[Quality of life and disability after severe stroke and early neurological rehabilitation]. / Lebensqualität und Behinderung nach schwerem Schlaganfall und neurologischer Frührehabilitation.

BACKGROUND: Data on the long-term effects on quality of life of patients after severe stroke and discharge from early institutional rehabilitation are important for guiding the early rehabilitation phase and the further outpatient care. OBJECTIVE: Analysis of the outcome of patients following severe stroke 3 and 12 months after discharge from early neurological rehabilitation. METHODS: Analysis of the Asklepios Hamburg multicenter early stroke rehabilitation registry (ICD 10: I61, I60, I63 and OPS 8­552). Structured interviews with documentation of disabilities using the early rehabilitation Barthel index (ERBI), modified Rankin scale (mRS) and quality of life (12-item short form health survey, SF-12). Assessment of further treatment and complications 3 and 12 months after discharge from the early rehabilitation departments by telephone interviews. RESULTS: Out of 1045 treated stroke patients 270 were enrolled between October 2015 and November 2017 and 200 and 151 patients could be followed up after 3 and 12 months, respectively. There was a significant improvement (p < 0.001) in the median ERBI (151 patients at 12 months). Factors influencing a poorer functional outcome (higher mRS) at 12 months were a higher mRS at discharge (OR 5.43 [1.18, 25.09], p = 0.03) and age (per decade OR 1.5 [1.09, 2.02]; p = 0.01). Female sex reduced the risk for a poorer outcome after 12 months (OR 0.49 [0.25, 0.96]; p = 0.04). Quality of life (SF-12) was not different over time. The mental quality of life showed no differences (p = 0.32) compared to a historical, significantly less (p<0.001) handicapped stroke collective. CONCLUSION: The surviving severe stroke patients recovered significantly up to 12 months after discharge. The mental quality of life did not differ from that of a historical less handicapped collective.

THz pulse doubler at FLASH: double pulses for pump-probe experiments at X-ray FELs.

FLASH, the X-ray free-electron laser in Hamburg, Germany, employs a narrowband high-field accelerator THz source for unique THz pump X-ray probe experiments. However, the large difference in optical paths of the THz and X-ray beamlines prevents utilization of the machine's full potential (e.g. extreme pulse energies in the soft X-ray range). To solve this issue, lasing of double electron bunches, separated by 28 periods of the driving radiofrequency (at 1.3 GHz), timed for the temporal overlap of THz and X-ray pulses at the experimental station has been employed. In order to optimize conditions for a typical THz pump X-ray probe experiment, X-ray lasing of the first bunch to one-sixth of that of the second has been suppressed. Finally, synchronization of THz radiation pulses was measured to be ∼20 fs (r.m.s.), and a solution for monitoring the arrival time for achieving higher temporal resolution is presented.

A composite bone graft substitute for anterior cervical fusion: assessment of osseointegration by quantitative computed tomography.

STUDY DESIGN: An ongoing prospective nonrandomized trial was conducted with 146 patients who underwent anterior cervical fusion with a bone graft substitute. The results for 78 patients followed up a minimum of 2 years are reported by an independent observer. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical efficacy and osseointegration of the implant. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Most of the cervical cages provide an immediate load-bearing capacity, but not necessarily a solid fusion. The bony ingrowth can hardly be evaluated by flexion-extension plain radiographs, especially if a part of the implant is made of titanium. METHODS: The composite bone graft substitute consists of a rectangular fenestrated titanium cage filled with a highly porous hydroxyapatite cylinder soaked with bone marrow aspirated from a vertebra. Altogether, 102 implants were inserted for anterior cervical fusion. The bone ingrowth was measured in 50 patients by quantitative computed tomography of the implant and the adjacent vertebrae after 1 week, then 6 and 12 months after surgery. The investigation was repeated in 24 randomly selected patients 24 months after surgery. RESULTS: The surgery benefited 42 of 48 patients with myelopathy, 27 of 28 patients with radiculopathy, and both patients with anterior horn cell syndrome. No graft substitute-related complications were observed, and no revision surgery was performed. Six months after surgery, quantitative computed tomography showed up to a 14% increase in the hydroxyapatite mass in the core of the implant, which was statistically significant (P < 0.001). At 1 year, the newly formed hydroxyapatite mass increased to 23%, and in 2 years reached 24%. CONCLUSIONS: The composite implant is effective as a bone graft substitute, providing immediate load-bearing capacity, an osteoconductive scaffold, and osteoinductive potency. After surgery, the increase in hydroxyapatite radiodensity was apparent in plain computed tomography scans and confirmed to be significant by quantitative computed tomography.