ICS16 Tag

21 Feb

Posted at 21:08h in Author Interviews, Clots - Coagulation, Stroke
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_21887" align="alignleft" width="90"]Thorsten Steiner, MD, PhD Klinikum Frankfurt Hoechst and Heidelberg University Hospital Germany Dr. Thorsten Steiner[/caption] Thorsten Steiner, MD, PhD Klinikum Frankfurt Hoechst and Heidelberg University Hospital Germany Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Steiner: Background of the study is intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) related to vitamin-K antagonists. The mortality rate is about 60%. Main reason for the high mortality rate is hematoma expansion which occurs in about 50% during the acute phase right after the start of symptoms. We performed an investigator initiated randomized controlled trial (RCT) and found that a 4-factor prothrombin complex (PCC) is superior to fresh frozen plasma (FFP) in normalizing the international normalized ratio (INR) and prevents hematoma expansion. This let to more deaths within 48 hours in the FFP-group but had no clinical impact at 3 months - but our study was powered to detect INR normalization and not a clinical endpoint.

20 Feb

Posted at 18:53h in Author Interviews, Epilepsy, Neurological Disorders, Stroke
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_21726" align="alignleft" width="96"]Alexander Merkler, MD Fellow in neuro critical care Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York Dr. Alexander Merkler[/caption] Alexander Merkler, MD Fellow in neuro critical care Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Merkler:  Patients with stroke often ask about what type of problems they may expect in the future. As neurologists, we often warm our patients about the risk for recurrent stroke, infections, clots, eating difficulty, and depression. Although seizures are a well-known complication of stroke, there was little data regarding the long-term rate of seizures in patients who have a stroke. Therefore, we sought to evaluate the long-term risk of seizures following stroke in order to better advise physicians and patients on the likelihood of developing seizures after suffering a stroke. We identified over 600,000 patients with stroke and found that the rate of seizures after stroke is high – 15.3% of all patients with stroke will develop seizures. Patients who have hemorrhagic stroke face an even higher rate of seizures – 24% of patients with hemorrhagic type stroke will develop seizures. The rate of seizures after ischemic stroke was significantly higher than previous literature - 13.5% of patients with an ischemic stroke had a seizure in our study.

17 Feb

Posted at 22:04h in Author Interviews, Pain Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_21710" align="alignleft" width="159"]Souvik Sen, MD, MS, MPH, FAHA Professor and Chair, Neurology Department, South Carolina Smart State Endowed Stroke Chair University of South Carolina School of Medicine Dr. Souvik Sen[/caption] Souvik Sen, MD, MS, MPH, FAHA Professor and Chair,  Neurology Department, South Carolina Smart State Endowed Stroke Chair University of South Carolina School of Medicine  Medical Research: What was the catalyst for conducting this study examining the association between migraine with aura and ischemic stroke subtypes? Dr. Souvik Sen: South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia are located in the “buckle” of the stroke belt, with one of the highest stroke related death rates in the country. An unfortunate trend is that younger patients are having strokes leading to death and disability. As a part of the workup for young stroke we are interested in migraine with aura and the type of stroke associated with this condition. Medical Research: What did you conclude as a result of the findings and how did they compare with your expectations at the beginning of the study?