Journal of the neurological sciences
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Meta Analysis
Carotid angioplasty with or without stenting versus carotid endarterectomy for carotid artery stenosis: a meta-analysis.
Carotid angioplasty with or without stent placement (CAS) has emerged as an alternative to carotid endarterectomy (CEA) for revascularization of severe carotid artery stenosis in patients with high risk for surgery. This meta-analysis compared the efficacy and safety of both treatments from data for previous randomized trials. We did a literature search using Medline, PubMed, Cochrane database, and relevant articles for randomized trials comparing CAS with CEA. ⋯ But, there were significantly higher 30-day event rates after CAS than CEA for death or any stroke (1.37 [1.04-1.81]) by fix-effects model, accompanied with significant heterogeneity (p=0.04). Risk of cranial nerve injury was much lower in CAS than in CEA (0.12 [0.05-0.29]). Except for lower risk of cranial nerve injury, CAS is neither safer nor associated with a better short-term outcome as compared to CEA in treating carotid artery stenosis.
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Multivariate models have not been widely used to predict the outcome of acute stroke patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). The purpose of this study was to determine potential measures observed in the first 12 h post-stroke that predict early mortality and functional outcomes in ICU-admitted stroke patients. Eight hundred and fifty acute stroke patients (ischemic stroke, 508; intracerebral hemorrhage, 342) were included in this analysis between November 2002 and December 2006. ⋯ Initial stroke severity, measured by National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, and dependence on a ventilator predicts 3-month mortality and poor outcome in all stroke patients. In addition, old age, previous stroke, and total anterior circulatory infarct were associated with poor outcome in ischemic stroke patients; old age, low body mass index and the presence of intraventricular hemorrhage were associated with poor outcomes in intracerebral hemorrhage patients. In conclusion, early stroke mortality and outcome at discharge can be predicted in the first few hours following an acute stroke for moderate to severe ICU-admitted stroke patients.
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Familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) is distributed worldwide with several endemic foci including two major foci in Japan. ⋯ Ishikawa prefecture is the third endemic focus of FAP in Japan. FAP with TTR Val30Met mutation in Japan can be classified to (i) early-onset and endemic (Nagano and Kumamoto), (ii) late-onset and endemic (Ishikawa), and (iii) late-onset and non-endemic types.
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Marinesco-Sjögren syndrome (MSS) is an autosomal recessive multisystem disorder characterized by cerebellar ataxia, cataracts, progressive muscular weakness, and developmental and mental retardation. Recently, mutations in the SIL1 gene on chromosome 5q31 have been shown to be a cause of MSS. We sequenced the entire SIL1-coding region in 3 unrelated Japanese patients with classical MSS and identified a novel homozygous frameshift insertion mutation, 936_937insG, in exon 9 in all 3 patients.