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We aimed to assess stroke lesions, which play a key role in determining swallowing dysfunction, and findings of videofluoroscopy (VF), which provides the most accurate instrumental assessment for evaluating swallowing function, in patients with acute stroke. We enrolled 342 patients with first-time acute stroke (age 70.4 ± 12.6 years, 142 female). Patients with dementia and altered mental status due to severe stroke were excluded. All patients underwent cranial magnetic resonance imaging to identify the location of stroke lesion, VF, and tongue pressure measurement. Aspiration was detected in 45 (13.2%) patients. Multivariate analysis identified parietal lobe lesion and the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score as independent significant factors for aspiration (odds ratio 6.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.25–17.84, p

We herein report a 68-year-old man with neurologic immune-related adverse events (irAEs) who exhibited nivolumab-induced steroid-responsive progressive ataxia, tremor, and anti-thyroid antibodies. His symptoms matched abnormalities on N-isopropyl-p-(123I)-iodoamphetamine single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and dopamine transporter SPECT. Based on these clinical findings, we diagnosed the patient with a condition similar to the cerebellar type of Hashimoto's encephalopathy with nivolumab-induced anti-thyroid antibodies. Neurologic irAEs can be difficult to diagnose due to their varied clinical courses and lack of specific examinations. Therefore, a comprehensive approach, including assessments of autoantibodies and functional imaging, might be important for the diagnosis of neurologic irAEs.

Therapeutic indications for recombinant tissue plasminogen activator therapy and endovascular therapy need to be assessed for patients with hyperacute ischemic stroke. We investigated the relationship between the minimum apparent diffusion coefficient ratios in each Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score region and reversible lesion in patients with hyperacute ischemic stroke receiving recombinant tissue plasminogen activator therapy and/or treated with endovascular therapy.We retrospectively evaluated 29 patients with first ischemic stroke due to stenosis/occlusion of the internal carotid artery or horizontal portion of the middle cerebral artery that was successfully recanalized by recombinant tissue plasminogen activator therapy and/or treated with endovascular therapy. We measured the minimum apparent diffusion coefficient value in each Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score region (11 regions) and calculated the ratio.There was a significant difference in minimum apparent diffusion coefficient ratios between regions that included and did not include infarction (P.0001), which were distinguishable with a cutoff value of .808 (area under the curve = .80, P.001). A statistical difference in the proportion of infarction with the cutoff value was observed between patients treated with endovascular therapy and receiving recombinant tissue plasminogen activator therapy alone (9.9% versus 24.6%, P = .0041) and between patients with affected middle cerebral and internal carotid arteries (7.0% versus 24.2%, P = .0002). The lowest apparent diffusion coefficient ratio was associated with the time to recombinant tissue plasminogen activator injection.Minimum apparent diffusion coefficient ratios in Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score regions are useful in predicting therapeutic effect.

A 76-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of transthyretin-related familial amyloid polyneuropathy (TTR-FAP). She had developed bilateral vitreous opacity at the age of 58 and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation at the age of 62. She suffered gait disturbance and dysesthesia of the limbs at the age of 68 and was diagnosed with FAP involving a homozygous Val30Met mutation in the amyloidogenic transthyretin (ATTR) gene after a genetic test. Her parents were cousins, and her aunt's medical history included pacemaker implantation and polyneuropathy. At the age of 74, the patient developed gait disturbance and dysesthesia of her extremities. A neurological examination revealed visual loss, hearing impairment, distal muscle weakness, dysesthesia, and decreased sensation in all modalities in her extremities. She could neither walk nor remain standing without support. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a low intensity lesion on the surface of the cerebellum on T2*-weighted images and susceptibility-weighted images. A low intensity pattern that was indicative of the classical type of superficial siderosis was detected. At the age of 76, when she was admitted to our hospital because of the deterioration of her gait disturbance and dysesthesia, brain MRI showed that the patient's cerebellar atrophy and hemosiderin deposition had worsened. Some reports suggest that FAP patients that are homozygous for the ATTR Val30Met mutation are more likely to develop central nervous involvement than those that are heterozygous for the mutation. Superficial siderosis may be responsible for the central nervous involvement.

Lupus myelitis (LM) is a rare but serious complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In 2009, Birnbaum et al. suggested that LM could be classified into two subtypes, namely gray and white matter myelitis, based on neurological examination findings. Here we describe three cases of this disorder, one with signs of white matter dysfunction and two with signs of gray matter dysfunction. We discuss the potential role of autoantibodies in the development of LM.

Background Transient global amnesia is reported to be caused by cerebral venous congestion. Internal jugular venous flow reversal in particular with the Valsalva maneuver leads to cerebral venous congestion. In addition, Valsalva maneuver can also induce subarachnoid hemorrhage. Transient global amnesia and subarachnoid hemorrhage might have common a pathophysiology in cerebral venous congestion. Case presentation We report here the case of a 57-year-old woman who twice experienced convexal subarachnoid hemorrhage just after straining at stool following an episode of transient global amnesia. Digital subtraction angiography showed left temporal congestion. Left jugular vein ultrasonography revealed reflux with the Valsalva maneuver only in acute phase, indicating transient cerebral venous congestion. Conclusions Subarachnoid hemorrhage followed by transient global amnesia indicates a common factor between them. Transient venous congestion is discussed in order to explain this rare phenomenon. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12883-018-1042-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Aortic dissection is an infrequent but important cause of acute ischemic stroke (AIS), and must not be overlooked because of a possible worse outcome, especially with the use of an intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. We report a case of left carotid artery dissection and AIS originating from localized aortic arch dissection, pathologically caused by cystic medial necrosis in the tunica media.