Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
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The aim of this prospective study was to assess vascular integrity after stent-retriever thrombectomy. ⋯ Our findings suggest that clinically relevant vessel wall injuries occur rarely after stent-retriever thrombectomy.
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Case mix adjustment is required to allow valid comparison of outcomes across care providers. However, there is a lack of externally validated models suitable for use in unselected stroke admissions. We therefore aimed to develop and externally validate prediction models to enable comparison of 30-day post-stroke mortality outcomes using routine clinical data. ⋯ We have derived and externally validated 2 models to predict mortality in unselected patients with acute stroke using commonly collected clinical variables. In settings where the ability to record the full NIHSS on admission is limited, the level of consciousness component of the NIHSS provides a good approximation of the full NIHSS for mortality prediction.
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In patients with mild to moderate symptomatic carotid artery stenosis, intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH) and a thin/ruptured fibrous cap (FC) as evaluated with MRI, and the presence of microembolic signals (MESs) as detected with transcranial Doppler, are associated with an increased risk of a (recurrent) stroke. The objective of the present study is to determine whether the prevalence of MES differs in patients with and without IPH and thin/ruptured FC, and patients with only a thin/ruptured FC without IPH. ⋯ http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01709045.
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It remains undetermined whether the use of coumarin anticoagulants associates with cerebral microbleeds in the general population. We investigated whether (1) coumarin use relates to higher prevalence and incidence of microbleeds, (2) microbleeds are more frequent in people with higher maximum international normalized ratios (INRs), and (3) among coumarin users, variability in INR associates with microbleed presence. ⋯ Coumarin use is associated with microbleeds. Associations were strongest for people with greater variability in INR.