Acta neurochirurgica. Supplement
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Acta Neurochir. Suppl. · Jan 2008
Multicenter Study Controlled Clinical TrialPosttraumatic rehabilitation and one year outcome following acute traumatic brain injury (TBI): data from the well defined population based German Prospective Study 2000-2002.
Follow-up examination to review the one-year outcome of patients after craniocerebral trauma with respect to health related quality of life (QoL) and social reintegration. The data are derived from the prospective controlled, well defined population based, multiple centre study that was performed in Germany for the first time in the years 2000-2001 with emphasis on quality management (structural, process, outcome) and regarding the patient's age, physical troubles, and impaired mental-cognitive, neurobehavioral functioning. TBI severity assessment is according to the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score. ⋯ One hundred and sixty patients (= 3.8%) could manage their daily life only partly; 75 TBI (= 87.2%) following mild, 5.8% moderate, and 7% severe TBI. One hundred and sixteen patients could not at all manage their activities in training, at school, or in their jobs (N = 33 MTBI respectively 54%), 6 (= 10%) moderate, and 22 (= 36%) severe TBI. 2.8% of individuals failed when compared with their pre-traumatic situation. TBI severity, patient's age, concomitant organ lesions, and complications influence health related QoL and early social reintegration.
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Acta Neurochir. Suppl. · Jan 2008
ReviewVasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: need for further study.
Cerebral vasospasm is the classic cause of delayed neurological deterioration leading to cerebral ischemia and infarction, and thus, poor outcome and occasionally death, after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Advances in diagnosis and treatment, principally nimodipine, intensive care management, hemodynamic manipulations, and endovascular neuroradiology procedures, have improved the prospects for these patients, but outcomes remain disappointing. A phase 2b clinical trial (CONSCIOUS-1) demonstrated marked prevention of vasospasm with the endothelin antagonist, clazosentan, yet patient outcome was not improved. ⋯ Clazosentan reduced angiographic vasospasm in a dose-dependent manner in patients with aneurysmal SAH following coiling or clipping of the aneurysm. Reducing the incidence of vasospasm should have an important effect on clinical outcome. A phase 3 clinical trial (CONSCIOUS-2) will focus on quantifying this outcome in patients undergoing aneurysm clipping receiving placebo or 5 mg/h of clazosentan.
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Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a subtype of stroke with very high mortality. Experiments have indicated that clot lysis and iron play an important role in ICH-induced brain injury. Iron overload occurs in the brain after ICH in rats. ⋯ Deferoxamine can rapidly penetrate the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in the brain tissue in significant concentration after systemic administration. We have demonstrated that deferoxamine reduces ICH-induced brain edema, neuronal death, brain atrophy, and neurological deficits. Iron chelation with deferoxamine could be a new therapy for ICH.
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Acta Neurochir. Suppl. · Jan 2008
ReviewDysfunction of nitric oxide synthases as a cause and therapeutic target in delayed cerebral vasospasm after SAH.
Nitric oxide (NO), also known as endothelium-derived relaxing factor, is produced by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in the intima and by neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) in the adventitia of cerebral vessels. It dilates the arteries in response to shear stress, metabolic demands, pterygopalatine ganglion stimulation, and chemoregulation. Subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) interrupts this regulation of cerebral blood flow. ⋯ CSF ADMA levels are closely associated with the degree and time-course of vasospasm; when CSF ADMA levels decrease, vasospasm resolves. Thus, the exogenous delivery of NO, inhibiting the L-arginine-methylating enzyme (IPRMT3) or stimulating DDAH II, may provide new therapeutic modalities to prevent and treat vasospasm. This paper will present results of preclinical studies supporting the NO-based hypothesis of delayed cerebral vasospasm development and its prevention by increased NO availability.
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Acta Neurochir. Suppl. · Jan 2008
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialPreliminary findings of the minimally-invasive surgery plus rtPA for intracerebral hemorrhage evacuation (MISTIE) clinical trial.
Compared to ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is easily and rapidly identified, occurs in younger patients, and produces relatively small initial injury to cerebral tissues--all factors suggesting that interventional amelioration is possible. Investigations from the last decade established that extent of ICH-mediated brain injury relates directly to blood clot volume and duration of blood exposure to brain tissue. Using minimally-invasive surgery plus recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA), MISTIE investigators explored aggressive avenues to treat ICH. ⋯ There is tentative indication that minimally-invasive surgery plus rtPA shows greater clot resolution than traditional medical management.