Safety and Tolerability of Concentrated Intraventricular Nicardipine for Poor-Grade Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage-Related Vasospasm.

Objective: To report the preliminary safety, tolerability, and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) sampling utility of serial injections of concentrated intraventricular nicardipine (IVN) in the treatment of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). Methods: We report the clinical, radiographic, and laboratory safety and tolerability data of a retrospective case series from a single academic medical center. All patients with aSAH developed vasospasm despite enteral nimodipine and received serial injections of concentrated IVN (2.5 mg/mL). CSF injection safety, tolerability, and utility are defined and reported. Results: A total of 59 doses of concentrated IVN were administered to three patients with poor-grade SAH. In Case 1, a 33-year-old man with modified Fisher scale (mFS) grade 4 and Hunt-Hess scale (HH) score 4 received 26 doses; in Case 2, a 36-year-old woman with mFS grade 4 and HH score 5 received 13 doses; and in Case 3, a 70-year-old woman with mFS grade 3 and HH score 4 received 20 doses. No major safety or tolerability events occurred. Two patients were discharged to a rehabilitation facility, and one died after discharge from the hospital. Conclusions: A concentrated 4 mg IVN dose (2.5 mg/mL) in a 1.6 mL injection appears relatively safe and tolerable and potentially offers a second-line strategy for treating refractory vasospasm in poor-grade SAH without compromising intracranial pressure or cerebral perfusion pressure.

A Combined Approach to Intracerebral Hemorrhage: Intravenous Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy with Minimally Invasive Hematoma Evacuation.

BACKGROUND: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent stromal cells currently being tested as therapy for a variety of diseases. MSC therapy and hematoma evacuation using a minimally invasive approach are being studied separately to improve clinical outcomes after stroke. We report the first case of a patient with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) treated with combination MSC therapy and endoscopic hematoma evacuation. CASE REPORT: A 36-year-old woman with a past medical history of essential chronic hypertension and right lung bronchial atresia presented to the emergency department with acute neurologic decline (National Institute of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] score, 22). Computed tomography showed a 4.4 × 3.5 × 3.5 cm right basal ganglia hemorrhage with intraventricular extension. An external ventricular drain was placed, and she was enrolled in a Phase I clinical trial investigating intravenous MSC therapy for acute ICH. Continued neurologic deterioration due to increased intracranial pressure led to minimally invasive hematoma evacuation using the Artemis Neuro Evacuation Device (Penumbra, Inc.) on hospital day 4. Follow-up scans showed decreased density and extent of hemorrhage. She was discharged on day 41 with improved neurologic function scores (NIHSS score, 2). At 3-month follow-up, she was walking on her own, but had residual left arm and hand weakness (modified Rankin Score, 2). CONCLUSIONS: This case report suggests that the combination of MSC therapy and minimally invasive hematoma evacuation may be safe and well tolerated. Further larger randomized clinical trials are required to identify whether MSC therapy in combination with minimally invasive hematoma evacuation is safe, tolerable, and potentially improves outcomes than either alone.

Using Cerebral Metabolites to Guide Precision Medicine for Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: Lactate and Pyruvate.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is one of the deadliest types of strokes with high rates of morbidity and permanent injury. Fluctuations in the levels of cerebral metabolites following SAH can be indicators of brain injury severity. Specifically, the changes in the levels of key metabolites involved in cellular metabolism, lactate and pyruvate, can be used as a biomarker for patient prognosis and tailor treatment to an individual's needs. Here, clinical research is reviewed on the usefulness of cerebral lactate and pyruvate measurements as a predictive tool for SAH outcomes and their potential to guide a precision medicine approach to treatment.

Pattern of acute glomerulonephritis in adult population in Dubai: A single-center experience.

Epidemiological data of renal diseases have great geographic variability throughout the world. Due to the lack of a national renal data registry system, there is no information on the prevalence rate, clinical and pathological features of various glomerulonephritis (GN) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a retrospective cross-sectional study, we analyzed 158 renal biopsies done in Dubai Hospital, UAE, between the years of 2005 and September 2014, with an aim to determine the prevalence rate and frequency of different pathological patterns of GN in adult patients who presented with proteinuria ± hematuria. In our study, primary GN still remains more common than secondary GN (66.4% vs. 33.5%). Among the primary GN in our analysis, minimal change disease was the most common primary GN affecting 20% of the study population (13.2% of the total GN causes) followed with membranous GN (18.2%), then membrano- proliferative GN (15.3%) and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (13.46%), while among the secondary causes lupus nephritis (LN) is the most prevalent GN in UAE, predominantly in the Emirati national population whom constituted 48% of total biopsies. Indeed, LN had the highest incidence among all types of GN even the primary ones, constituting 23.4% of total GN in Dubai (74% of the total secondary causes). Furthermore, systemic lupus erythematosus was the most common GN in women while the minimal change was widely affecting male patients. Among elderly, the most common pathology was diabetic glomerulosclerosis followed by amyloidosis.