Mechanical thrombectomy in patients with heart failure: the Italian registry of Endovascular Treatment in Acute Stroke.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) is the second most important cardiac risk factor for stroke after atrial fibrillation (AF). Few data are available on mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with HF. METHODS: The source of data is the multicentre Italian Registry of Endovascular Treatment in Acute Stroke (IRETAS). All AIS patients ≥ 18 years receiving MT were categorised in two groups: HF and no-HF. Baseline clinical and neuroradiological findings on admission were analysed. RESULTS: Of 8924 patients, 642 (7.2%) had HF. Compared to the no-HF group, HF patients had higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors. Rate of complete recanalisation (TICI 2b-3) was 76.9% in HF vs 78.1% in no-HF group (p = 0.481). Rate of symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage at 24-h non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT) was 7.6% in HF vs 8.3% in no-HF patients (p = 0.520). At 3 months, 36.4% of HF patients and 48.2% of no-HF patients (p < 0.001) had mRS 0-2, and mortality was, respectively, 30.7% and 18.5% (p < 0.001). In multivariate logistic regression, HF was independently associated with mortality at 3 months (OR 1.53, 1.24-1.88 95% CI, p < 0.001). In multivariate ordinal regression, HF patients had a probability of transitioning to a higher mRS level of 1.23 (1.05-1.44 95% CI, p = 0.012). The propensity score analysis of two groups matched for age, sex, and NIHSS at admission yielded the same results. CONCLUSION: MT is safe and effective in HF patients with AIS. Patients with HF and AIS suffered from higher 3-month mortality and unfavourable outcome regardless of acute treatments.

Diagnosis and Acute Treatment of Ischemic Stroke.

Stroke is defined as an acute cerebrovascular accident characterized by an interruption of vascular supply lasting more than 24 hours. Therapeutic goal, reassumed at the well-known "time is brain", is strictly focused on achieving timely restoration of cerebral blood flow at risk of infarction to reduce neurological complications. Consequently, time to treatment is the most important determinant of the efficacy of reperfusion. Current guidelines strongly recommend the use of intravenous thrombolysis with tissue plasminogen activator and endovascular thrombectomy to reach that goal. These therapies allow to obtain 1.9 million neurons saved per each minute of onset-to-reperfusion time and 4.2 days of extra healthy life and are crucial in the reduction of mortality and morbidity of ischemic stroke. Multidisciplinary collaboration involving a coordinated prehospital management and stroke team composed of physicians with expertise in emergency medicine, neurologists, radiologists, nurses, technicians, and laboratory personnel are essential for rapid triage and should guide clinical decisions to deliver the appropriate reperfusion therapy for each patient.

Organizational determinants of hospital stay: establishing the basis of a widespread action on more efficient pathways in medical units.

Given the high hospital costs, the increasing clinical complexity and the overcrowding of emergency departments, it is crucial to improve the efficiency of medical admissions. We aimed at isolating organizational drivers potentially targetable through a widespread improvement action. We studied all medical admissions in a large tertiary referral hospital from January 1st to December 31st, 2018. Data were retrieved from the administrative database. Available information included age, sex, type (urgent or elective) and Unit of admission, number of internal transfers, main ICD-9 diagnosis, presence of cancer among diagnoses, surgical or medical code, type of discharge, month, day and hour of admission and discharge. National Ministry of Health database was used for comparisons. 8099 admissions were analyzed. Urgent admissions (80.5% of the total) were responsible for longer stays and were the object of the multivariate analysis. The variables most influencing length-of-stay (LOS) were internal transfers and assisted discharge: they contributed, respectively, to 62% and 40% prolongation of LOS. Also, the daily and weekly kinetics of admission accounted for a significant amount of variation in LOS. Long admissions (≥ 30 days) accounted for the 15.5% of total bed availability. Type of discharge and internal transfers were again among the major determinants. A few factors involved in LOS strictly depend on the organizational environment and are potentially modifiable. Re-engineering should be focused on making more efficient internal and external transitions and at ensuring continuity of the clinical process throughout the day and the week.

Medication overuse headache: withdrawal and prophylactic therapeutic regimen.

BACKGROUND: Medication overuse headache (MOH) is a secondary headache, whose diagnostic criteria were settled by the Second Edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders and its subsequent revisions. Its diagnosis and treatment represent a growing problem worldwide and a challenge for headache specialists. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a therapeutic regimen for withdrawal of the overused drug and prophylaxis of headache in a population of patients suffering from MOH in 8 hospitals of Piemonte - Liguria - Valle d'Aosta. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seventy patients, 58 females (82.9%) and 12 males (17.1%), mean age at observation 51.04 +/- 12.59 years, affected by MOH following International Headache Society diagnostic revised criteria were treated as inpatients (n = 40) or in Day Hospital (n = 30). Headache Index (HI) and Daily Drug Intake (DDI) were used for evaluating the severity of headache and medication overuse. The patients were treated by abrupt discontinuation of the overused drug and by a therapeutic protocol including i.v. hydration, dexhamethasone, metoclopramide, and benzodiazepines for 7-15 days. Prophylactic medication was started at the beginning of therapeutic protocol. Patients underwent follow-up controls 1, 3, and 6 months after discharge. The initial diagnosis was MOH in all patients included in the study. The overused medications were simple analgesics in 18 cases (25.7%), combination analgesics in 26 cases (37.1%), triptans alone in 9 cases (12.9%), or in combination with analgesics in 13 cases (18.6%), and ergot derivatives (in combination) in 4 cases (5.7%). We collected data from 59 patients at first follow-up (1 month), 56 after 3 months, and 42 after 6 months. RESULTS: Mean HI was 0.92 at admission, 0.19 at discharge, 0.35 after 30 days, 0.39 after 3 months, and 0.42 after 6 months. Mean DDI was 2.72 at admission, 0.22 at discharge, 0.31 after 1 month, 0.38 after 3 months, and 0.47 after 6 months. These results proved to be highly statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The protocol was generally effective, safe, and well-tolerated. The results tend to remain stable with time, and seem to be encouraging about long-term use of this therapeutic protocol on a larger number of patients suffering from MOH.

Topiramate in migraine progression.

Increasing evidence shows that migraine, typically considered as an episodic disease, is a chronic and, in some patients, progressive disorder. Among neuromodulators used for migraine prevention, topiramate has a high level of evidence-based efficacy. Through its wide range of mechanisms of action topiramate increases the activation threshold resulting in neuronal stabilization and thereby reducing cortical neurons hyperexcitability, which is believed to be an important electrophysiological feature underlying the pathogenesis of epilepsy and migraine. Recent studies show that migraineurs have subclinical structural brain changes and persistent alteration of pain perception, in some cases correlated with the duration of the disease and the frequency of attacks that might play a role in the transformation of episodic migraine to chronic forms. An early and prolonged preventive treatment might reduce the risk of such transformation. Recent evidence suggests that topiramate, by reducing migraine frequency and use of acute medication, may prevent the negative progression of migraine. Furthermore, two recently completed multicenter, randomised, placebo-controlled trials have shown that treatment with topiramate 100 mg/day is effective and well tolerated in patients already progressed to chronic migraine and difficult to treat conditions associated with medication-overuse. Topiramate seems to be a preventive treatment, which might be able to act at different levels of the migraine cycle: reduction of frequency in episodic migraine, prevention, and treatment of chronic migraine.

Preliminary results of a withdrawal and detoxification therapeutic regimen in patients with probable chronic migraine and probable medication overuse headache.

Chronic migraine (CM) is an invalidating condition affecting a significant population of headache sufferers, frequently associated with medication overuse headache (MOH). Controlled trials and guidelines for the treatment of MOH are currently not available. We studied the efficacy of a therapeutic regimen for the withdrawal of the overused drug and detoxification in a sample of patients suffering from probable CM and probable MOH during admission in eight hospitals of Piemonte-Liguria-Valle d'Aosta. Fifty patients, 42 females (84%) and 8 males (16%), mean age at observation 50.66+/-13.08 years, affected by probable CM and daily medication overuse following IHS diagnostic criteria were treated as inpatients or in a day hospital. Headache index (HI) and daily drug intake (DDI) were used for evaluating the severity of headache and medication overuse. The patients were treated by abrupt discontinuation of the overused drug and by a therapeutic protocol including i.v. hydration, dexamethasone, metoclopramide and benzodiazepines for 7-10 days. Prophylactic medication was started immediately after admission. Analgesics or triptans were used under medical control only in cases of severe rebound headache. Diagnostic protocol included routine blood tests (at admission and at discharge), dosage of B12 and folic acid. Patients underwent follow-up controls one, three and six months after discharge. The initial diagnosis was probable CM in almost all patients included in the study (41 patients); in nine patients the diagnosis was not specified (coded only as CDH). The overused medications were simple analgesics in 17 cases (34%), combination analgesics in 19 cases (38%), triptans alone or with analgesics in 13 cases (26%) and ergotamine in 2 cases (4%). We collected data from 39 patients at first follow-up (1 month), 32 after 3 months and 14 after 6 months. Mean HI was 0.91 at admission, 0.22 at discharge, 0.38 after 30 days, 0.46 after 3 months and 0.48 after 6 months. Mean DDI was 2.80 at admission, 0.39 at discharge, 0.41 after 1 month, 0.52 after 3 months and 0.59 after 6 months. These results are on average positive and tend to remain stable with time. Although preliminary and obtained on a limited number of patients at 6-month follow-up, our results seem to be encouraging about the use of the proposed therapeutic protocol.

Impairment of corneal pain perception in cluster headache.

Despite many studies, the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of pain in cluster headache (CH) still remain obscure. An involvement of substance P (SP) containing neurons of the Gasserian ganglion and/or of the spinal trigeminal nucleus has recently been suggested, e.g., by impairment of inhibitory descending pathways on trigeminal nociceptive neurons. The electrically elicited corneal reflex was studied in 21 CH patients (15 in active phase, 6 in remission). This method allows simultaneous measurements of the trigemino-facial reflex and corneal pain perception. A significant reduction of pain thresholds (more evident on the pain side) was observed in CH during the active phase, while normal values were recorded during the remission phase. Ten out of 15 patients in the active phase showed a significantly reduced corneal pain threshold on the pain side, while tactile sensibility was normal. Moreover, latency, amplitude and duration of the corneal reflex were normal for both painful and painless stimulations during both phases. The threshold of the nociceptive muscular response in the active phase was significantly reduced, suggesting that the excitability of trigeminal nociceptive neurons or of the motor neurons is increased in CH. The results agree with the hypothesis that a reversible impairment of several integrative functions, including the activity of trigeminal pain control system, exists in CH during the active phase.