Small vessel disease (SVD) is clearly related to increased
stroke risk and worse functional outcome. However, the effect of mentioned SVD
on the vasodilatory capacity of arteriole and microvasculature for collaterals
recruitment during an acute stroke scenario is unclear. Lin and colleagues
performed a study to asses SVD effect on collaterals development in acute stroke
setting.
For this study, consecutive patients with middle cerebral
artery or internal carotid artery occlusion presenting within 6 hours after
stroke symptom onset who underwent thrombectomy from 2012 to 2017 were
included. The primary outcome was poor collateral flow (assessed on baseline
computed tomographic angiography). Markers of chronic SVD on brain magnetic
resonance imaging were rated for the extent of white matter hyperintensities,
enlarged perivascular spaces, chronic lacunar infarctions and cerebral
microbleeds using the Standards for Reporting Vascular Changes on Neuroimaging
criteria. Severity of SVD was quantified by adding the presence of each SVD
feature, with a total possible score of 0 to 4; each SVD type was also
evaluated separately.
By strokeblog|May 29th, 2020|clinical|Comments Off on Small Vessel Disease: Collaterals’ Enemy
Since the work of Jean-Martin Charcot in the 19th
century on functional neurological disorders (called “hysteria”), neurologists
have developed a variety of examination skills capable of discerning between
organic and non-organic causes of neurological symptoms. Functional
neurological disorders may manifest as non-epileptic seizures, chronic abnormal
movement disorders, and certainly as acute focal neurological deficits
prompting the activation of a rapid stroke evaluation aimed to identify
candidates for reperfusion therapies. In fact, functional neurological deficits
are common stroke mimics frequently presenting as lateralized limb weakness,
sensory changes, or speech disturbances.
As stroke neurologists, we rely on clinical scales (i.e., the
National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale) and a variety of neuroimaging
techniques to make time-sensitive therapeutic decisions. Nevertheless, none of
the above are entirely useful to identify functional disorders, thus
underscoring the importance of the clinical examination in acute stroke care.
In the May issue of Stroke, Popkirov and colleagues bring us a topical
review on the diagnosis of functional disorders during the acute evaluation of
patients with suspected stroke. Key points of this review include:
– Stereotypical biases based on age, sex, psychiatric
comorbidities, or social background are not good predictors of functional
disorders at the individual patient level and frequently lead to
misdiagnosis.
– Bedside tests focused on inconsistencies between voluntary and involuntary movements (i.e., Hoover’s sign, hip abductor sign, facial lip pulling) or non-physiological patterns of weakness (i.e., drift without pronation, give-away weakness, inverse pyramidal pattern) have shown to be specific and reliable techniques to identify functional motor weakness (Figure). Generally, sensory signs are less reliable than motor testing.
Figure. Positive clinical signs of functional neurological disorder.
– Speech disorders (i.e., dysarthria, aphasia) in isolation
are rare stroke presentations. Functional speech disorders can be recognized by
inconsistencies such as aphonia with normal sound production prompted by cough,
dysarthria without dysphagia, or non-physiological agrammatism (“baby talk”)
rather than the telegraphic speech characteristic of Broca’s aphasia.
By strokeblog|May 27th, 2020|clinical|Comments Off on Functional Stroke Mimics: How Hard Is It to Say This Is Not a Stroke?
The
COVID-19 pandemic portends a risk to healthcare staff dealing with acute stroke
emergencies, and many institutions have developed new protocols to help reduce
exposure. On a typical day, acute stroke management progresses through a
well-defined algorithm, developed by institutions to provide rapid and timely
intravenous thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy (MT), with healthcare
providers having their own well-defined roles. The COVID-19 pandemic has now
required enforcement of strict infection control practices such as use of PPE,
methods to minimize exposure to patients and staff during imaging and transport
and while providing thrombolytic treatment or MT. However, despite these new
well-defined protocols and standards of infection control safety in place,
there is still a risk of exposure to healthcare workers, who might not be used
to adapting quickly to a new system of management, again risking unwarranted
exposure, which further leads to increased anxiety among the front line staff.
In
this article, the authors describe how practice simulations catered to help
staff adapt to the new standards have helped streamline the process of acute
stroke emergencies, reduce staff anxiety and, at the same time, identify
potential unknown sources of exposure, as well.
By strokeblog|May 20th, 2020|clinical|Comments Off on Practice Makes Perfect: Article Commentary on “Improving Stroke Care in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic Through Simulation: Practice your Protocols!”
Since
the first COVID-19 case was reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, the
magnitude of this global pandemic, unimaginable at first, has invaded our daily
routine and our professional work, displacing any other pathology to a
secondary level. As of Saturday, May 9, 2020 at 1:36 p.m., the global number of
infected is 3.94 million people and 275,000 deaths, with a spatial dispersion
that increasingly affects more countries. Given its ease of transmission (drops
when coughing, speaking, direct contact), we are facing a highly contagious
virus capable of saturating the health systems, preventing proper management of
time-dependent pathologies such as ischemic stroke. Zhao J et al. aimed to
demonstrate COVID-19 impact on stroke care. For this purpose, the authors
collected data from the Big Data Observatory Platform for Stroke of China
(BOSC), formed by 280 hospitals across China. In addition, they designed a
survey to investigate major changes in stroke care during the COVID-19
outbreak.
After
performing a retrospective and simple descriptive study, the authors found a
drop of 26.7% and 25.3% (p<0.001), respectively, in thrombolysis and
thrombectomy cases, in February 2020 as compared to February 2019. In 2020,
hospital admissions related to stroke dropped by nearly 40%, due to the
reduction in stroke care capacity in the majority of hospitals. In stroke care
centers, the majority of them stopped completely or partially their efforts in
stroke education for the public, with no difference in the patterns of changes
between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 designated hospitals. Among potential causes
of observed changes, the authors found that patients or patients’ families not
coming to the hospital was likely the most important factor affecting reduced
hospital admission rate, and reduced thrombolysis and thrombectomy cases.
Deficiencies in stroke awareness, lack of adequate transportation methods, and
the COVID-19 screening process were considered as important factors with a direct
impact on stroke care and door-to-needle and door-to-groin times. Finally, the authors
offer recommendations to improve stroke care in affected countries.
By strokeblog|May 20th, 2020|clinical|Comments Off on Stroke vs COVID-19: A World Fight
The past century began with devastating world wars that resulted
in immense loss of life and left many countries in ruins and the rest impoverished.
These global conflicts not only created negative impacts, but also triggered constructive
responses in humanity fueled by the elation for surviving the disaster. The
latter resulted in postwar times dominated by the development of society,
expansion of economy, and the revolution of technology. This special report
published in Stroke draws an analogy between the current global health crisis
caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the damage occasioned by the world wars, and
exposes an optimistic point of view regarding the adjustments vascular
neurologists have made to take care of stroke patients and how this may
influence the way we deliver stroke care in the future.
By strokeblog|May 18th, 2020|clinical|Comments Off on Stroke Care During World War COVID
The goal of current therapeutic
strategies for acute ischemic stroke with large vessel occlusion (LVO) is
recanalization of the occlusion before irreversible damage has occurred. In
this large multicenter, prospective, randomized, open-label trial with blinded
outcome assessment, Dr. Jianmin Liu and his team
aimed to answer the question of whether mechanical thrombectomy (MT) alone
(thrombectomy alone group) would be non-inferior to combined treatment of IV-tPA
and MT (combined group) in patients with LVO.
This trial included patients ³ 18 years of age who presented to 41 pre-selected academic
medical centers in China within 4.5 hours of symptom onset, had National
Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) ³ 2 with imaging showing an LVO (intracranial segment of ICA, M1 or
proximal M2 only). Any patients who did not meet American Heart Association/American
Stroke Association guidelines for alteplase or MT were not included in the
trial. The standard dose of tPA at 0.9 mg/kg was used, and the first-line
strategy for MT was stent-retriever. Statistically, the trial was designed to
provide 80% power (at a two-sided alpha level of 0.05) to determine a
non-inferiority margin of 0.8. 656 patients were randomized in 1:1 fashion by a
web-based system with 327 patients in the thrombectomy alone group and 329
patients in the combined group. The patient enrollment period was 17 months
(February 23, 2018, to July 2, 2019). The baseline characteristics of patients
were similar in both the groups with a median age of 69 years, median NIHSS
score of 17, and median ASPECTS value of 9. The median duration from stroke
onset to randomization was 167 minutes in the thrombectomy alone group and 177
minutes in combined group with time from randomization to groin puncture being
31 minutes and 36 minutes, respectively.
By strokeblog|May 15th, 2020|clinical, Conference, treatment|Comments Off on Endovascular Thrombectomy With or Without Intravenous Alteplase: ESO-WSO Large Clinical Trials Webinar
Diabetes
mellitus (DM) affects about 422 million people and is one of the leading causes
of death worldwide (World Health Organization). More importantly, the burden of
type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been rising relentlessly in all countries in the past
three decades. However, it is estimated that a significant percentage of cases
of T2D remain undiagnosed. DM is one of the major modifiable risk factors for
stroke. In addition, it has been associated with adverse outcomes after stroke,
including higher mortality, poorer neurological and functional outcomes, longer
hospital stay, higher readmission rates, and stroke recurrence. Another
outcome, the post-stroke cognitive function, and its relationship with DM, are
being evaluated in the STROKOG collaboration study.
Lo
et al. for the STROKOG collaboration present a meta-analysis of individual
participant data (IPD) derived from seven international post-stroke cohorts
with the aim to investigate the relationship between T2M and prediabetes with
cognitive impairment after stroke.
By strokeblog|May 14th, 2020|clinical, epidemiology and genetics|Comments Off on Diabetes Mellitus, But Not Prediabetes, Associated With Poorer Cognitive Performance After Stroke
I was happy to see
that although the ESO-WSO 2020 annual meeting was postponed, we still had the
opportunity to virtually hear the results of some recent large clinical trials.
One of the five trials presented was the Basilar Artery International
Collaboration Study (BASICS) presented by Dr. Wouter Schonewille from The
Netherlands. Posterior circulation occlusions have been largely excluded from
the main endovascular randomized control trials, so these results were highly
anticipated.
Many of us are
familiar with the devastating effects of a basilar artery occlusion (BAO), and
from a personal experience, some of these cases have been very challenging
without having the guidance of large trials as we do with anterior circulation
occlusions. The clinical presentations, stroke severity, and collateral
patterns are inherently different. This trial was an international,
multicenter, controlled trial with randomized treatment-group assignments
investigating the efficacy and safety of endovascular therapy (EVT) plus best
medical management (BMM) versus BMM alone <6 hours of estimated time of BAO.
Patients were randomly assigned (1:1 ratio) to EVT+BMM or BMM alone and
stratified according to: randomizing center, use of IVT, and NIHSS (<20 vs >20).
The enrollment period was from 2011 through 2019. Patients were excluded with
intracranial hemorrhage, extensive brainstem ischemia, or cerebellar mass
effect/acute hydrocephalus. The calculated sample size was 300 patients
assuming favorable outcome in 46% with EVT+BMM and 30% with BMM. Primary
outcome was mRS <3 at 90 days. Secondary outcome measures included
clinical outcomes (mRS 0-2 at 90 days and mRS distribution) and imaging
outcomes (posterior circulation ASPECTS score at 24 hours and basilar artery
patency at 24 hours).
The
COVID-19 pandemic has changed the process of pre-hospital acute stroke triage.
Actions such as EMS providers assessing a patient, walking into a patient’s room,
transferring a patient to a comprehensive stroke center: These are things we
once did without considering if we will contract or spread a virulent airborne
virus. Now, special precautions are needed to provide acute stroke care, and
they pose various challenges to the process of pre-hospital acute stroke
triage. The authors of “Pre-hospital Triage of Acute Stroke Patients During the
COVID-19 Pandemic” have established a guide to address these issues, and below
is each challenge and possible solution.
EMS providers need to obtain additional history regarding COVID-19 symptoms or exposures which may not be readily available. The authors propose that EMS providers use the COVID-19 Screening Tool, 5 questions on signs, symptoms, COVID-19 contacts, and patient age plus non-respiratory symptoms, as a quick way to assess for COVID-19. EMS providers can then communicate a positive screen to the receiving hospital so they can efficiently prepare for a protected stroke code. Proper donning of PPE can be time consuming, thus the authors propose donning PPE prior to the patient’s arrival to minimize delay in the acute stroke evaluation. Symptomatic COVID-19 patients may need supplemental oxygen or intubation before arrival to the hospital. The authors propose continuous monitoring of vitals and to provide necessary emergent respiratory treatments by EMS after donning appropriate PPE. Staff shortages can occur due to quarantine or illness, leaving these duties to be covered by other providers who may be unfamiliar with acute stroke care. Simulation training can provide training for these new roles. COVID-19 positive stroke patients may need treatment at comprehensive stroke centers, but initially may not be transported directly to one due to location or other factors. Additionally, inter-facility transfers may be delayed due to unavailable transport staff for a COVID-19 positive stroke patient. The authors propose coordination between EMS and hospitals to facilitate re-routing patients to the appropriate hospital, for example, routing suspected LVO patients directly to a comprehensive stroke center. Not only could this prevent delay in acute stroke treatment, but it could also minimize PPE use and unnecessary staff exposure to COVID-19.
By strokeblog|May 13th, 2020|clinical|Comments Off on COVID-19 Pandemic Pre-Hospital Acute Stroke Triage: Things to Consider
Symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage
(sICH) involves a potential complication in patients treated with rtpa or
mechanical thrombectomy (MT), which influences functional and vital prognosis
of ischemic stroke patients. Patients under oral anticoagulation (OAC) suffer
higher risk of sICH per se; however, the association of mentioned oral
treatment with recanalization therapies (IV fibrinolysis or MT) may increase
cerebral bleeding. This is the aim of Dr. Meinel and colleagues, among others,
like mortality and sICH risk in MT patients under OAC, sensitivity analysis
with patients with confirmed therapeutic anticoagulation activity, and finally
the presentation of a meta-analysis about the topic.
The authors performed a retrospective,
multicenter non-randomized observational study to investigate safety and
efficacy of a market-release neurothrombectomy device, including their data in
the BEYOND-SWIFT registry. Patients were grouped according to their OAC intake
prior to admission: Group 1: VKA (vitamin K antagonist); Group 2: DOACs (Direct
oral anticoagulants); Group 3: No OAC. The primary endpoint was sICH rate
(according to ECASS II (European Co-Operative Acute Stroke Study-II) criteria).
The secondary endpoints were technical efficacy and all-cause mortality at 3
months.
By strokeblog|May 6th, 2020|clinical|Comments Off on Vitamin K Antagonists: Insufficient Aid for Embolism and Risky for Intracranial Hemorrhage
1/ #Stroke#OriginalResearch: In this study using Finnish nationwide health registry data, adverse pregnancy outcomes were associated with earlier onset of cerebrovascular disease. https://t.co/MJCNC44vUh
It’s May, and another edition of AHA Journals Trend Watch is ready for you to peruse! Discover the most popular articles from across 13 AHA scientific journals. Join the conversation by retweeting your favorite article using #AHAJournalsTrendWatch! https://t.co/rPG0Gw6CrPhttps://t.co/iCPBzcpuph
Article Commentary: “Advances in Acute Ischemic Stroke Therapy”
Article Commentary: “Association of Intraventricular Fibrinolysis With Clinical Outcomes in ICH”
Article Commentary: “Recurrent Ischemic Stroke and Bleeding in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation Who Suffered an Acute Stroke While on Treatment With Nonvitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants”
Author Interview: Prof. Dr. Matthias Endres on “Immune Pathways in Etiology, Acute Phase, and Chronic Sequelae of Ischemic Stroke”
