Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology
-
Meta Analysis
The accuracy of aneurysm size in predicting rebleeding after subarachnoid hemorrhage: a meta-analysis.
Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a severe cerebrovascular disease. Rebleeding is an independent predictor of unfavorable outcome after aneurysmal SAH. However, the accuracy of aneurysm size for predicting rebleeding after aneurysmal SAH is still unclear. Hence, we conducted this meta-analysis to evaluate the predictive accuracy of large aneurysm for rebleeding after SAH. ⋯ The specificity of large aneurysm for predicting rebleeding after SAH is relatively high. However, its overall accuracy for predicting aneurysm rebleeding is not very satisfying. A comprehensive model should be developed to improve the accuracy of rebleeding prediction after SAH.
-
Respiratory failure is the most worrisome problem of COVID-19. Patients may develop severe pneumonia requiring invasive mechanical ventilation and a significant proportion of them dies. It has been suggested that brainstem might play a role in severe respiratory failure of COVID-19 patients. ⋯ Our clinical evaluation was consistent with an involvement of the brainstem and especially of respiratory centre thus possibly explaining the weaning failure in patients that were awake and had recovered from lung involvement. Our data, though limited, indicate that brainstem involvement may play a role in respiratory failure and perhaps in the high death rate of COVID-19 patients. Moreover, the weaning failure from mechanical ventilation due to central respiratory drive depression might underlie the unusual long stay in ICU reported for COVID-19 patients.