Reperfusion Therapy for Acute Stroke in Pregnant and Post-Partum Women: A Canadian Survey.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: A Canadian Stroke Best Practices consensus statement on Acute Stroke Management during pregnancy was published in 2018. The state of individual practice, however, is unknown. METHODS: A survey on treatment of acute stroke in pregnant and post-partum women was distributed via the Canadian Stroke Consortium email list. Descriptive statistics (frequencies and proportions) were calculated for demographic and response variables and free-text responses were coded for thematic content. RESULTS: Thirty-five participants completed the survey; 12 had experience with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV-tPA), endovascular therapy (EVT), or both in pregnant patients. None had treatment-related complications. The majority (92%) of those who had not yet encountered the issue in practice expressed some reservation about giving IV-tPA to an otherwise eligible pregnant woman. In a theoretical scenario where an otherwise eligible pregnant woman was a candidate for both IV-tPA and EVT, 58% of respondents would have opted for EVT alone. Amongst this cohort comprised mainly of stroke sub-specialists, more than a third had treated pregnant patients with reperfusion therapy. CONCLUSIONS: The reported safety experience with both IV-tPA and EVT was reassuring. Overall, there was a hesitancy towards use of IV-tPA in pregnancy that is discordant with the recent consensus statement. Possible barriers to uptake identified through thematic analysis were concerns regarding risks of bleeding in the pregnant patient, presence of EVT as a perceived alternative, and the need for express consent from the patient and family.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease-Like Periodic Sharp Wave Complexes in Voltage-Gated Potassium Channel-Complex Antibodies Encephalitis: A Case Report.

INTRODUCTION: Voltage-gated potassium channel-complex antibodies (VGKC-cAbs) encephalitis, a treatable autoantibody encephalopathy, has been previously reported to clinically mimic sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Among available clinical clues to distinguish them, periodic sharp wave complexes, a typical finding in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, have never been reported in association with VGKC-cAbs encephalitis. CASE PRESENTATION: A 76-year-old man was transferred to a tertiary neurology center with a clinical history of 6-month weight loss, cognitive disturbance, and nonspecific generalized weakness. He had two seizures the month before transfer and then evolved to severe encephalopathy, requiring mechanical ventilation. Periodic sharp wave complexes every 1 to 2 seconds over slowed background were found on EEG, and MRI showed cerebellar and bifrontal cortical T2/FLAIR/DWI hypersignal without restricted diffusion on ADC mapping. Pancorporal positron emission tomography scan was negative. An immunotherapy trial did not improve the patient condition. Therefore, he died after life support withdrawal. Brain autopsy revealed mononuclear neocortex infiltrate without significant spongiosis, and the anti-VGKC test showed a seropositivity of 336 pmol/L (normal, 0-31), 3 month after the patient deceased. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first reported case of VGKC-cAbs encephalitis associated with periodic sharp wave complexes on EEG, which further confuse the differential diagnosis with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. However, the cortical DWI hypersignal without restriction seems to remain a way to discriminate these two entities appropriately, when present. These clues are of paramount importance because VGKC-cAbs encephalitis is a treatable disease.