Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Amitriptyline in the prophylaxis of central poststroke pain. Preliminary results of 39 patients in a placebo-controlled, long-term study.
We performed a double-blind, placebo-controlled study to investigate the effectiveness of amitriptyline for the prophylactic treatment of patients with acute thalamic stroke in preventing central poststroke pain. ⋯ With the achieved sample sizes of this study and a pain rate of approximately 21% in the placebo group, any near-perfect pain protection would have been detected. Near-perfect pain protection, in this context, refers to pain in <2.4% of the recruited patients treated with amitriptyline or in approximately 89% of placebo-treated patients. Larger studies are recommended to test the hypothesis that prophylactic amitriptyline reduces but does not completely prevent central poststroke pain.
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Meta Analysis
Oral citicoline in acute ischemic stroke: an individual patient data pooling analysis of clinical trials.
No single neuroprotective agent has been shown to influence outcome after acute stroke. Citicoline has been studied worldwide in many clinical trials with positive findings, but only 1 trial has obtained significant results in the primary efficacy variables. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of oral citicoline in patients with acute ischemic stroke by a data pooling analysis of clinical trials. The primary efficacy end point chosen was the common evaluation of recovery, combining National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale /=95 at 3 months using the generalized estimating equations analysis. ⋯ Treatment with oral citicoline within the first 24 hours after onset in patients with moderate to severe stroke increases the probability of complete recovery at 3 months.
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Clinical Trial
Spreading and synchronous depressions of cortical activity in acutely injured human brain.
Cortical spreading depression (CSD) has been much studied experimentally but never demonstrated unequivocally in human neocortex by direct electrophysiological recording. A similar phenomenon, peri-infarct depolarization, occurs in experimental models of stroke and causes the infarct to enlarge. Our current understanding of the mechanisms of deterioration in the days after major traumatic or ischemic brain injury in humans has not yielded any effective, novel drug treatment. This study sought clear evidence for the occurrence and propagation of CSD in the injured human brain. ⋯ These results indicate that CSD or similar events occur in the injured human brain and are more frequent than previously suggested. On the basis of these observations, we suggest that the related phenomenon, peri-infarct depolarization, is indeed likely to occur in boundary zones in the ischemic human cerebral cortex.
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Comparative Study
Delayed argatroban treatment reduces edema in a rat model of intracerebral hemorrhage.
Studies indicate that thrombin plays an important role in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH)-induced edema formation. Although thrombin is produced as the blood clots, it may be bound to fibrin and only gradually released from the clot. The time window for administration of a thrombin inhibitor to reduce ICH-induced edema is unknown. Whether this time window extends beyond the period when a thrombin inhibitor might exacerbate rebleeding is also unknown. ⋯ Our data suggest that argatroban may be an effective therapy for ICH-induced edema.
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With new CT technologies, including CT angiography (CTA), perfusion CT (PCT), and multidetector row technique, this method has regained interest for use in acute stroke assessment. We have developed a score system based on Multimodal Stroke Assessment Using CT (MOSAIC), which was evaluated in this prospective study. ⋯ The MOSAIC score based on multidetector row CT technology is superior to NCCT, CTA, and PCT in predicting infarction size and clinical outcome in hyperacute stroke.