ABSTRACT
Background@#and Purpose The Save ChildS Study demonstrated that endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) is a safe treatment option for pediatric stroke patients with large vessel occlusions (LVOs) with high recanalization rates. Our aim was to determine the long-term cost, health consequences and cost-effectiveness of EVT in this patient population. @*Methods@#In this retrospective study, a decision-analytic Markov model estimated lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Early outcome parameters were based on the entire Save ChildS Study to model the EVT group. As no randomized data exist, the Save ChildS patient subgroup with unsuccessful recanalization was used to model the standard of care group. For modeling of lifetime estimates, pediatric and adult input parameters were obtained from the current literature. The analysis was conducted in a United States setting applying healthcare and societal perspectives. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed. The willingness-to-pay threshold was set to $100,000 per QALY. @*Results@#The model results yielded EVT as the dominant (cost-effective as well as cost-saving) strategy for pediatric stroke patients. The incremental effectiveness for the average age of 11.3 years at first stroke in the Save ChildS Study was determined as an additional 4.02 lifetime QALYs, with lifetime cost-savings that amounted to $169,982 from a healthcare perspective and $254,110 when applying a societal perspective. Acceptability rates for EVT were 96.60% and 96.66% for the healthcare and societal perspectives. @*Conclusions@#EVT for pediatric stroke patients with LVOs resulted in added QALY and reduced lifetime costs. Based on the available data in the Save ChildS Study, EVT is very likely to be a cost-effective treatment strategy for childhood stroke.
ABSTRACT
ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to evaluate the differences of clinical presentations and the impact of healthcare organization on outcomes of neurological COVID-19 patients admitted during the first and second pandemic waves. MethodsIn this single center cohort study, we included all patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection admitted to a Neuro-COVID Unit. Demographic, clinical and laboratory data were compared between patients admitted during the first and second waves of COVID-19 pandemic. Results223 patients were included, of whom 112 and 111 hospitalized during the first and second pandemic waves, respectively. Patients admitted during the second wave were younger and exhibited pulmonary COVID-19 severity, resulting in less oxygen support (n=41, 36.9% vs n=79, 70.5%, p<0.001) and lower mortality rates (14.4% vs 31.3%, p=0.004). The different healthcare strategies and early steroid treatment emerged as significant predictors of mortality independently from age, premorbid conditions and COVID-19 severity in cox regression analyses. ConclusionsDifferences in healthcare strategies during the second phase of COVID-19 pandemic probably explain the differences in clinical outcomes independently of disease severity, underlying the importance of standardized early management of neurological patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Migraine has been shown to increase cerebral excitability, promote rapid infarct expansion into tissue with perfusion deficits, and result in larger infarcts in animal models of focal cerebral ischemia. Whether these effects occur in humans has never been properly investigated. METHODS: In a series of consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke, enrolled in the setting of the Italian Project on Stroke at Young Age, we assessed acute as well as chronic infarct volumes by volumetric magnetic resonance imaging, and compared these among different subgroups identified by migraine status. RESULTS: A cohort of 591 patients (male, 53.8%; mean age, 37.5±6.4 years) qualified for the analysis. Migraineurs had larger acute infarcts than non-migraineurs (median, 5.9 cm³ [interquartile range (IQR), 1.4 to 15.5] vs. 2.6 cm³ [IQR, 0.8 to 10.1], P<0.001), and the largest volumes were observed in patients with migraine with aura (median, 9.0 cm³ [IQR, 3.4 to 16.6]). In a linear regression model, migraine was an independent predictor of increased log (acute infarct volumes) (median ratio [MR], 1.64; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22 to 2.20), an effect that was more prominent for migraine with aura (MR, 2.92; 95% CI, 1.88 to 4.54). CONCLUSIONS: These findings reinforce the experimental observation of larger acute cerebral infarcts in migraineurs, extend animal data to human disease, and support the hypothesis of increased vulnerability to ischemic brain injury in people suffering migraine.
