The use of hypnotherapy as treatment for functional stroke: A case series from a single center in the UK.

BACKGROUND: Functional neurological disorder is defined by symptoms not explained by the current model of disease and its pathophysiology. It is found in 8.4% of patients presenting as acute stroke. Treatment is difficult and recurrence rates are high. We introduced hypnotherapy as a therapeutic option in addition to standard stroke unit care. METHODS: This is an observational study of successive patients with functional neurological disorder presenting as acute stroke treated with hypnotherapy between 1 April 2014 and 1 February 2018. The diagnosis of functional neurological disorder was confirmed by clinical examination and computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging. Hypnosis was delivered by a hypnotherapy trained stroke physician using imagery for induction. A positive response was defined as a National Institutes of Health Stroke score reduction to 0 or by ≥4 points posthypnotherapy. Costs were calculated as therapist time and benefits as reduction in disability/bed days. RESULTS: Sixty-eight patients (mean age 36.4 years, 52 (76%) females, mean baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke 5.0 (range 1-9)) were included. Two patients (3%) could not be hypnotized. Fifty-eight 58 (85%) responded, 47 (81%) required one treatment session, while 19% needed up to three sessions for symptomatic improvement. No adverse events were observed. Disability (modified Rankin Scale) reduced from a mean of 2.3 to 0.5 resulting in an average cost saving of £1,658 per patient. Most (n = 50, 86%) remained well without recurrence at six-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: In this case series, hypnotherapy was associated with rapid and sustained recovery of symptoms. A prospective randomized controlled study is required to confirm the findings and establish generalizability of the results.

Mechanical thrombectomy in acute ischaemic stroke: a review of the literature, clinical effectiveness and future use.

The only effective treatment licensed for acute ischaemic stroke is intravenous thrombolysis within 4.5 hours from stroke onset. An alternative method of restoring blood flow is mechanical thrombectomy (MT). Although this is highly effective at recanalization, it remains unclear whether it is more effective than thrombolysis in improving clinical outcomes. This review examines key clinical outcomes from published studies and reviews ongoing studies to identify devices, patient population, and stated outcomes of MT. We discuss the issues when comparing clinical outcomes from different trials and suggest measures to help standardize reporting. We used routine review methodology to search relevant databases for stroke and MT published between 1999 - 2012 and active trials between August 2011 - May 2012. The studies in this review had an overall patient population of 8354. The most widely used primary outcome (94% of studies) was successful recanalization. The mean mortality across the studies was 17% (range 7 - 44), 64% of studies reported neurological improvement and 97% reported functional outcome with 42% (range 15 - 54)] achieving independence in activities of daily living. Mean symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage was 11% (range 0 - 45%). There were significant differences in outcome reporting between studies. Evidence from published studies shows a strong relationship between recanalization and good outcomes although non-standardization makes comparisons difficult. There is a trend towards higher recanalization, lower mortality, and better functional outcome in more recent studies. To examine effectiveness of MT vs thrombolysis, randomized controlled trials are needed. Several are currently in progress but it remains to be seen if procedures and outcomes are reported in a standardized manner.