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Clazosentan prevents vasospasms after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). However, clinical data on patients with SAH with ruptured vertebral artery dissecting aneurysms (VADAs) are limited. We report the case of a 49-year-old male patient with mild-grade (WFNS grade 1) thick and diffuse (modified Fisher grade 3) SAH who underwent endovascular trapping of a ruptured VADA, resulting in a poor functional outcome with a modified Rankin Scale score of 4 due to severe symptomatic vasospasm refractory to clazosentan, requiring repeated rescue endovascular therapies and chronic communicating hydrocephalus. A retrospective analysis of the clot density in the basal and Sylvian cisterns, assessed by the Hounsfield unit (HU) values of serial CT scans, in this patient showed persistent higher values, distinct from another VADA case that showed a decline in HU values with a good clinical course. These results imply the limited effectiveness of clazosentan in cases of thick and diffuse SAH after a ruptured VADA, even in good-clinical-grade patients treated with less invasive modalities. The HU values may become a simple quantitative marker for predicting symptomatic vasospasms and chronic hydrocephalus.

Subinsular stroke (subIS) can occur between the penetrating middle cerebral artery (MCA) branches, which clinical and radiological findings sometimes encounter in patients after the recanalization of left proximal MCA occlusion. However, no supportive data are available to clarify this relationship. This study investigated whether the involvement of subIS can impact outcomes after successful reperfusion therapy. Data from 152 consecutive patients who underwent endovascular thrombectomy between 2019 and 2023 were collected. A 3-month functional independence defined as a modified Rankin Scale 0–2 (primary outcome) and influencing factors were analyzed retrospectively. Recanalization was achieved in 35 patients, of whom 11 (31%) developed subIS. Patients with subIS were older in age (81 vs. 75; p < 0.05), had lower apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values on admission (0.52 vs. 0.62; p < 0.001), and higher modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores (4 vs. 2; p < 0.001) than those without subIS. In a multivariate analysis, subIS was independently associated with a worse functional outcome (odds ratio: 10.5, p = 0.02). The cut-off value of the ADCs was 0.52 with a sensitivity and specificity of 70% and 64%, respectively. Subinsular ischemic lesions contribute to poor functional independence in patients after the successful recanalization of left MCA occlusion. The attenuation of the ADC value in these territories could be a valuable predictor of the outcome.

Background: Intravenous thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy are the first-line reperfusion therapies for acute ischemic stroke. Here, we describe the utility of diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) fiber tractography and 123I-iomazenil benzodiazepine receptor single-photon emission computed tomography to estimate the prognosis of post-stroke aphasia after successful reperfusion therapy. Case report: An 81-year-old man was admitted to the hospital approximately 3.5 h after the onset of symptoms, including decreased consciousness, right hemiparesis, and aphasia. An MRI revealed acute cerebral infarction due to M1 segment occlusion. Intravenous alteplase thrombolysis followed by endovascular thrombectomy resulted in recanalization of the left middle cerebral artery territory. A subsequent MRI showed no new ischemic or hemorrhagic lesions. Although the patient’s motor hemiparesis gradually recovered, motor aphasia persisted. Diffusion MRI fiber tractography performed 2 weeks after admission revealed partial injury to the left arcuate fasciculus, indicated by lower fractional anisotropy values than on the contralateral side. A decreased benzodiazepine receptor density was also detected in the left perisylvian and temporoparietal cortices. The patient showed no clear signs of further improvement in the chronic stage post-stroke and was discharged to a nursing home after 3 months. Conclusions: The application of functional neuroimaging techniques to assess neuronal damage to the primary brain regions 2 weeks after reperfusion therapy for large-vessel occlusion may allow for an accurate prognosis of post-stroke aphasia. This may have a direct clinical implication for navigating subacute-to-chronic phases of rehabilitative care.

Clazosentan has been shown to prevent vasospasm and reduce mortality in patients after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and has been approved for clinical use in Japan; however, its systemic events in the elderly (aged ≥ 75 years) have not been well-documented. Here, we report serious/intolerable cardiopulmonary complications requiring discontinuation of drug therapy in elderly SAH patients. In this single-center case series study, medical records of consecutive SAH patients treated postoperatively with clazosentan (10 mg/h) between June 2022 and May 2023 were reviewed retrospectively. Thirty-three patients received clazosentan therapy, of whom six were elderly with a mean age of 80.3 ± 5.2 (range 75–89) years. Among them, despite no obvious medical history of systemic abnormalities, clazosentan was discontinued in three (50%) patients due to pleural effusion and hypoxemia with or without hypotension at 5 ± 3 days after therapy initiation, which was higher than the incidence for younger patients (15%). The elderly patients had significantly lower urine output (1935 ± 265 vs. 1123 ± 371 mL/day, p = 0.03) and greater weight gain (2.1 ± 1.1 vs. 4.2 ± 1.9 kg from baseline, p = 0.04) than patients who completed the therapy. One 89-year-old female developed congestive heart failure and hydrostatic pulmonary edema associated with increased intravascular and lung volumes even after therapy was discontinued, while the remaining two cases recovered within 2 days after drug cessation. These results suggest that elderly patients are more vulnerable to fluid retention and have a higher risk of cardiopulmonary complications during clazosentan therapy than younger patients. Careful monitoring of urine volume and weight gain and caution regarding age- and therapy-related hemodynamic insufficiencies are required.

Objectives To examine the national, 6-year trends in in-hospital clinical outcomes of patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) who underwent clipping or coiling and the prognostic influence of temporal trends in the Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC) capabilities on patient outcomes in Japan.Design Retrospective study.Setting Six hundred and thirty-one primary care institutions in Japan.Participants Forty-five thousand and eleven patients with SAH who were urgently hospitalised, identified using the J-ASPECT Diagnosis Procedure Combination database.Primary and secondary outcome measures Annual number of patients with SAH who remained untreated, or who received clipping or coiling, in-hospital mortality and poor functional outcomes (modified Rankin Scale: 3–6) at discharge. Each CSC was assessed using a validated scoring system (CSC score: 1–25 points).Results In the overall cohort, in-hospital mortality decreased (year for trend, OR (95% CI): 0.97 (0.96 to 0.99)), while the proportion of poor functional outcomes remained unchanged (1.00 (0.98 to 1.02)). The proportion of patients who underwent clipping gradually decreased from 46.6% to 38.5%, while that of those who received coiling and those left untreated gradually increased from 16.9% to 22.6% and 35.4% to 38%, respectively. In-hospital mortality of coiled (0.94 (0.89 to 0.98)) and untreated (0.93 (0.90 to 0.96)) patients decreased, whereas that of clipped patients remained stable. CSC score improvement was associated with increased use of coiling (per 1-point increase, 1.14 (1.08 to 1.20)) but not with short-term patient outcomes regardless of treatment modality.Conclusions The 6-year trends indicated lower in-hospital mortality for patients with SAH (attributable to better outcomes), increased use of coiling and multidisciplinary care for untreated patients. Further increasing CSC capabilities may improve overall outcomes, mainly by increasing the use of coiling. Additional studies are necessary to determine the effect of confounders such as aneurysm complexity on outcomes of clipped patients in the modern endovascular era.

Objective: Early intervention with mechanical thrombectomy (MT) is expected to improve the functional outcome in patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO); however, a method for the effective detection of these patients in a prehospital setting and early transport to MT-capable hospitals has not been established. This study aimed to analyze the clinical impact and diagnostic performance of the emergent large vessel occlusion (ELVO) screen and its influence on the transportation time. Methods: The emergency medical services (EMS) in one of the secondary medical areas in Akita, Japan, introduced a prehospital triage system employing an ELVO screen and a rotation system of three MT-capable hospitals on December 1, 2021. Patients who were transferred to each of the three hospitals involved in the rotation system according to a predefined priority list from December 2021 to November 2022 were included in the triage group. Patients who underwent MT in the three hospitals before the introduction of the triage system were assigned to the pre-triage group. We compared the transportation time parameters between the two groups and analyzed the performance of the ELVO screen for the diagnosis of LVOs. This study was approved by the institutional review boards of all three hospitals. Results: Time parameters were compared between the 37 and 42 patients who underwent MT and had detailed data in the triage (n = 351) and pre-triage (n = 43) groups, respectively. The time from door to puncture tended to decrease in the triage group in all hospitals, with one hospital showing a statistically significant shortening of 14 min (p = 0.018). In the triage group, 209 ELVO screen-positive patients were present, with 60 (28.7%) of these having LVO. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and area under the curve of the ELVO screen to detect LVO under the present triage system were 87.0%, 47.2%, 28.7%, 93.7%, and 0.671, respectively. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that the introduction of a triage system may have shortened the time required for MT. ELVO screen may be considered a useful marker for screening LVO in prehospital settings in terms of the sensitivity and negative predictive value; however, further improvement may be necessary to reduce the rate of false positive results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This pilot study aimed to investigate the utility of near-infrared spectroscopy/indocyanine green (NIRS/ICG) for examining patients with occlusive cerebrovascular disease. Twenty-nine patients with chronic-stage atherosclerotic occlusive cerebrovascular disease were included. The patients were monitored using NIRS at the bedside. Using ICG time-intensity curves, the affected-to-unaffected side ratios were calculated for several parameters, including the maximum ICG concentration (ΔICGmax), time to peak (TTP), rise time (RT), and blood flow index (BFI = ΔICGmax/RT), and were compared to the affected-to-unaffected side ratios of the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and regional oxygen extraction fraction (rOEF) obtained using positron emission tomography with 15O-labeled gas. The BFI ratio showed the best correlation with the rCBF ratio among these parameters (r = 0.618; P = 0.0004), and the RT ratio showed the best correlation with the rOEF ratio (r = 0.593; P = 0.0007). The patients were further divided into reduced rCBF or elevated rOEF groups, and the analysis revealed significant related differences. The present results advance the measurement of ICG kinetics using NIRS as a useful tool for the detection of severely impaired perfusion with reduced rCBF or elevated rOEF. This method may be applicable as a monitoring tool for patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Abstract Background Recently, non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants such as direct thrombin and direct factor Xa inhibitors have been prescribed for prevention of embolic stroke. While in Japan, argatroban, also a direct thrombin inhibitor, is available for the treatment of atherothrombotic stroke patients. This study aimed to explore whether there is any differences between direct thrombin and direct factor Xa inhibitors regarding the inhibiting effect against thrombogenesis in the clinical setting of acute ischemic stroke. Methods Acute ischemic stroke patients newly prescribed anti-thrombotic agents were consecutively screened, and 44 patients with single medicine were enrolled (median 72.0 years-old). Blood samples were obtained at 1 and 2 weeks after the medication started. The extent of anticoagulation activity, inflammatory markers and platelet aggregation were assessed. Patients with antiplatelets were used as control. Results Prescribed antithrombotics were dabigatran (group D: n = 12), apixaban (group A: n = 14) and antiplatelet agents (group P: n = 18). Prevalence of stroke risks and anticoagulation activity were not different between groups D and A. The alteration of inflammatory markers in a week in the group A showed similar trend to those in the group P. The group D presented relatively lower amount of high-sensitive C-reactive protein and higher amount of pentraxin-3 compared with groups A and P. While 88.9% of group P patients showed decreased platelet aggregation activity with adenosine diphosphate, 55.6% of group D and 40.0% of group A presented the inhibition of platelet aggregation activity. Conclusions Even in acute ischemic stroke patients, both apixaban and dabigatran equally showed the anticoagulation activity. The reduction of inflammatory response might be prominent in apixaban, whereas the inhibition of platelet aggregation activity might be evident in dabigatran.

Background: Wall enhancement of intracranial saccular aneurysms in high-resolution magnetic resonance vessel wall imaging (MR-VWI) might indicate a ruptured aneurysm. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the diagnostic ability of wall enhancement to detect the ruptured aneurysms among multiple aneurysms. Methods: Patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and multiple intracranial aneurysms who underwent MR-VWI before craniotomy and clipping were included in the study. Three-dimensional T1-weighted fast spinecho sequences were obtained before and after gadolinium injection. Aneurysm rupture was estimated based on the subarachnoid clot distribution, aneurysmal contours, and MR-VWI findings. We selectively performed surgical clipping and confirmed the rupture site intraoperatively. Results: Thirteen patients with SAH with 13 ruptured and 17 unruptured aneurysms were treated at out facility. The accuracy rate of rupture site diagnosis using MR-VWI was 69.2% (9/13 cases). Each unruptured aneurysm was equally or more strongly enhanced in the other four cases than the ruptured aneurysms. In three of the four unruptured aneurysms with positive MR-VWI findings, atherosclerosis of the aneurysmal wall was observed during simultaneous or elective clipping surgery. Further, clipping surgery was performed without intraoperative rupture in two cases with the help of MR-VWI findings. Conclusion: Correct diagnosis of the rupture site using MR-VWI alone was unreliable due to false positives caused by the wall enhancement of unruptured aneurysms with atherosclerosis. Therefore, ruptured aneurysms should be detected using more information in addition to MR-VWI images. MR-VWI may be advantageous to determine surgical strategies when managing patients with SAH and multiple aneurysms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Some patients require a second surgical intervention for recurrence of treated aneurysms, untreated aneurysms in patients with multiple lesions, or de novo aneurysm. This retrospective review of the data was undertaken to evaluate when retreatment is necessary after initial aneurysm treatment. Methods: Cerebral aneurysms in 1755 patients were treated via clipping or coiling between January 1995 and September 2012. Postoperative followup was performed at 6 months after treatment and was repeated every 12 months (or longer) after treatment using three-dimensional computed tomography angiography or magnetic resonance angiography. Results: A cumulative total of 156 patients (8.9%) (117 women, 39 men; mean age: 55.0 years; range: 25-79 years) needed retreatment for rupture or regrowth of aneurysm (n = 31; ruptured (R)/remaining unruptured (U), 26/5), formation of de novo aneurysm (n = 45; R/U, 23/22), known untreated aneurysm in patients with multiple lesions (n = 78; R/U, 5/73), and hemorrhage from undetected aneurysm (n = 2). The regrowth risk is higher after endovascular treatment than after craniotomy and clipping. Median time to retreatment was 187 months (range: 11-280 months) for regrowth, 165 months (range: 22-330 months) for de novo, and 24 months (range: 2.8-417 months) for known untreated aneurysm. Regrowth or known with subarachnoid hemorrhage were frequently treated within 2 years from initial treatment. Conclusions: Aneurysms with residua or untreated aneurysms in patients with multiple lesions carry a risk of bleeding during a relatively short period, whereas there is a small but significant risk of de novo formation and subsequent hemorrhage at over 10 years after previous treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The study aims were to clarify safe duration for temporary vessel occlusion of the internal carotid artery (ICA) during aneurysm surgery as exactly as possible. We examined safe time duration (STD), where brain tissue exposed to ischemia will never fall into even the ischemic penumbra using intraoperative motor-evoked potential (MEP). Methods: In 45 patients, temporary occlusion of the ICA was performed with MEP. We measured STD as the duration of temporary vessel occlusion during which MEP changes did not occur. To estimate average STD, we calculated the 95% confidence interval for the population mean from sample data for STD in patients with MEP changes and in patients without changes. Results: In the proximal-control group, 4 of 38 patients (10.5%) developed intraoperative MEP changes. In 4 patients, the time to MEP change (i.e. STD) was 6.0 ± 2.5 min. STD was 3.8 ± 1.6 min in the 34 patients without changes. The average STD was 4.0 ± 0.6 min. In the trap group (proximal and distal flow control), five of seven patients (60.0%) experienced intraoperative MEP changes (STD, 2.3 ± 1.0 min). All patients in the trap group who developed MEP changes showed involvement of the anterior choroidal artery (AchA) in the trapped segment. Average STD was 2.3 ± 1.1 min when trapping involving the AchA. Conclusions: Although the study is preliminary based on the limited number of the patients, the 95% upper confidence limit for average STD was 4.6 min when the ICA was occluded proximal to the aneurysm, 3.4 min when the ICA was trapped involving the AchA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several de novo intracranial aneurysms have been described related to changes in hemodynamics after therapeutic occlusion of internal carotid artery (ICA); however, de novo aneurysms related to a supraclinoid arteriosclerotic stenosis of the ICA have not been described yet. Authors consider that it is important to bear in mind the possibility of developing an aneurysm in these special conditions. Case Description: The evolution of a 62-year-old patient with subarachnoid hemorrhage, intraparenchymal frontal hematoma with some atypical circumstances that were presented together as well as the treatment he received are shown in this report. We can see this patient suffered a right thalamic hemorrhage at the age of 51 years; this condition was associated to a severe atherosclerotic stenosis of right supraclinoid ICAy. A long term had elapsed since the diagnosis of the stenosis and the discovery of a ruptured ipsilateral de novo supraclinoid internal carotid artery-posterior communicating artery (ICA-PcomA) aneurysm. Conclusions: It seems like both conditions: the atherosclerotic supraclinoid ICA which tells of an Samano et at: Ruptured De Novo PcomA Aneurysm Associated with Arteriosclerotic Stenosis of Supraclinoid ICA. Altered vessel environment coupled to a long exposure time, hemodynamic changes, unbalance in the wall sheer stress could all of them lead to the development of the de novo aneurysm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]