neurosonological diagnosis leaded to patient’s good outcome.
Intravenous loop diuretics are a cornerstone of therapy in acutely decompensated heart failure (ADHF). We sought to determine if there are any differences in clinical outcomes between intravenous ...bolus and continuous infusion of loop diuretics.
Subjects with ADHF within 12 hours of hospital admission were randomly assigned to continuous infusion or twice daily bolus therapy with furosemide. There were three co-primary endpoints assessed from admission to discharge: the mean paired changes in serum creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and reduction in B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP). Secondary endpoints included the rate of acute kidney injury (AKI), change in body weight and six months follow-up evaluation after discharge.
A total of 43 received a continuous infusion and 39 were assigned to bolus treatment. At discharge, the mean change in serum creatinine was higher (+0.8 ± 0.4 versus -0.8 ± 0.3 mg/dl P <0.01), and eGFR was lower (-9 ± 7 versus +5 ± 6 ml/min/1.73 m(2) P <0.05) in the continuous arm. There was no significant difference in the degree of weight loss (-4.1 ± 1.9 versus -3.5 ± 2.4 kg P = 0.23). The continuous infusion arm had a greater reduction in BNP over the hospital course, (-576 ± 655 versus -181 ± 527 pg/ml P = 0.02). The rates of AKI were comparable (22% and 15% P = 0.3) between the two groups. There was more frequent use of hypertonic saline solutions for hyponatremia (33% versus 18% P <0.01), intravenous dopamine infusions (35% versus 23% P = 0.02), and the hospital length of stay was longer in the continuous infusion group (14. 3 ± 5 versus 11.5 ± 4 days, P <0.03). At 6 months there were higher rates of re-admission or death in the continuous infusion group, 58% versus 23%, (P = 0.001) and this mode of treatment independently associated with this outcome after adjusting for baseline and intermediate variables (adjusted hazard ratio = 2.57, 95% confidence interval, 1.01 to 6.58 P = 0.04).
In the setting of ADHF, continuous infusion of loop diuretics resulted in greater reductions in BNP from admission to discharge. However, this appeared to occur at the consequence of worsened renal filtration function, use of additional treatment, and higher rates of rehospitalization or death at six months.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01441245. Registered 23 September 2011.
Cerebral collateral circulation is a network of arterial anastomotic channels capable of providing supplementary perfusion to brain regions in response to ischemic insults. Arterial stiffness could ...negatively affect collateral circulation development, by means of its effects on the structural intracerebral vasculature.
The aim of our study is to investigate a possible link between arterial stiffness and presence of collateral circulation in patients with acute ischemic stroke.
113 patients (age: 74±12 years) with acute anterior ischemic stroke underwent neuroimaging examination and 24-hour blood pressure monitoring. Arterial Stiffness Index (ASI) and Pulse Pressure (PP) were assumed as surrogate measures of arterial stiffness. Collateral circulation was evaluated by means of the collateral grading system that was scored on a scale of 0-3.
According to TOAST classification, etiology of ischemic stroke was the following: Large-Artery Atherosclerosis (LAA)(n:41), Cardioembolism (CE)(n:60), Undetermined Etiology (UE)(n:12). Logistic regression analysis showed that good predictors of poor collaterals were ASI (OR 2.78 for 0.1, 95% CI:1.19-6.50, p=0.01) and PP (OR 1.81 for 10 mmHg, 95% CI:1.01-3.22, p=0.04) in stroke from LAA.
Our results suggest that, in patients with ischemic stroke from LAA, arterial stiffness may contribute to the impairment of collateral circulation and, therefore, it could reduce the beneficial effects of acute treatments.
The term “attention” does not find a prominent place in Freudian-derived psychoanalysis, nor does the literature currently seem to devote, excuse the pun, much attention to it. In principle, a path ...could emerge that moves from Freud’s idea of “free-floating attention”, to proceed to the relationship between attention and interpretation as proposed by Wilfred Bion, and finally arrive at the concept of rêverie, developed above all by Thomas Ogden and of central interest for post Bionian developments. From a brief examination, one could say that psychoanalysis is more interested in dis-attention than in attention, or in any case in those transformations/alterations of the attentional sphere that signal entry onto the scene of the unconscious. The author tries to reflect on the various relationships that can exist between free-floating attention, rêverie and inattention, to then return on the light of this to the problem of interpretation: thus different ways of conceiving may emerge, precisely on the basis of the different types of attention that we bring into play during the analytic session.
Background and Purpose:
Recent findings suggested that non-stenosing atherosclerosis (NSA) may play an important pathogenic role, especially in cryptogenic strokes. Furthermore, arterial stiffness ...has been suggested to be a useful tool in identifying patients with embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) with poor neurological prognosis. In this view, the aim of our study was to assess the association between carotid NSA and arterial stiffness in ESUS patients, in order to better define the cardiovascular risk profile of this subgroup of patients.
Methods:
We enrolled 100 patients with ESUS (52 males, 48 females) and 48 patients with ischemic stroke from atherosclerosis. All patients underwent clinical and neuroimaging examination. A 24-h heart rate and blood pressure monitoring was performed in order to evaluate systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure, pulse pressure, and arterial stiffness index (ASI).
Results:
NSA was present in 48 patients. In comparison with non-NSA-ESUS, in NSA-ESUS the mean age was higher, neurological deficit was more severe, hypertension, and diabetes were more common; systolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, and ASI were higher. In particular NSA-ESUS had ASI levels similar to strokes due to atherosclerosis.
Conclusions:
Our findings shed light on specific cardiovascular risk profiles underlying different subtypes of ESUS, suggesting the presence of increased arterial stiffness in NSA-ESUS patients with a risk factors profile similar to strokes due to atherosclerosis.
Ischemic Stroke after Heart Transplantation Acampa, Maurizio; Lazzerini, Pietro Enea; Guideri, Francesca ...
Journal of stroke,
05/2016, Letnik:
18, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Cerebrovascular complications after orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT) are more common in comparison with neurological sequelae subsequent to routine cardiac surgery. Ischemic stroke and ...transient ischemic attack (TIA) are more common (with an incidence of up to 13%) than intracranial hemorrhage (2.5%). Clinically, ischemic stroke is manifested by the appearance of focal neurologic deficits, although sometimes a stroke may be silent or manifests itself by the appearance of encephalopathy, reflecting a diffuse brain disorder. Ischemic stroke subtypes distribution in perioperative and postoperative period after OHT is very different from classical distribution, with different pathogenic mechanisms. Infact, ischemic stroke may be caused by less common and unusual mechanisms, linked to surgical procedures and to postoperative inflammation, peculiar to this group of patients. However, many strokes (40%) occur without a well-defined etiology (cryptogenic strokes). A silent atrial fibrillation (AF) may play a role in pathogenesis of these strokes and P wave dispersion may represent a predictor of AF. In OHT patients, P wave dispersion correlates with homocysteine plasma levels and hyperhomocysteinemia could play a role in the pathogenesis of these strokes with multiple mechanisms increasing the risk of AF. In conclusion, stroke after heart transplantation represents a complication with considerable impact not only on mortality but also on subsequent poor functional outcome.
Purpose
Teleconsultation is a consultation between two or more physicians about the diagnostic work-up and therapeutic strategy in the treatment of an individual case by means of modern telematics. ...‘Drip-and-ship’ teleconsultation model consists of the transfer of patients, through telematics stroke networks, with large arteries occlusions from primary to comprehensive stroke centers equipped for endovascular therapy. We retrospectively investigated appropriateness, safety, and effectiveness of ‘drip-and-ship’ teleconsultation model in a rural area of Tuscany.
Methods
Outcome measures were: door-to-ship time (including door-to-needle time), ratio of number treated/total sent patients, adverse events/mortality during transfer, and mortality and modified Rankin scale at 90 days. Analysis of non-treated patients was also done.
Results
Seventy-eight patients were included; 16/78 patients were sent for endovascular therapy alone, and 62/78 for “drip-and-ship”; 12 patients were not treated. Door-to-ship, and door-to-needle times (mean ± SD) were 105 ± 29.8 and 62.5 ± 37.5 min, respectively. The ratio number of treated/total sent patients was 0.85. At 90 days, the global mortality rate was 21%, and 40% of patients showed favorable outcome. The main cause of non-treatment was spontaneous recanalization.
Conclusions
The high value for treated/total sent patients’ ratio underlines that “drip-and-ship” teleconsultation model is appropriate and effective, with a few untreated patients. The model is safe, without adverse events during transfer. Taken together, our outcomes are in line with the previous reports. “Drip-and-ship” teleconsultation model is safe and effective in rural areas, allowing good selections and rapid treatments for stroke patients, based on the transfer from the primary to the comprehensive stroke center.
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