Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Modification of outcomes with aspirin or apixaban in relation to female and male sex in patients with atrial fibrillation: a secondary analysis of the AVERROES study.
The main objective of the present analysis was to assess the effect of treatment with aspirin compared with apixaban on ischemic stroke and major bleeding in women compared with men. Female patients with atrial fibrillation are at increased stroke risk compared with male patients, and the underlying reasons for higher risk are uncertain. ⋯ Female patients with atrial fibrillation had higher ischemic stroke rates compared with male patients, but the relative effects of apixaban compared with aspirin on both ischemic stroke and bleeding were similar in men and women.
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Comparative Study
Impact of prestroke selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment on stroke severity and mortality.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have been associated with an increased risk of bleeding but also a possible neuroprotective effect in stroke. We aimed to examine the implications of prestroke SSRI use in hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke. ⋯ Prestroke SSRI use is associated with increased stroke severity and mortality in patients with hemorrhagic stroke. Although prestroke depression in itself may increase stroke severity and mortality, this was not found in SSRI users with ischemic stroke.
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Stroke treatment is constrained by limited treatment windows and the clinical inefficacy of agents that showed preclinical promise. Yet animal and clinical data suggest considerable poststroke plasticity, which could allow treatment with recovery-modulating agents. Memantine is a well-tolerated N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptor antagonist in common use for Alzheimer disease. ⋯ Our results suggest that memantine improves stroke outcomes in an apparently non-neuroprotective manner involving increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor signaling, reduced reactive astrogliosis, and improved vascularization, associated with improved recovery of sensory and motor cortical function. The clinical availability and tolerability of memantine make it an attractive candidate for clinical translation.
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Our aim was to define for the first time the lifelong natural course of unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs) and identify high-risk and low-risk patients for the rupture. ⋯ Almost 30% of all UIAs in people of working age ruptured during a lifelong follow-up. The risk varied substantially on the basis of risk factor burden. Because even small UIAs ruptured, treatment decisions of UIAs should perhaps be based on the risk factor status.
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Seizures are a common complication of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We developed a novel tool to quantify this risk in individual patients. ⋯ One in 10 patients will develop seizures after ICH. The risk of this adverse outcome can be estimated by a simple score based on baseline variables.