International journal of stroke : official journal of the International Stroke Society
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Endovascular therapeutic hypothermia for acute ischemic stroke: ICTuS 2/3 protocol.
Therapeutic hypothermia improves neurological outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest or neonatal hypoxic-ischemic injury. Although supported by preclinical evidence, therapeutic hypothermia for acute stroke remains under study. In the Intravascular Cooling in the Treatment of Stroke (ICTuS) trial, awake stroke patients were successfully cooled using an endovascular cooling catheter and a novel antishivering regimen. ⋯ The ICTuS 2/3 protocol contains novel features - based on the previous ICTuS and ICTuS-L trials - designed to achieve these milestones. Innovations include scrupulous pneumonia surveillance, intravenous chilled saline immediately after randomization to induce rapid cooling, and a requirement for catheter placement within two-hours of thrombolysis. An Investigational Device Exemption has been obtained and an initial group of sites initiated.
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Intracranial hemorrhage has a mortality rate of up to 40-60% due to the lack of effective treatment. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound may offer a breakthrough noninvasive technology, by allowing accurate delivery of focused ultrasound, under the guidance of real-time magnetic resonance imaging. ⋯ These results demonstrate the feasibility of obtaining reproducible, rapid, efficient, and accurate blood clot lysis using the magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound system. Further in vivo studies are needed to validate the feasibility of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound as a treatment modality for intracranial hemorrhage.
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Detecting a benefit from closure of patent foramen ovale in patients with cryptogenic stroke is hampered by low rates of stroke recurrence and uncertainty about the causal role of patent foramen ovale in the index event. A method to predict patent foramen ovale-attributable recurrence risk is needed. However, individual databases generally have too few stroke recurrences to support risk modeling. Prior studies of this population have been limited by low statistical power for examining factors related to recurrence. ⋯ While individual studies are inadequate for modeling patent foramen ovale-attributable recurrence risk, collaboration between investigators has yielded a database with sufficient power to identify those patients at highest risk for a patent foramen ovale-related stroke recurrence who may have the greatest potential benefit from patent foramen ovale closure.
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Comparative Study
A comparative analysis of risk factors and stroke risk for Asian and non-Asian men: the Asia Pacific cohort studies collaboration.
The risk of stroke is high in men among both Asian and non-Asian populations, despite differences in risk factor profiles; whether risk factors act similarly in these populations is unknown. ⋯ Men from the Asia-Pacific region share common risk factors for stroke. Strategies aimed at lowering population levels of systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, body mass index, smoking, and diabetes are likely to be beneficial in reducing stroke risk, particularly for ischemic stroke, across the region.
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Evaluating recombinant tissue plasminogen activator utilization rates is important, as many studies have demonstrated that administration of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator to qualified patients significantly improves prognosis. ⋯ Intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator utilization rates increased between 2001 and 2008. Advanced age and atrial fibrillation were significantly associated with increased morbidity and mortality among patients treated with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator.