Potential Utility of Multidetector Computed Tomography to Identify both Cardiac Embolic Sources and Coronary Artery Disease in Patients with Embolic Stroke.

OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to study the potential utility of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) to identify both cardiac embolic sources and coronary artery disease (CAD) in embolic-stroke patients. METHODS: We performed MDCT for 184 patients with embolic stroke but without known CAD. Twenty-six patients had atrial fibrillation. We investigated the prevalence of the potential source of the embolism and the coronary characteristics. RESULTS: Overall, 64 potential embolic sources were detected in 59 patients (32.1%). Left atrial appendage thrombus, left ventricular thrombus and aortic atheroma were detected in 3.3, 0.5 and 15.8% of patients, respectively. Circulatory stasis and patent foramen ovale were detected in 8.7 and 6.5%, respectively. As for coronary calcium score, only 47 patients (25.5%) had a score of zero and 51 (27.7%) had a score of ≥ 400. Significant CAD was detected in 18 patients (9.8%). One hundred and thirty-seven (74.5%) had coronary plaques. The prevalence of positive remodeling, low-attenuation plaque, spotty calcification and a napkin-ring sign was 7.1, 1.6, 5.4 and 2.7%, respectively. Importantly, only 34 patients (13.0%) had no abnormalities detected by MDCT. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that MDCT has potential to identify both cardiac embolic sources and CAD in patients with embolic stroke but without known CAD.

Multidetector computed tomography angiography to detect the cause of multiple brain infarctions.

BACKGROUND: Multidetector computed tomography angiography (MDCTA) is useful to inspect cardiovascular pathologic changes with minimal invasiveness. Here we evaluated the usefulness of MDCTA to determine the cause of acute multiple brain infarction (AMBI). METHODS: AMBI was defined as multiple recent infarcts demonstrated on diffusion-weighted imaging. A new infarction within 2 weeks from the last was also considered an AMBI. RESULTS: Between January 2012 and December 2013, 967 patients were diagnosed with acute brain infarction and 138 (14.3%) with AMBI. Among them, 57 (39 men and 18 women; age, 38-93 years) were examined by MDCTA using the dual-phase method. All images were diagnostic, even if patients found it difficult to hold their breath. Fifteen patients (26.3%) were diagnosed with patent foramen ovale (PFO). Two had complications of atrial fibrillation (AF), necessitating anticoagulant therapy (ACT). Four had both PFO and severe aortic atherosclerotic plaque formation, necessitating single antiplatelet therapy (APT) and/or ACT. Fifteen patients (26.3%) developed complicated arterial plaques around the aortic arch and were administered single or dual APT and/or ACT, except 1 patient with a history of multiple cerebral bleeding. Nine patients had pre-existing AF. Furthermore, ACT was initiated for 2 other patients with thrombus or circulatory stasis in the left atrial appendage despite normal electrocardiographic findings. Two other patients were diagnosed with advanced cancer, which was considered Trousseau syndrome. The cause of AMBI was determined in 36 (63.2%) patients. CONCLUSIONS: MDCTA is a useful and less invasive method to identify the cause of embolic infarction.

Intravenous thrombolysis with neuroprotective therapy by edaravone for ischemic stroke patients older than 80 years of age.

BACKGROUND: Alteplase, a recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), was approved for patients with acute ischemic stroke within 3 hours of stroke onset in Japan in October 2005 at a dose of 0.6 mg/kg. The aim of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of alteplase in elderly patients in Japan. METHODS: One hundred twenty-nine consecutive patients who were admitted to our 5 hospital groups and who received intravenous tPA within 3 hours of stroke onset between January 2010 and December 2011 were divided into 2 groups by age (<80 years of age [younger group] and >80 years of age [older group]) and by treatment with or without edaravone. Clinical backgrounds and outcomes were investigated. RESULTS: The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score on admission was not different in both groups, but the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores 7 days after stroke onset were significantly higher in the older group (score 8; P < .05) than in the younger group (score 4), and the ratio of patients with a modified Rankin Scale score of 4 to 6 was significantly greater in the older group (41.7%; P < .05) than in the younger group (22.2%). However, there was no difference in asymptomatic and symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage rates between the younger and older groups (asymptomatic 20.2% v 18.8%; symptomatic 2.6% v 2.1%). Patients with edaravone showed a higher recanalization rate (61.9%; P < .01) and a better modified Rankin Scale score at 3 months poststroke (P < .01) than the nonedaravone group. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that intravenous alteplase (0.6 mg/kg) within 3 hours of stroke onset was safe and effective, even for very old patients (≥ 80 years of age), but resulted in poor outcomes relating not to tPA but to aging. In addition, edaravone may be a good partner for combination therapy with tPA to enhance recanalization and reduce hemorrhagic transformation.

Twenty-Year Change in Severity and Outcome of Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Strokes.

Importance: Whether recent changes in demographic characteristics and therapeutic technologies have altered stroke outcomes remains unknown. Objective: To determine secular changes in initial neurological severity and short-term functional outcomes of patients with acute stroke by sex using a large population. Design, Setting, and Participants: This nationwide, hospital-based, multicenter, prospective registry cohort study used the Japan Stroke Data Bank and included patients who developed acute stroke from January 2000 through December 2019. Patients with stroke, including ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, who registered within 7 days after symptom onset were studied. Modified Rankin Scale scores were assessed at hospital discharge for all patients. Exposure: Time. Main Outcomes and Measures: Initial severity was assessed by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale for ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage and by the World Federation of Neurological Surgeons grading for subarachnoid hemorrhage. Outcomes were judged as favorable if the modified Rankin Scale score was 0 to 2 and unfavorable if 5 to 6. Results: Of 183 080 patients, 135 266 (53 800 women [39.8%]; median [IQR] age, 74 [66-82] years) developed ischemic stroke, 36 014 (15 365 women [42.7%]; median [IQR] age, 70 [59-79] years) developed intracerebral hemorrhage, and 11 800 (7924 women [67.2%]; median [IQR] age, 64 [53-75] years) developed subarachnoid hemorrhage. In all 3 stroke types, median ages at onset increased, and the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and World Federation of Neurological Surgeons scores decreased throughout the 20-year period on multivariable analysis. In ischemic stroke, the proportion of favorable outcomes showed an increase over time after age adjustment (odds ratio [OR], 1.020; 95% CI, 1.015-1.024 for women vs OR, 1.015; 95% CI, 1.011-1.018 for men) but then stagnated, or even decreased in men, on multivariate adjustment including reperfusion therapy (OR, 0.997; 95% CI, 0.991-1.003 for women vs OR, 0.990; 95% CI, 0.985-0.994 for men). Unfavorable outcomes and in-hospital deaths decreased in both sexes. In intracerebral hemorrhage, favorable outcomes decreased in both sexes, and unfavorable outcomes and deaths decreased only in women. In subarachnoid hemorrhage, the proportion of favorable outcomes was unchanged, and that of unfavorable outcomes and deaths decreased in both sexes. Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, functional outcomes improved in patients with ischemic stroke during the past 20 years in both sexes presumably partly owing to the development of acute reperfusion therapy. The outcomes of patients with hemorrhagic stroke did not clearly improve in the same period.

Reduced cardiac uptake and enhanced washout of 123I-MIBG in pure autonomic failure occurs conjointly with Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this study was to investigate myocardial uptake of 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) in patients with pure autonomic failure (PAF), which has pathologic features in common with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). METHODS: Six patients with PAF, 130 with IPD, 21 with DLB, 9 with corticobasal degeneration (CBD), 11 with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and 11 with multiple-system atrophy (MSA) underwent myocardial 123I-MIBG scintigraphy, as did 16 control patients. RESULTS: Resulting heart-to-mediastinum (H/M) ratios were significantly lower in patients with PAF, IPD, or DLB than in patients with CBD, PSP, or MSA and in the controls. H/M ratios were lower for delayed images than for early ones in patients with PAF, IPD, or DLB, whereas the ratios were higher for delayed images in patients with CBD and in the controls. CONCLUSION: Cardiac sympathetic denervation and enhanced washout of 123I-MIBG from sympathetic nerve terminals may develop in parallel in patients with PAF, IPD, or DLB.

Prevalence of subclinical coronary artery disease in ischemic stroke patients.

BACKGROUND: Recently, ischemic stroke has emerged as a new coronary artery disease (CAD) risk equivalent. Our purpose is to study the prevalence of CAD in ischemic stroke patients compared with that in non-stroke patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: We measured coronary calcium score (CCS) in 151 ischemic stroke patients without known CAD (stroke group) and compared it with 151 age- and sex-matched non-stroke patients (control group). CCS was significantly higher in the stroke group than in the control group (stroke group, median: 64, interquartile range: 3-382 vs. control group, median: 3, interquartile range: 0-65, p<0.0001). High-risk CAD, defined as a CCS≥400, was detected in 24.5% of the stroke group compared with 9.3% of the control group (p<0.0001). Agreement between the Framingham risk score and CCS was found in only 62 patients (41.1%). In a multiple logistic regression analysis, age [hazard ratio (HR) 1.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-1.14], diabetes (HR 2.97, 95%CI 1.52-5.78), stroke (HR 3.85, 95%CI 1.89-7.81), and male sex (HR 4.41, 95%CI 1.82-0.75) were significantly associated with high-risk CAD (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the prevalence of subclinical CAD in ischemic stroke patients was high, and that a quarter of them had high-risk CAD. Age, diabetes, stroke, and male sex were independent predictors of high-risk CAD.

[Preoperative embolization of metastatic spinal tumors].

The authors reviewed their clinical experience with preoperative embolization of metastatic spinal tumors. Between October 2000 and September 2003, 20 patients (13 men and 7 women; average age 68.3 years, range 44-82 years) underwent 24 spinal operations for 22 spinal metastatic tumors. Nineteen spinal operations (79%) were planned preoperative embolization with polyvinyl alcohol particles. In 3 cases, there was no tumor stain. Fifty percent of the C4-T2 lesions and 76% of the T3-L3 lesions were embolized preoperatively. The level of lesions determined which embolization procedure should be used. With C7-T2 or sacral lesions, feeding arteries were superselectively catheterized, then particles were injected via a microcatheter. With T3-L3 lesions, selective catheterization of the corresponding segmental arteries was performed. Particles were injected via 4 or 5Fr catheters. No complications were encountered during embolization. Embolizing from the origin of the segmental arteries is effective for reducing intraoperative blood loss because feeding vessels in the anterior part of the spinal body are able to be embolized. Preoperative embolization is not a very complicated procedure and careful catheterization can avoid complications. Based on tumor histology, size of the spinal body, depth of the operative field and operative approach, preoperative embolization can be performed with positive results.

High-dose intravenous methylprednisolone for the prophylactic treatment of cluster headache.

BACKGROUND: Triptans are effective for immediate relief of episodic cluster headache (CH) but do not reduce the frequency of attacks. Intravenous bolus injection of corticosteroids like methylprednisolone (MP) has been reported to decrease the frequency of CH attacks. We validated the prophylactic efficacy of MP pulse therapy by monitoring CH recurrence over several years following treatment of six consecutive male patients (mean age: 38.8 years, range: 26-54 years) afflicted by frequent (often daily) CH attacks. FINDINGS: Total MP dose per infusion was 250-500 mg for five patients and 125 mg for the sixth (a diabetic). High-dose MP was administered for 2 or 3 consecutive days in hospital for the first two patients treated. The next four patients received a single bolus injection at presentation, and in some cases a second injection days later at an outpatient clinic. The first two cases treated were also prescribed daily oral prednisolone for at most 6 months while the latter four cases were not. The frequency of CH attacks was markedly reduced in all patients, with intervals between attacks ranging from 4 to 23 months. We noted no apparent adverse events following MP administration. CONCLUSIONS: High-dose MP therapy reduced CH attack frequency and improved patient quality of life.

Autoantibodies to glutamate receptor GluRepsilon2 in a patient with limbic encephalitis associated with relapsing polychondritis.

Limbic encephalitis is a rare central nervous system (CNS) manifestation of relapsing polychondritis (RP). Vasculitis is assumed to be the cause of CNS involvement in RP. Several studies, however, have described CNS involvement in RP with no evidence of vasculitis but with a more nonspecific inflammatory picture. We report a patient with limbic encephalitis associated with RP who presented with anti-glutamate receptor (GluR) epsilon2 (NR2B) autoantibodies in his cerebrospinal fluid and sera. Brain MRI showed a high signal intensity lesion in the medial temporal lobe and progressive atrophy without multifocal abnormality on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery scanning. Our patient's results raise the interesting possibility that anti-GluRepsilon2 (NR2B) antibodies function in the development of limbic encephalitis in certain patients with RP.