Neurología : publicación oficial de la Sociedad Española de Neurología
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Biography Historical Article
[The first Catalan Neurological Societies and their protagonists].
Little is known about the first Catalan neurological societies. Our aim was to analyse them from the formation of the pioneering Society of Psychiatry and Neurology of Barcelona founded in 1911. ⋯ The Society of Psychiatry and Neurology of Barcelona founded in 1911 by Galcerán i Granés was the first neurological society and was a precursor of the Catalan Society of Neurology. It should be highlighted that in 2011 it will be 100 years since the founding of the first neurological society in Catalonia and Spain.
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The vitamin K antagonists (VKA) available for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation have many drawbacks due to their difficult clinical use and high risk of bleeding. Currently, several drugs are being developed as possible substitutes for VKA that have many advantages such as the lack of monitoring requirement and scarce pharmacologic and food interactions. The present article provides an update on the new oral anticoagulants that are in a more advanced stage of clinical research, their pharmacologic properties, advantages and disadvantages and their results in recent clinical trials.
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Vitamin K antagonists have been shown to be effective in the primary and secondary prevention of systemic and cerebral emboli in patients with cardiac causes of embolism, especially atrial fibrillation. The reduced risk of stroke is greater in secondary prevention, although this reduction is accompanied by an inherent risk of hemorrhagic complications, among which cerebral hemorrhage is especially serious. ⋯ The anticoagulant effect obtained shows marked variability, requiring frequent clinical and laboratory monitoring of the treatment. The introduction of oral anticoagulants that would aid the administration of these agents with equal or greater efficacy and lower risk is required.
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Migraine has become an important vascular risk factor during the past few years, along with the presence of white matter and clinically silent ischaemic lesions. Whether these findings contribute to the migraine becoming chronic has been a source of debate. People with chronic migraine also have a less favourable metabolic profile. An exhaustive review of the literature has been made in order to try to clarify the relationship between migraine and vascular risk factors. ⋯ Since migraine is an independent vascular risk factor, a better control of migraine attacks, as well as other possible concomitant vascular risk factors, should decrease the likelihood of a stroke. Overall, the real risk of infarction is low, with 3.8 new cases per 100,000 women and year.
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Comparative Study
[Low sensitivity of the echocardiograph compared with contrast transcranial Doppler in right-to-left shunt].
Contrast transcranial Doppler (c-TCD) has a high sensitivity for detecting right-to-left shunt (RLS), and is probably higher than transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and comparable with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). ⋯ TTE and TEE show a considerable number of false negatives for RLS detection. Clinical studies should consider the c-TCD as the best technique to diagnose RLS when a paradoxical embolism is suspected.