Search

• Similar recanalization rate is achieved in patients with and without cancer. • Active cancer is associated with higher mortality in stroke patients. • Independency is possible in patients with cancer with successful thrombectomy. • Patients with stroke and previous cancer or without cancer have similar outcome. Cancer-related coagulopathy is a known cause of stroke and can lead to formation of thrombi with a unique composition. The effectiveness of mechanical thrombectomy in cancer patients is still unknown. The aim of the study was to evaluate the rate of successful reperfusion and the clinical outcome in cancer patients with stroke treated with endovascular therapies, compared to patients without cancer. We performed a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients with ischemic stroke treated with endovascular therapies at our hospital between January 2008 and January 2016. A sub-group analysis was performed including only patients with cryptogenic stroke. We included in the final analysis 14 patients with active cancer and 267 patients without cancer. Successful reperfusion was achieved in 79% of patients without cancer, and 71% of patients with active cancer (P = 0.68). Patients with cryptogenic stroke and active cancer had a lower reperfusion rate compared to patients with cryptogenic stroke without active cancer, although not significantly so (2/4 cancer patients, 50% vs 37/50, 74%, p: 0.31). Mortality rate was higher among cancer patients. Hemorrhagic transformation occurred in similar proportions in the two groups. Endovascular treatment in cancer patients seems, thus, effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate ictal motor inhibition occurring during seizures in a patient with a tumor located in the left fronto-mesial pre-central cortex.Methods: Awake and sleep video-polygraphic monitoring, recording scalp EEG and EMG activities from several cranial, trunk and limbs muscles, was performed in a patient with drug-resistant recurrent focal motor seizures before surgical treatment. Speech/motor tasks were repeatedly administered to the patient during the recording sessions in order to evaluate the occurrence of early ictal motor inhibition.Results: Thirty-four seizures were recorded during wakefulness showing a stereotyped pattern of inhibition of speech and voluntary movements followed by sequential activation of upper limb–trunk–lower limb muscles contralateral to the tumor. Polygraphic recordings showed that: (1) initial speech and motor arrest were associated with the EMG evidence of progressive muscle tone suppression in cranial and right distal upper limb muscles; (2) tonic contraction of right deltoid, biceps brachii, intercostalis and paraspinalis muscles appeared after motor inhibition; (3) tonic-clonic activity in the right tibialis anterior muscle occurred at the end of seizures. Eleven subclinical seizures were recorded during sleep showing mild focal tonic EMG activity in right side trunk muscles.Conclusions: Our findings evidenced early and somatotopically organized inhibition of voluntary movement at the beginning of epileptic seizures with fronto-mesial onset. The demonstration that speech and motor arrest were associated with progressive EMG suppression in cranial and limb muscles supports the hypothesis of motor inhibitory seizures originating in the mesial aspect of pre-motor frontal cortex. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]