Journal of neurosciences in rural practice
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J Neurosci Rural Pract · Jan 2014
Thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke: Experience from a tertiary care centre in India.
The management of acute ischemic stroke has undergone a sea of change with the introduction of intravenous thrombolysis (IVT). Current guidelines state that the window period for IVT using rTPA is 4.5 hours. The MERCI, Multi Merci, and Penumbra trials in which patients with acute ischemic stroke were treated using endovascular treatment demonstrated better recanalisation in patients having a large vessel occlusion. However, recently published data from the three large trials IMS 3, Synthesis Expansion, and MR rescue, which compared endovascular treatment with intravenous therapy, failed to demonstrate superiority of endovascular treatment over IVT. In these trials, stent retrievers were used in very few patients. We present our results from a tertiary care center in India where patients are treated using intravenous as well as endovascular modalities. Among the 53 patients with acute ischemic stroke treated between 2010 and 2012, 23 were treated with IVT and 30 with endovascular methods. Stent retriever was used in majority of the endovascular cases. ⋯ IVT is currently the standard of care in the management of acute ischemic stroke. Endovascular treatment during the window period is reserved for those patients with contraindication to IVT. In this study, we found that patients with documented large vessel disease with no evidence of cross flow through Willisian collaterals benefit from endovascular treatment. We recommend that all patients of acute ischemic stroke, be subjected to a baseline angiogram either computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to document vessel status. This will help in identifying patients who may benefit from early endovascular treatment, if they fail to improve with IVT. Further, large trials using stent retrievers are needed, to prove that endovascular treatment is superior to IVT, in presence of documented large vessel disease.
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J Neurosci Rural Pract · Jan 2014
Perihematomal edema as predictor of outcome in spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.
Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH) is a form of cerebrovascular accident with a very high rate of morbidity and mortality. The determinants of prognosis include the demographic, clinical, laboratory, and radiologic factors. It is long known that the hematoma size has a negative impact on the outcome in SICH. The influence of perihematomal edema (PHE) is not established to the extent same as that of hematoma volume. Hence, we planned this study to determine as to what role does PHE plays in the outcome in SICH. ⋯ In SICH, a larger hematoma volume is a predictor of poor outcome and a relative edema is associated with a better functional status.