Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
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To test the hypothesis that neither "steal" as cortical ischemia caused by reduced perfusion pressure nor "breakthrough" on the grounds of loss of pressure autoregulation exist in brain tissue surrounding arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), we established patterns of cortical oxygen saturation (SO(2)) adjacent to AVMs and its behavior after alterations of mean arterial blood pressure. ⋯ Severely hypoxic areas are uncommon in the cortex adjacent to AVMs and occur predominantly in patients prone to hyperemic complications. Reduced perfusion pressure is compensated in most cases, and moderate hyperemia prevails after excision. Reperfusion into unprotected capillaries of severely hypoxic cortical areas results in "breakthrough," for which vasoparalysis appears not to be the underlying mechanism.
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We report a unique case of an acquired pial arteriovenous fistula occurring after an asymptomatic thrombosis of a superficial cerebral vein. ⋯ This case provides evidence that pial arteriovenous fistulas may develop as acquired lesions and furthermore may rarely follow cerebral vein thrombosis. Several cases of dural arteriovenous fistulas, as well as a single case of a mixed pial-dural arteriovenous fistula, occurring after dural sinus thrombosis have been reported previously. However, to our knowledge, this is the first report of an acquired pial arteriovenous fistula following a cerebral vein thrombosis.
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Prognosis of ischemic stroke in young adults is reported as favorable, and transient ischemic attack (TIA) is commonly considered a benign event. We investigated long-term outcome and prognostic predictors of cerebral ischemia in patients under 45 years of age. ⋯ Stroke and TIA in young adults have severe prognostic implications, because the mortality risk was highly increased with respect to the general population. Preventive measures are strongly recommended in the presence of any unfavorable prognostic profile.
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Revascularization surgery for moyamoya patients is believed to prevent cerebral ischemic attacks by improving cerebral blood flow. However, measures preventing the occurrence of hemorrhagic moyamoya in patients have not yet been established in the literature due to the low rate of hemorrhage onset as well as the originally limited numbers of patients with moyamoya disease, poor understanding of the clinical course of rebleeding, correct surgical management, and long-term outcome. We present here the results of an overall survey of patients with hemorrhagic moyamoya disease in a district of Miyagi Prefecture in Japan and examine their clinical course, efficacy of revascularization surgery, and long-term outcome. ⋯ In this study, we compiled the results of meticulous follow-up conducted over the past 10 years for patients with hemorrhagic moyamoya disease. Because hemorrhagic moyamoya disease is known for its high rate of mortality at the time of rebleeding and often causes rebleeding long after the initial episode (as much as 20 years later), implementation of long-term preventive measures for rebleeding is necessary. This suggests that a long-term prospective study of a large number of patients with hemorrhagic moyamoya disease is required to determine whether bypass surgery prevents rebleeding of hemorrhagic moyamoya disease.
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We sought to determine whether postoperative length of stay (LOS) and resource utilization could be safely reduced without changing our uniform protocol of performing carotid endarterectomy (CEA) under general anesthesia with postoperative intensive care unit monitoring. ⋯ A uniform policy of discharge home from the intensive care unit on postoperative day 1 following CEA under general anesthesia can reduce LOS and decrease resource utilization without compromising care.