Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases : the official journal of National Stroke Association
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J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis · Nov 2020
Effectiveness of Dry Needling in the Management of Spasticity in Patients Post Stroke.
To determine the effectiveness of the dry needling technique (DNT) in the treatment of spasticity for individuals with stroke. ⋯ These results should be taken with caution because the included studies are few in number and have different comparators. More RCTs are needed to cover aspects of biases found in the literature, in particular the blinding of participants and personnel.
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J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis · Nov 2020
Safety of Mechanical Thrombectomy with Combined Intravenous Thrombolysis in Stroke Treatment 4.5 to 9 Hours from Symptom Onset.
An extended time window for intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) for acute stroke patients up to 9 hours from symptom onset has been established in recent trials, excluding patients who received mechanical thrombectomy (MT). We therefore investigated whether combined therapy with IVT and MT (IVT+MT) is safe in patients with ischemic stroke and large vessel occlusion (LVO) in an extended time window. ⋯ Mechanical thrombectomy in stroke patients seems to be safe with combined intravenous thrombolysis within 4.5 to 9 hours after onset as it did not significantly increase the risk for intracranial hemorrhage.
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J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis · Nov 2020
Review Case ReportsMalignant Cerebral Ischemia in A COVID-19 Infected Patient: Case Review and Histopathological Findings.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for an unprecedented worldwide pandemic that has severely impacted the United States. As the pandemic continues, a growing body of evidence suggests that infected patients may develop significant coagulopathy with resultant thromboembolic complications including deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, myocardial infarction, and ischemic stroke. However, this data is limited and comes from recent small case series and observational studies on stroke types, mechanisms, and outcomes.1-14 Furthermore, evidence on the role of therapeutic anticoagulation in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with elevated inflammatory markers, such as D-dimer, is also limited. ⋯ Brain biopsy was negative for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA (RT-PCR assay). Along with a growing body of literature, our case suggests that cerebrovascular thromboembolic events in COVID-19 infection may be related to acquired hypercoagulability and coagulation cascade activation due to the release of inflammatory markers and cytokines, rather than virus-induced vasculitis. Further studies to investigate the mechanism of cerebrovascular thromboembolic events and their prevention is warranted.
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J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis · Nov 2020
Multicenter StudyManagement of Large Vessel Occlusion Stroke Related to Infective Endocarditis: Is Mechanical Thrombectomy a Safe Option?
Acute ischemic stroke is the most common neurological complication of infective endocarditis. Intravenous thrombolysis is contraindicated in these patients due to a higher risk of hemorrhagic complications. Whether mechanical thrombectomy has some benefit in these patients remains unanswered although some favorable results can be found in literature. ⋯ In patients with large vessel acute ischemic stroke related to infective endocarditis, mechanical thrombectomy might be considered with some potential benefit reported. There may be a high risk of hemorrhagic complications, as known for intravenous thrombolysis in this condition, suggesting that this procedure should be carefully evaluated in these patients.
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J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis · Nov 2020
Comparative StudyStandardized Fabrication Method of Human-Derived Emboli with Histologic and Mechanical Quantification for Stroke Research.
As access to patient emboli is limited, embolus analogs (EAs) have become critical to the research of large vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke and the development of thrombectomy technology. To date, techniques for fabricating standardized human blood-derived EAs are limited in the variety of compositions, and the mechanical properties relevant to thrombectomy are not quantified. ⋯ EAs fabricated and tested using the proposed new methods provide a platform for stroke research and pre-clinical development of thrombectomy devices.