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Introduction: Recent anticoagulant intake represents a contraindication for thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke. Idarucizumab reverses the anticoagulant effect of dabigatran, potentially allowing for thrombolysis. This nation-wide observational cohort study, systematic review, and meta-analysis evaluated the efficacy and safety of thrombolysis preceded by dabigatran-reversal in people with acute ischemic stroke. Patients and methods: We recruited people undergoing thrombolysis following dabigatran-reversal at 17 stroke centers in Italy (reversal-group), people on dabigatran treated with thrombolysis without reversal (no-reversal group), and age, sex, hypertension, stroke severity, and reperfusion treatment-matched controls in 1:7 ratio (control-group). We compared groups for symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH, main outcome), any brain hemorrhage, good functional outcome (mRS 0–2 at 3 months), and death. The systematic review followed a predefined protocol (CRD42017060274), and odds ratio (OR) meta-analysis was implemented to compare groups. Results: Thirty-nine patients in dabigatran-reversal group and 300 matched controls were included. Reversal was associated with a non-significant increase in sICH (10.3% vs 6%, aOR = 1.32, 95% CI = 0.39–4.52), death (17.9% vs 10%, aOR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.12–4.93) and good functional outcome (64.1% vs 52.8%, aOR = 1.41, 95% CI = 0.63–3.19). No hemorrhagic events or deaths were registered in no-reversal group (n = 12). Pooling data from 3 studies after systematic review (n = 1879), reversal carried a non-significant trend for sICH (OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 0.67–3.50), death (OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 0.73–3.24) and good functional outcome (OR = 2.46, 95% CI = 0.85–7.16). Discussion and conclusion: People treated with reperfusion strategies after dabigatran reversal with idarucizumab seem to have a marginal increase in the risk of sICH but comparable functional recovery to matched patients with stroke. Further studies are needed to define treatment cost-effectiveness and potential thresholds in plasma dabigatran concentration for reversal.

INTRODUCTION: Spinal cord ischemia (SCI) accounts for less than 1% of all strokes, mostly affecting the anterior cord. The ascending aorta (AA) is the rarest site of localization for aortic thrombi (5%). We report a singular case of posterior SCI due to a floating thrombus in the AA. CASE PRESENTATION: A 75-year-old male presented with acute left hemiparesis and left tactile and proprioceptive sensory loss below the seventh thoracic vertebral level (NIHSS 3). Spinal cord MRI showed a C4-C6 ischemic lesion, involving the left lateral-posterior hemi-cord. CT angiography showed a 6-millimetre floating thrombus in the AA. According to cardiovascular surgeons, dual antiplatelet therapy and high-dose statin were started. After seven days, the patient was discharged with a mild left distal hemiparesis and an unchanged sensory deficit. CONCLUSION: Posterior SCI is rarer than anterior ischemia and potentially unilateral. Its clinical presentation is mainly sensory with possible, but not systematic, weakness of the homolateral limbs. SCI is often caused by aortic pathologies in the elderly, but the incidence rate of non-aneurysmal aortic mural thrombus is about 0.45% and the AA represents a very rare location. In similar cases, conservative medical treatment is preferred despite the high-risk rate of embolic recurrences.

Carotid free-floating thrombus (FFT) is very rarely diagnosed in patients with acute ischemic stroke. It is a real clinical emergency due to the significant risk of death associated with thromboembolic complications. Herein, we present three patients with ischemic stroke caused by carotid FFT after less than 20 days from administration of mRNA vaccine BNT162b1 (Pfizer/BioNTech) for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To our knowledge, these are the first cases reporting carotid FTT following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the main cardiac cause of stroke, but it frequently remains undetected. In patients with cryptogenic stroke an Holter electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring for AF is recommended.To evaluate the prognostic role of Non-Conducted Premature Atrial Complexes (ncPACs) recorded on Holter ECG.We prospectively enrolled consecutive patients admitted to the Stroke Unit of our hospital with a diagnosis of cryptogenic stroke between December 2018 and January 2020; all patients underwent 24-h Holter ECG monitoring during hospitalization. Two follow-up visits were scheduled, including a 24-h Holter ECG at 3 and 6 months to detect AF.Among 112 patients, 58% were male with an average age of 72.2 ± 12.2 years. At follow-up, AF was diagnosed in 21.4% of the population. The baseline 24-h Holter ECG burden of ncPACs and Premature Atrial Complexes (PACs) was higher in patients with AF detected on follow-up (13.5 vs 2, p = 0.001; 221.5 vs 52; p = 0.01). ROC analysis showed that ncPACs had the best diagnostic accuracy in predicting AF (AUC:0.80; 95% CI 0.68-0.92). Cut-off value of ≥7 for ncPACs burden showed the highest accuracy with sensitivity of 62.5% and specificity 97.7% to predict AF onset at follow-up. Moreover, at multivariate Cox-proportional hazard analysis ncPACs burden ≥7 was a powerful independent predictor of AF onset (HR 12.4; 95% CI 4.8-32.8; p 0.0001).NcPACs burden ≥7 represents a new predictor of AF that could guide the screening of this arrhythmia in cryptogenic stroke patients.

Pulmonary opacities are described in many chest radiograph reports in stroke patients and are often asymptomatic. The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical features associated with asymptomatic pulmonary opacities (APO) and evaluate APO prognostic value in ischemic stroke.We prospectively analyzed patients with acute ischemic stroke without pneumonia symptoms referred to our stroke center. All patients underwent a chest x-ray within 48 hours after admission. We divided patients with APO (defined as asymptomatic area of increased pulmonary attenuation) and patients without APO. Firstly, we compared clinical, laboratory, and echocardiographic parameters between groups; secondly, APO were evaluated as a possible predictor of the neurological severity at discharge and functional outcome at 90 days.We included 162 patients, 78 of whom had APO. On univariate analysis, we observed a significant difference between patients with APO and patients without APO in terms of neutrophils (73,56±10,10 vs 69,72±12,29; p=0,031), atrial fibrillation (AF, paroxysmal 27,4% vs 25,6%; permanent 19% vs 2,6%; p0,002), cardioembolic etiology (37,2% vs 22,7%, p0,033), thrombectomy (58,3% vs 42,9%, p0,05), dysphagia/vomit (34,5% vs 14,10%, p0,005), admission NIHSS (14,20±5,98 vs 10,29±5,82, p=0,001), discharge NIHSS (8,68±6,73 vs 5,64±6,20; p=0,003), and 90 days mRS (3,47±2,12 vs 2,31±1,93; p=0,001). On multivariate analysis, APO were significantly associated with admission NIHSS and AF. APO were a predictor of outcome on univariate analysis, but not on multivariate.APO in acute ischemic stroke are associated with AF. APO were not a predictor of neurological and functional outcome.

Purpose: To assess utility of computed tomography perfusion (CTP) protocols for selection of patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) for reperfusive treatments and compare the diagnostic accuracy (ACC) in predicting follow-up infarction, using time-to-maximum (Tmax) maps. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed consecutive AIS patients evaluated for reperfusive treatments at comprehensive stroke center, employing a multimodal computed tomography. To assess prognostic accuracy of CTP summary maps in predicting final infarct area (FIA) in AIS patients, we assumed the best correlation between non-viable tissue (NVT) and FIA in early and fully recanalized patients and/or in patients with favorable clinical response (FCR). On the other hand, the tissue at risk (TAR) should better correlate with FIA in untreated patients and in treatment failure. Results: We enrolled 158 patients, for which CTP maps with Tmax thresholds of 9.5s and 16s, presented sensitivity of 82.5%, specificity of 74.6%, and ACC of 75.9%. In patients selected for perfusion deficit in anterior circulation territory, CTP-Tmax > 16s has proven relatively reliable to identify NVT in FCR patients, with a tendency to overestimate NVT. Similarly, CTP-Tmax > 9.5s was reliable for TAR, but it was overestimated comparing to FIA, in patients with unfavorable outcomes. Conclusions: In our experience, Tmax thresholds have proven sufficiently reliable to identify global hypoperfusion, with tendency to overestimate both NVT and TAR, not yielding satisfactory differentiation between true penumbra and benign oligoemia. In particular, the overestimation of NVT could have serious consequences in not selecting potential candidates for a reperfusion treatment.

Data regarding repeated reperfusion therapy (rRT) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS), including intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular treatment (EVT), are quite poor. To date, there are only few case reports and five larger studies on repeated EVT. We aimed to report our single-center experience and describe different clinical scenarios of recurrent AIS with emergent large vessel occlusion (LVO), for which the decision-making process could be challenging in the emergency setting. We retrospectively reviewed 765 consecutive AIS patients with LVO, who underwent reperfusion procedures at our comprehensive stroke center, from 2014 to 2020, and identified rRT patients. We identified and reviewed the medical records of eight patients (1.05%), who repeated reperfusive treatment for recurrent stroke within 30 days (early arterial reocclusion, EAR) and after 30 days (late arterial reocclusion, LAR). We assigned collected data to three clinical scenarios, each divided into EAR and LAR cases. All patients had recurrent emergent LVO in the same vessel territory previously affected, both in EAR and LAR patients. A good clinical outcome has been achieved in EAR patients (modified Rankin Score ≤ 2). Artery-to-artery embolic mechanism was more common in the EAR group, while LAR was more frequently associated with cardioembolic source. RRT appears to be an effective treatment option for recurrent LVO, and it should not be withheld in carefully selected patients. EVT should be considered, including aspiration-only and stenting procedures in patients with AIS and recurrent LVO after previous reperfusive treatments, even after a very short time.