Lancet neurology
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Contralesional repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for chronic hemiparesis in subcortical paediatric stroke: a randomised trial.
Arterial ischaemic stroke (AIS) can cause disabling hemiparesis in children. We aimed to test whether contralesional, inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) could affect interhemispheric inhibition to improve hand function in chronic subcortical paediatric AIS. ⋯ Canadian Stroke Consortium; Canadian Institutes of Health Research; American Academy of Neurology Foundation; Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Intensive blood pressure reduction in acute cerebral haemorrhage trial (INTERACT): a randomised pilot trial.
There is much uncertainty about the effects of early lowering of elevated blood pressure (BP) after acute intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH). Our aim was to assess the safety and efficiency of this treatment, as a run-in phase to a larger trial. ⋯ National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Donepezil in patients with subcortical vascular cognitive impairment: a randomised double-blind trial in CADASIL.
Cholinergic deficits might contribute to vascular cognitive impairment. Trials of cholinesterase inhibitors in patients with vascular dementia are difficult because of heterogeneous disease mechanisms and overlap between vascular and Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology in the age-group recruited. Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leucoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a genetic form of subcortical ischaemic vascular dementia. It represents a homogeneous disease process, and because of CADASIL's early onset, comorbid AD pathology is rare. We did a multicentre, 18-week, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised parallel-group trial to determine whether the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil improves cognition in patients with CADASIL. ⋯ Donepezil had no effect on the primary endpoint, the V-ADAS-cog score in CADASIL patients with cognitive impairment. Improvements were noted on several measures of executive function, but the clinical relevance of these findings is not clear. Our findings may have implications for future trial design in subcortical vascular cognitive impairment.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of alteplase beyond 3 h after stroke in the Echoplanar Imaging Thrombolytic Evaluation Trial (EPITHET): a placebo-controlled randomised trial.
Whether intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (alteplase) is effective beyond 3 h after onset of acute ischaemic stroke is unclear. We aimed to test whether alteplase given 3-6 h after stroke onset promotes reperfusion and attenuates infarct growth in patients who have a mismatch in perfusion-weighted MRI (PWI) and diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI). ⋯ Alteplase was non-significantly associated with lower infarct growth and significantly associated with increased reperfusion in patients who had mismatch. Because reperfusion was associated with improved clinical outcomes, phase III trials beyond 3 h after treatment are warranted.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Aspirin in Alzheimer's disease (AD2000): a randomised open-label trial.
Cardiovascular risk factors and a history of vascular disease can increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD is less common in aspirin users than non-users, and there are plausible biological mechanisms whereby aspirin might slow the progression of either vascular or Alzheimer-type pathology. We assessed the benefits of aspirin in patients with AD. ⋯ Although aspirin is commonly used in dementia, in patients with typical AD 2 years of treatment with low-dose aspirin has no worthwhile benefit and increases the risk of serious bleeds.