Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
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Activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which leads to elevation of circulating catecholamines, is implicated in the genesis of cerebral vasospasm and cardiac aberrations after subarachnoid hemorrhage. To this juncture, sympathetic nervous testing has relied on indirect methods only. ⋯ The present study has established that massive sympathetic nervous activation occurs in patients after subarachnoid hemorrhage. This overactivation may relate to the well-known cardiac complications described in subarachnoid hemorrhage.
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We review preliminary experience with patients harboring intracerebral hematoma (ICH) treated by stereotactic computed tomographic (CT) guided thrombolysis and aspiration and assess procedure feasibility and safety. ⋯ CT-guided thrombolysis and aspiration appears safe and effective in the reduction of ICH volume. Further studies are needed to assess optimal thrombolytic dosage and must include controlled comparisons of mortality, disability outcome, time until convalescence, and cost of care in treated and untreated patients.
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Cerebral ischemia has been proposed as contributing mechanism to secondary neuronal injury after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Possible tools for investigating this hypothesis are diffusion-weighted (DWI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging ((1)H-MRSI). However, magnetic field inhomogeneity induced by paramagnetic blood products may prohibit the application of such techniques on perihematoma tissue. We report on the feasibility of DWI and (1)H-MRSI in the study of human ICH and present preliminary data on their contribution to understanding perihematoma tissue functional and metabolic profiles. ⋯ DWI and (1)H-MRSI can be used in the study of ICH patients. Our preliminary data are inconsistent with ischemia as the primary mechanism for perihematoma tissue injury. Further investigation with advanced MRI techniques will give a clearer understanding of the role that ischemia plays in tissue injury after ICH.
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The goal of the present study was to investigate the predictive value of neurobiochemical markers of brain damage (protein S-100B and neuron-specific enolase [NSE]) with respect to the short- and long-term neuropsychological outcomes after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). ⋯ Postoperative serum concentrations and kinetics of S-100B and NSE have a high predictive value with respect to the early neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric outcome after cardiac surgery. The analysis of NSE and S-100B release might allow insight into the underlying pathophysiology of brain dysfunction, thus providing a valuable tool to monitor and evaluate measures to improve cardiac surgery with CPB.
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Many patients who undergo cardiac surgery assisted with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) experience cerebral injury, and microemboli are thought to play a role. Because an increased duration of CPB is associated with an increased risk of subsequent cerebral dysfunction, we investigated whether cerebral microemboli were also more numerous with a longer duration of CPB. ⋯ Thousands of microemboli were found in the brains of patients soon after CPB, and an increasing duration of CPB was associated with an increasing embolic load.