Teleneurology via tablet technology: an effective low-cost method to increase healthcare accessibility.

INTRODUCTION: Telemedicine is a valuable tool to increase access to health care, especially for patients in rural areas who need to visit a specialist. In place of telemedicine robots, which are costly and complicated, hospitals have implemented successful telemedicine programs using lower-cost tablet technology; opting for tablet technology increases the organizational feasibility of a large-scale telemedicine program. METHODS: Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, launched its teleneurology network program in 2014 to serve patients in surrounding community hospitals who needed a neurology consult. Consults are conducted using an iPad, including examinations and the secure sharing of images and patient information. This article reports on teleneurology consult data and the results of patient and physician satisfaction surveys. RESULTS: Between February 2014 and November 2021, the VUMC teleneurology network program provided consultations for 14 241 patients with a wide variety of neurological diagnoses presenting to 12 community-based hospitals. Patient and community physician satisfaction surveys showed that 96% of physicians were satisfied with the overall care provided, and 89% of patients reported that the telehealth visits met their medical needs. CONCLUSION: One of the goals of telemedicine programs is to increase access to care. Therefore, it is important that the technology used to implement the program also be accessible in terms of cost and complexity. Tablets are low-cost technology, and their use in telemedicine has been shown to satisfy both physicians and patients with a wide variety of diagnoses.

Thrombolytic therapy for wake-up stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: According to evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, patients presenting with disabling stroke symptoms should be treated with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA) within 4.5 h of time last known well. However, 25% of strokes are detected upon awakening (i.e., wake-up stroke [WUS]), which renders patients ineligible for IV tPA administered via time-based treatment algorithms, because it is impossible to establish a reliable time of symptom onset. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of IV tPA compared with normal saline, placebo, or no treatment in patients with WUS using imaging-based treatment algorithms. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus between January 1, 2006 and April 30, 2020. We included controlled trials (randomized or nonrandomized), observational cohort studies (prospective or retrospective), and single-arm studies in which adults with WUS were administered IV tPA after magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)- or computed tomography (CT)-based imaging. Our primary outcome was recovery at 90 days (defined as a modified Rankin Scale [mRS] score of 0-2), and our secondary outcomes were symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) within 36 h, mortality, and other adverse effects. RESULTS: We included 16 studies that enrolled a total of 14,017 patients. Most studies were conducted in Europe (37.5%) or North America (37.5%), and 1757 patients (12.5%) received IV tPA. All studies used MRI-based (five studies) or CT-based (10 studies) imaging selection, and one study used a combination of modalities. Sixty-one percent of patients receiving IV tPA achieved an mRS score of 0 to 2 at 90 days (95% confidence interval [CI]: 51%-70%, 12 studies), with a relative risk (RR) of 1.21 compared with patients not receiving IV tPA (95% CI: 1.01-1.46, four studies). Three percent of patients receiving IV tPA experienced sICH within 36 h (95% CI: 2.5%-4.1%; 16 studies), which is an RR of 4.00 compared with patients not receiving IV tPA (95% CI: 2.85-5.61, seven studies). CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that IV tPA is associated with a better functional outcome at 90 days despite the increased but acceptable risk of sICH. Based on these results, IV tPA should be offered as a treatment for WUS patients with favorable neuroimaging findings.

Teleneurology service provided via tablet technology: 3-year outcomes and physician satisfaction.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to demonstrate that teleneurology consultations conducted via tablet technology are an efficient and cost-effective means of managing acute neurologic emergencies at community-based hospitals and that utilizing such technology yields high community physician satisfaction. METHOD: During a 39-month period, Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee USA, provided teleneurology services to 10 community-based hospitals that lacked adequate neurology coverage. Hospitalists at one community-based hospital were not comfortable treating any patient with a neurologic symptom, resulting in 100% of those patients being transferred. This facility now retains more than 60% of neurology patients. For less than US$1200, these hospitals were able to meet the only capital expenditure required to launch this service: the purchase of handheld tablet computers. Real-time teleneurology consultations were conducted via tablet using two-way video conferencing, radiologic image sharing, and medical record documentation. Community physicians were regularly surveyed to assess satisfaction. RESULTS: From February 2014 to May 2017, 3626 teleneurology consultations were conducted. Community physicians, in partnership with neurologists, successfully managed 87% of patients at the community-based hospital. Only 13% of patients required transfer to another facility for a higher level of care. The most common diagnoses included stroke (34%), seizure (11%), and headache/migraine (6%). The average time for the neurologist to answer a request for consultation page and connect with the community physician was 10.6 minutes. Ninety-one percent of community physicians were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the overall service. CONCLUSION: In the assessment of neurology patients, tablets are a more cost-effective alternative to traditional telehealth technologies. The devices promote efficiency in consultations through ease of use and low transfer rates, and survey results indicate community physician satisfaction.

Routine clinical evaluation of cerebrovascular reserve capacity using carbogen in patients with intracranial stenosis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A promising method for identifying hemodynamic impairment that may serve as a biomarker for stroke risk in patients with intracranial stenosis is cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) mapping using noninvasive MRI. Here, abilities to measure CVR safely in the clinic using hypercarbic hyperoxic (carbogen) gas challenges, which increase oxygen delivery to tissue, are investigated. METHODS: In sequence with structural and angiographic imaging, blood oxygenation level-dependent carbogen-induced CVR scans were performed in patients with symptomatic intracranial stenosis (n=92) and control (n=10) volunteers, with a subgroup of patients (n=57) undergoing cerebral blood flow-weighted pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling CVR. Subjects were stratified for 4 substudies to evaluate relationships between (1) carbogen and hypercarbic normoxic CVR in healthy tissue (n=10), (2) carbogen cerebral blood flow CVR and blood oxygenation level-dependent CVR in intracranial stenosis patients (n=57), (3) carbogen CVR and clinical measures of disease in patients with asymmetrical intracranial atherosclerotic (n=31) and moyamoya (n=29) disease, and (4) the CVR scan and immediate and longer-term complications (n=92). RESULTS: Noninvasive blood oxygenation level-dependent carbogen-induced CVR values correlate with (1) lobar hypercarbic normoxic gas stimuli in healthy tissue (R=0.92; P<0.001), (2) carbogen-induced cerebral blood flow CVR in patients with intracranial stenosis (R=0.30-0.33; P<0.012), and (3) angiographic measures of disease severity both in atherosclerotic and moyamoya patients after appropriate processing. No immediate stroke-related complications were reported in response to carbogen administration; longer-term neurological events fell within the range for expected events in this patient population. CONCLUSIONS: Carbogen-induced CVR elicited no added adverse events and provided a surrogate marker of cerebrovascular reserve consistent with intracranial vasculopathy.

IgG4-related disease: Association with a rare gene variant expressed in cytotoxic T cells.

BACKGROUND: Family screening of a 48-year-old male with recently diagnosed IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) revealed unanticipated elevations in plasma IgG4 in his two healthy teenaged sons. METHODS: We performed gene sequencing, immune cell studies, HLA typing, and analyses of circulating cytotoxic CD4+ T lymphocytes and plasmablasts to seek clues to pathogenesis. DNA from a separate cohort of 99 patients with known IgG4-RD was also sequenced for the presence of genetic variants in a specific gene, FGFBP2. RESULTS: The three share a previously unreported heterozygous single base deletion in fibroblast growth factor binding protein type 2 (FGFBP2), which causes a frameshift in the coding sequence. The FGFBP2 protein is secreted by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes and binds fibroblast growth factor. The variant sequence in the FGFBP2 protein is predicted to form a disordered random coil rather than a helical-turn-helix structure, unable to adopt a stable conformation. The proband and the two sons had 5-10-fold higher numbers of circulating cytotoxic CD4 + T cells and plasmablasts compared to matched controls. The three members also share a homozygous missense common variant in FGFBP2 found in heterozygous form in ~40% of the population. This common variant was found in 73% of an independent, well characterized IgG4-RD cohort, showing enrichment in idiopathic IgG4-RD. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of a shared deleterious variant and homozygous common variant in FGFBP2 in the proband and sons strongly implicates this cytotoxic T cell product in the pathophysiology of IgG4-RD. The high prevalence of a common FGFBP2 variant in sporadic IgG4-RD supports the likelihood of participation in disease.

Implementation of an institution-wide acute stroke algorithm: Improving stroke quality metrics.

BACKGROUND: In May 2012, an updated stroke algorithm was implemented at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The current study objectives were to: (1) describe the process of implementing a new stroke algorithm and (2) compare pre- and post-algorithm quality improvement (QI) metrics, specificaly door to computed tomography time (DTCT), door to neurology time (DTN), and door to tPA administration time (DTT). METHODS: Our institutional stroke algorithm underwent extensive revision, with a focus on removing variability, streamlining care, and improving time delays. The updated stroke algorithm was implemented in May 2012. Three primary stroke QI metrics were evaluated over four separate 3-month time points, one pre- and three post-algorithm periods. RESULTS: The following data points improved after algorithm implementation: average DTCT decreased from 39.9 to 12.8 min (P < 0.001); average DTN decreased from 34.1 to 8.2 min (P ≤ 0.001), and average DTT decreased from 62.5 to 43.5 min (P = 0.17). CONCLUSION: A new stroke protocol that prioritized neurointervention at our institution resulted in significant lowering in the DTCT and DTN, with a nonsignificant improvement in DTT.

Vascular complications of fungal meningitis attributed to injections of contaminated methylprednisolone acetate.

IMPORTANCE: Fungal meningitis due to injections of contaminated methylprednisolone acetate can present with vascular sequelae in immunocompetent individuals. This is particularly germane to neurologists because better recognition of the clinical characteristics of patients with fungal meningitis and ischemic stroke will provide more timely and efficient care. OBSERVATIONS: In a case series, 3 patients presented to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, with acute ischemic stroke and later received a diagnosis of fungal meningitis attributed to epidural injections of contaminated methylprednisolone. Of these 3 patients, 2 were women, and the mean age for all 3 was 75.3 years. Their medical records and imaging scans were reviewed. All 3 patients presented with acute ischemic strokes and had a history of epidural spinal injections of methylprednisolone for low back pain. All 3 patients had 1 or more traditional risk factors for stroke. There were differing vascular patterns of presentation: 2 patients presented with small-vessel (lacunar) infarctions, whereas 1 patient presented with a large-vessel infarct. Of these 3 patients, 2 died and underwent an autopsy, which revealed Exserohilum rostratum as the presumed cause of death. For 2 cases, fever and meningeal signs were absent at presentation. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Patients with fungal meningitis may present with ischemic stroke detected on initial imaging scans. A definitive diagnosis should not delay early antifungal treatment.