British journal of neurosurgery
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Review Meta Analysis
A meta-analysis to determine the effect of preinjury antiplatelet agents on mortality in patients with blunt head trauma.
Anticoagulation abnormalities have been recognized for several decades as potential risk factors for increasing the risk of traumatic intracranial haemorrhage in patients with blunt head trauma. The potential increased risk of death as a consequence has not been fully evaluated. The aim of the study was to perform a meta-analysis in order to evaluate based upon the current level of evidence whether the use of pre-injury aspirin or clopidogrel increases the risk of mortality in patients with blunt head trauma. ⋯ In summary, this meta-analysis showed a slight increased risk of death in patients with blunt head trauma who were taking pre-injury antiplatelet agents although the results did not reach statistical significance. In view of the small number of low level studies from which this meta-analysis is based, further work is required in this area.
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Review Meta Analysis
Intracranial aneurysm size responsible for spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage.
It has been theorised that the relationship between smaller body size and smaller ruptured intracranial aneurysms in Asians indirectly supports the treatment of small, unruptured intracranial aneurysms. There has also been uncertainty regarding whether the progress that has been made in neuroimaging allows for better detection of smaller ruptured intracranial saccular aneurysms. Therefore, we conducted this systemic review of ruptured intracranial saccular aneurysm sizes according to region and time. ⋯ The present findings suggest that ruptured intracranial aneurysms are smaller in Asians and should be confirmed in future prospective international multi-centre registries to assess ethnicity. Whether these findings support treating smaller unruptured intracranial aneurysms in Asians should be investigated.