Journal of neurology
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Journal of neurology · Apr 2012
Randomized Controlled TrialOccurrence and impact of delayed cerebral ischemia after coiling and after clipping in the International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial (ISAT).
Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) is an important cause of poor outcome after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). We studied differences in incidence and impact of DCI as defined clinically after coiling and after clipping in the International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial. We calculated odds ratios (OR) for DCI for clipping versus coiling with logistic regression analysis. ⋯ Only for patients treated within 4 days, coiling and DCI was associated with a poorer outcome at 1 year than clipping and DCI (RERI -2.02, 95% CI -3.97 to -0.08). DCI was more common after clipping than after coiling in SAH patients in ISAT. Impact of DCI on poor outcome did not differ between clipped and coiled patients, except for patients treated within 4 days, in whom DCI resulted more often in poor outcome after coiling than after clipping.
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Journal of neurology · Apr 2012
Randomized Controlled TrialLevetiracetam versus lorazepam in status epilepticus: a randomized, open labeled pilot study.
For the management of status epilepticus (SE), lorazepam (LOR) is recommended as the first and phenytoin or fosphenytoin as the second choice. Both these drugs have significant toxicity. Intravenous levetiracetam (LEV) has become available, but its efficacy and safety has not been reported in comparison to LOR. ⋯ The 24-h freedom from seizure was also comparable: by LEV in 79.3% (23/29) and LOR in 67.7% (21/31). LOR was associated with significantly higher need of artificial ventilation and insignificantly higher frequency of hypotension. For the treatment of SE, LEV is an alternative to LOR and may be preferred in patients with respiratory compromise and hypotension.