Acta neurologica Belgica
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Acta neurologica Belgica · Mar 2016
Clinical analysis of hemifacial spasm patients with delay symptom relief after microvascular decompression of distinct offending vessels.
This study investigates symptom relief in patients whose hemifacial spasms (HFS) were completely relieved following microvascular decompression (MVD). Patients with HFS who were operated on from January 2007 to May 2011, at our department, were studied. The medical records and operation videos of each patient were reviewed. ⋯ While in the vertebral artery compression cohort, 52 (52/133, 39.1 %) HFS patients experienced relief with delayed healing. There was significant difference between these two cohorts (P < 0.05). 93.75% of delayed healing patients were cured and experienced spasm relief within 6 months. Surgeons should be aware that delayed symptom relief after MVD for HFS is more common than has been reported, and time course of symptom relief is various as well as unpredictable; however, most HFS patients are cured, and experience spasm relief within 6 months.
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Acta neurologica Belgica · Mar 2016
Role of admission serum albumin levels in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage.
Low serum albumin levels have been reported to be an independent predictor of increased morbidity and mortality in multiple disease conditions. The aim of our study was to identify the impact of low serum albumin levels on mortality and outcomes at discharge in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. We retrospectively reviewed our prospective database of patients with intracerebral hemorrhage from January 2010 to December 2011. ⋯ Although admission hypoalbuminemia did not impact in-hospital mortality (28 vs 24 %, p = 0.635), there was a significant increase in poor outcomes at discharge (59 vs 31 %, p = 0.009) (OR 1.8; 95 % CI; 1.2-2.8). Similar to other diseases, hypoalbuminemia was associated with poor functional outcomes in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. This will need to be confirmed in larger prospective studies before adopting therapeutic and preventive strategies in future.