Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
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Meta Analysis Comparative Study
Does acupuncture improve motor recovery after stroke? A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Acupuncture may be a promising treatment for poststroke paralysis. We conducted a meta-analysis, assessing the efficacy of acupuncture with and without stroke rehabilitation. ⋯ This meta-analysis suggests that with stroke rehabilitation, acupuncture has no additional effect on motor recovery but has a small positive effect on disability, which may be due to a true placebo effect and varied study quality. The efficacy of acupuncture without stroke rehabilitation remains uncertain, mainly because of the poor quality of such studies.
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Multicenter Study
Prevalence of atrial fibrillation and antithrombotic prophylaxis in emergency department patients.
The emergency department (ED), as the point of first medical contact for many complaints referable to atrial fibrillation (AF) and a common source of primary care, occupies a unique position to identify AF patients at risk of stroke. This study evaluates that potential by determining the prevalence of AF in an ED population and assessing antithrombotic use in those patients with recurrent AF. ⋯ AF is a common finding in an ED population. Many are warfarin eligible and untreated or undertreated. Methods to increase anticoagulant use in this at-risk population warrant further investigation.
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Little is known about the relationship between perihematomal edema in spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and outcome. The purpose of this study was to determine whether absolute or relative edema volume (edema volume divided by hematoma volume) predicts mortality or functional outcome in patients with hyperacute spontaneous ICH. We hypothesized that increasing baseline relative edema volume is associated with greater probability of poor functional outcome. ⋯ Relative edema is strongly predictive of functional outcome in patients with hyperacute supratentorial spontaneous ICH without intraventricular extension.
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The natural history of perihematomal edema in human hyperacute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) has not been well described. ⋯ Perihematomal edema volume increases by approximately 75% during the first 24 hours after hyperacute spontaneous ICH. Patients with the least amounts of baseline relative edema volume were most likely to develop significant additional amounts of edema during the first 24 hours after spontaneous ICH.
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Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) reduces the risk of stroke ipsilateral to recently symptomatic severe carotid stenosis. Other techniques such as percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with stenting are currently being compared with CEA. Thus far, case series and several small, randomized, controlled trials of CEA versus percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (with and without stenting) have focused primarily on the 30-day procedural risks of stroke and death. However, long-term durability is also important. To determine the long-term risk of stroke after CEA and to identify risk factors, we studied patients in the European Carotid Study Trial (ECST), the largest published cohort with long-term follow-up by physicians after CEA. ⋯ Although the risk of late ipsilateral ischemic stroke after CEA for symptomatic stenosis is approximately double the background risk in the territory of <30% asymptomatic stenosis, it is still only approximately 1% per year and remains low for at least 10 years after CEA. This is the standard against which alternative treatments should be judged. Several risk factors may be useful in identifying patients at particularly high risk of late postoperative stroke.