Cerebrovascular diseases
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Cerebrovascular diseases · Jan 2016
ReviewMalignant MCA Infarction: Pathophysiology and Imaging for Early Diagnosis and Management Decisions.
Malignant middle cerebral artery infarction is a devastating condition, with up to 80% mortality in conservatively treated patients. The pathophysiology of this stroke is characterized by a large core of severe ischemia and only a relatively small rim of penumbra. Due to the fast development of irreversible morphological damage, cytotoxic edema occurs immediately in a large portion of the ischemic territory. The subsequent damage of the tight junctions leads to the breakdown of the blood brain barrier and vasogenic brain edema, resulting in space-occupying brain swelling. The progressive vasogenic edema reaches its maximum after 1 to several days and exerts a mechanical force on surrounding tissue structures leading to midline shift and transtentorial herniation and finally brain stem compression and death. ⋯ Malignant MCA infarction can be predicted early with a high sensitivity by neuroimaging. The early diagnosis is mandatory for DHC, which was shown to reduce mortality and improve functional outcome in several controlled clinical trials.
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Cerebrovascular diseases · Jan 2016
ReviewMechanism and Therapy of Brain Edema after Intracerebral Hemorrhage.
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a subtype of stroke with a severe high mortality and disability rate and accounts for about 10-15% of all strokes. The oppression and destruction by hematoma to brain tissue cause the primary brain injury. The inflammation and coagulation response after ICH would accelerate the formation of brain edema around hematoma, resulting in a more severe and durable injury. Currently, treatments for ICH are focusing on the primary injury including reducing intracranial hypertension, blood pressure control, and rehabilitation. There is a short-of-effective medical treatment for secondary inflammation and reducing brain edema in ICH patients. So, it is very important to study on the relationship between brain edema and ICH. ⋯ This review mainly discusses the pathology and mechanism of brain edema, the effects of brain edema on ICH, and the methods of treating brain edema after ICH.