Functional and radiological outcomes after bridging therapy versus direct thrombectomy in stroke patients with unknown onset: Bridging therapy versus direct thrombectomy in unknown onset stroke patients with 10-point ASPECTS.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The aim was to assess functional and radiological outcomes after bridging therapy (intravenous thrombolysis plus mechanical thrombectomy) versus direct mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in unknown onset stroke patients. METHODS: A cohort study was conducted on prospectively collected data from unknown onset stroke patients who received endovascular procedures at ≤6 h from symptom recognition or awakening time. RESULTS: Of the 349 patients with a 10-point Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score (ASPECTS), 248 received bridging and 101 received direct MT. Of the 134 patients with 6-9-point ASPECTS, 123 received bridging and 111 received direct MT. Each patient treated with bridging was propensity score matched with a patient treated with direct MT for age, sex, study period, pre-stroke disability, stroke severity, type of stroke onset, symptom recognition to groin time (or awakening to groin time), ASPECTS and procedure time. In the two matched groups with 10-point ASPECTS (n = 73 vs. n = 73), bridging was associated with higher rates of excellent outcome (46.6% vs. 28.8%; odds ratio 2.302, 95% confidence interval 1.010-5.244) and successful recanalization (83.6% vs. 63%; odds ratio 3.028, 95% confidence interval 1.369-6.693) compared with direct MT; no significant association was found between bridging and direct MT with regard to rate of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (0% vs. 1.4%). In the two matched groups with 6-9-point ASPECTS (n = 45 vs. n = 45), no significant associations were found between bridging and direct MT with regard to rates of excellent functional outcome (44.4% vs. 31.1%), successful recanalization (73.3% vs. 76.5%) and symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (0% vs. 0%). CONCLUSIONS: Bridging at ≤ 6 h of symptom recognition or awakening time was associated with better functional and radiological outcomes in unknown onset stroke patients with 10-point ASPECTS.

Considerations about Occlusion of the Intracranial Distal Internal Carotid Artery.

Occlusion of the intracranial distal internal carotid artery (ICA) is one of the most critical conditions among the cases of acute stroke in the anterior circulation. The introduction of selective endovascular treatment first using thrombolytic agents replaced later by the mechanical thrombectomy using various devices has improved the prognosis in a certain number of these patients. Among the factors influencing the prognosis of these patients, one is the collateral circulation which in these cases is mainly characterized by leptomeningeal anastomoses. The collateral can, however, be impaired, by distal embolization and by anomalies of the Circle of Willis: the aim of this study is to describe these aspects.

Intrinsic connectivity networks within cerebellum and beyond in eating disorders.

Cerebellum seems to have a role both in feeding behavior and emotion regulation; therefore, it is a region that warrants further neuroimaging studies in eating disorders, severe conditions that determine a significant impairment in the physical and psychological domain. The aim of this study was to examine the cerebellum intrinsic connectivity during functional magnetic resonance imaging resting state in anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and healthy controls (CN). Resting state brain activity was decomposed into intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs) using group spatial independent component analysis on the resting blood oxygenation level dependent time courses of 12 AN, 12 BN, and 10 CN. We extracted the cerebellar ICN and compared it between groups. Intrinsic connectivity within the cerebellar network showed some common alterations in eating disordered compared to healthy subjects (e.g., a greater connectivity with insulae, vermis, and paravermis and a lesser connectivity with parietal lobe); AN and BN patients were characterized by some peculiar alterations in connectivity patterns (e.g., greater connectivity with the insulae in AN compared to BN, greater connectivity with anterior cingulate cortex in BN compared to AN). Our data are consistent with the presence of different alterations in the cerebellar network in AN and BN patients that could be related to psychopathologic dimensions of eating disorders.

Spontaneous ICA rupture: a severe late complication after giant nasopharyngeal angiofibroma resection.

Juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (JNA) is a benign vascular tumor occurring in young males. Surgery for giant JNA is a complex procedure, with a high risk of major complications. We report a rare case of massive epistaxis in a 15-year-old boy resulting from spontaneous rupture of the intracavernous tract of the internal carotid artery 20 days after resection of a giant JNA by midface degloving. The event was managed by an emergency arteriography with coils selectively deployed to occlude the vessel and to stop hemorrhage. This treatment has been shown to be effective in producing immediate hemostasis and stable long-term occlusion.

Mechanical thrombolysis using a solitaire stent.

Mechanical offers several advantages over drug thrombolysis: in particular, the haemorrhagic risk may be not significantly increased while working out the indications got intravenous drug thrombolysis. Available tools were in our hands inefficient, stiff and dangerous. We found a retrievable stent efficient and easy to handle for this purpose. This experience is described.

Patient and operator exposure during percutaneous vertebroplasty.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare exposure of patient and operator to ionising radiation during percutaneous vertebroplasty performed under combined computed tomography (CT) and fluoroscopic guidance or fluoroscopic guidance alone. MATERIALS AND METHODS: With the collaboration of our physics department, we measured exposure on ten patients undergoing vertebroplasty with combined CT and fluoroscopic guidance and on ten undergoing vertebroplasty with fluoroscopic guidance alone. RESULTS: Mean operator dose was approximately 0.8 microSv during vertebroplasty done with combined CT and fluoroscopic guidance and 5.8 microSv in procedures with fluoroscopic guidance alone. Mean patient dose was approximately 6 mSv for combined guidance and 8 mSv for fluoroscopic guidance, a difference that was not found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Although combined CT and fluoroscopic guidance is normally preferred for difficult areas such as the cervical and upper thoracic vertebrae, to ensure operator radiation protection, the technique should also be considered for areas normally treated under fluoroscopic guidance alone. However, a larger patient series is needed to correctly evaluate the real contribution of low-dose CT to patient exposure.

Neutralizing antibodies in multiple sclerosis patients treated with 375 micrograms interferon-beta-1b.

BACKGROUND: Neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) to IFN-beta may have a detrimental effect on treatment response, but increasing IFN-beta dose could reduce their occurrence. The OPTimization of Interferon for MS (OPTIMS) study was a multicenter trial investigating clinical and MRI outcomes with the approved IFN-beta-1b dose (250 microg) and a higher dose (375 microg), s.c. every other day. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the occurrence of NAbs and their effect on clinical and MRI response over a long-term (4-year) follow-up using cross-sectional and longitudinal statistical analysis. METHODS: Relapses or disease progression was assessed open-label and MRI scans were performed serially during the first year of the study. Neutralizing antibodies were measured using the MxA protein production neutralization assay. RESULTS: A total of 145 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis from 14 centers participated in the study. Neutralizing antibody frequency was negatively associated with MRI treatment response, but no detrimental effect of NAbs on the clinical response was observed. Results obtained using cross-sectional or longitudinal statistical approaches were similar. Over the 4-year period, NAb-positive patients treated with 375 microg had a significantly greater probability of NAb disappearance (hazard ratio: 3.41; 95% confidence interval: 1.78 - 6.43; p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Use of an IFN-beta-1b dose higher than the currently approved 250-microg dose is associated with an increased probability of NAb disappearance. The OPTIMS study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00473213.

Progressive spontaneous occlusion of a cerebellar AVM: pathogenetic hypothesis and review of literature.

Cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is a complex network of vascular channels consisting of arterial feeders, a nidus and enlarged venous drainage. AVMs usually increase in size with time, but may rarely obliterate; spontaneous angiographic regression occurs in less than 1.5% of cerebral AVMs. Several causes of spontaneous regression have been postulated such us hemodynamic alterations due to hemorrhage, hypercoagulability, atherosclerosis, and tromboembolism from associated aneurysms. In this report we describe a case of spontaneous, complete and asymptomatic occlusion of a left cerebellar hemispheric AVM; angiograms clearly demonstrate a progressive decrease in size of the AVM at follow-up. Thrombosis of the dominant-draining vein caused by turbulent blood flow seemed to be the main driver. Possible mechanisms leading to the occlusion are discussed and a review of the literature is reported.

MRI activity and neutralising antibody as predictors of response to interferon beta treatment in multiple sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE: To prospectively validate MRI activity and neutralising anti-interferon antibody (NAb) during the first 6 months of interferon beta treatment as response indicators in multiple sclerosis (MS). METHODS: Patients with relapsing-remitting MS were followed during the first 2 years of treatment. Neurological assessments were performed every 3 months or when a relapse was suspected. MRI scans performed at baseline and at 3, 4, 5 and 6 months after the start of treatment were assessed centrally for disease activity: new T2 or gadolinium enhancing T1 lesions. NAb were assessed using the MxA protein assay; positivity was defined as two consecutive titres >or=20 NU/ml. We evaluated the predictivity of an active scan, NAb positivity, or both, during the first 6 months of treatment, on the occurrence of clinical disease activity in the following 18 months. RESULTS: 147 patients were assessed at 16 centres. Predictivity parameters (with confidence intervals) were as follows: active scan, sensitivity (SN) 52% (34-69%), specificity (SP) 80% (65-91%), negative predictive value (NPV) 73% (58-77%), positive predictive value (PPV) 62% (42-79%), p = 0.002; NAb positivity, SN 71% (45-88%), SP 66% (55-76%), NPV 92% (82-97%), PPV 29% (16-45%), p = 0.01; active scan and NAb positivity, SN 71% (38-91%), SP 86% (73-94%), NPV 94% (86-98%), PPV 50% (29-70%), p = 0.0003. CONCLUSIONS: MRI activity and NAb occurrence during the first 6 months of interferon beta treatment were reliable predictors of long term clinical response, particularly when combined. Patients with negative predictors showed a less than 10% risk of developing clinical activity. Patients with positive predictors showed a 50% risk of further clinical activity. These patients need to be followed carefully with further MRI and NAb tests.

Paediatric dissecting aneurysm of the posterior cerebral artery:.case report and review of the literature.

SUMMARY: Aneurysms in children are rare.We describe a large spontaneous dissecting aneurysm of the posterior cerebral artery. The clinical presentation was characterized by headache as the sole symptom due to a mass effect leading to hydrocephalus. Acute treatment with a temporary ventricular shunt was followed by occlusion of the aneurysm via an endovascular approach leading to a complete recovery of the patient.

Lacunes and other holes: diagnosis, pathogenesis, therapy.

Lacunar ischemic lesions are related to a pathology involving perforators, due to direct changes in the arteries or to an indirect mechanism, such as cardiac or artery to artery embolism, or to hypoperfusion in cases of cardiac failure, or proximal occlusion of large arteries. Changes involving the large intracranial arteries have progressively been taken into consideration as a cause of the disease. This latter aspect is interesting since possible endovascular treatment can be proposed in selected cases. In patients with lacunar syndrome an extended clinical and neuroradiological approach is indicated to choose the most appropriate therapy. Not all lesions recognizable on CT/MR are the expressions of ischemic lesions, this is another important aspect that should be considered in the differential diagnosis.

Atherosclerotic adult Moya-Moya disease in a patient with hyperhomocysteinaemia.

Moya-Moya is a rare cerebrovascular occlusive disease characterized by bilateral stenosis or occlusion at the terminal portion of the internal carotid artery and abnormal vascular network at the base of the brain, named "moya-moya". In children, Moya-Moya disease usually presents with ischemic cerebrovascular events, mainly TIA or lacunar stroke, leading to mental deterioration. In adults, especially in females, it presents with intracranial haemorrhages. We describe the case of an adult patient with an atherosclerotic Moya-Moya disease which presented with a cerebral borderzone infarction.

Periprocedural morbidity and mortality by endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysms with GDC: a retrospective 12-year experience of a single center.

Despite increasing experience and improved material, endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysms still has risks linked to the technique itself and to the specificity of the pathology treated. The purpose of this report is to examine procedural technical and clinical negative events, even minimal ones, occurring in this type of treatment. We considered 557 procedures carried out from January 1994 to December 2005 in 533 patients harboring 550 aneurysms. Of the patients, 448 presented with SAH and 85 with unruptured aneurysms. All procedures were performed under general anesthesia. The GDC-10 system was routinely used. Additional devices like the balloon remodeling technique, Trispan and stents were also occasionally used. Every procedural complication occurring during or soon after treatment was registered. Endovascular treatment was completed in 539 out of 557 procedures. There were 18 failures (3.3%). Occlusion of the aneurysm was judged complete in 343 (64%), near complete in 184 (34%) and incomplete in 12 (2%). Procedural complications occurred in 72 (13%) of the cases. The most frequent negative events were thromboembolisms (6.6%) and ruptures (3.9%). Other types (coil migration, transient occlusions of the parent vessel, dissections and early rebleeding) were rarer (2.5%). In the majority of cases there were no clinical consequences. Procedural morbidity and mortality were 1.1 and 1.8%, respectively. Considering the 449 procedures performed in ruptured and the 90 in the unruptured aneurysms separately, morbidity and mortality were 1.1 and 2.2% in the former group and 1.1 and 0% in the latter. Many factors influence the risk of complications. Being progressively aware of this and with increasing experience, the frequency can be limited. Negative events linked to the procedure have more significant serious clinical consequences in patients admitted in a critical clinical condition after SAH, because of the already present changes involving the brain parenchyma and cerebral circulation.

The effect of gender on planning: An fMRI study using the Tower of London task.

Since the introduction of brain mapping, evidences of functional gender differences have been corroborating previous behavioral and neuropsychological results showing a sex-specific brain organization. We investigated gender differences in brain activation during the performance of the Tower of London (TOL) task which is a standardized test to assess executive functions. Eighteen healthy subjects (9 females and 9 males) underwent fMRI scanning while solving a series of TOL problems with different levels of difficulty. Data were analyzed by modeling both genders and difficulty task load. Task-elicited brain activations comprised a bilateral fronto-parietal network, common to both genders; within this network, females activated more than males in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and right parietal cortex, whereas males showed higher activity in precuneus. A prominent parietal activity was found at low level of difficulty while, with heavier task demand, several frontal regions and subcortical structures were recruited. Our results suggest peculiar gender strategies, with males relying more on visuospatial abilities and females on executive processing.

Functional MR study of a motor task and the tower of London task at 1.0 T.

INTRODUCTION: The use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for clinical applications and basic neuroscience is constantly increasing. The discussion about minimum performance requirement for a correct implementation of fMRI is still open, and one of the critical points is the magnetic field strength. We tested the feasibility of fMRI at 1.0 T during motor and cognitive tasks. METHODS: Fourteen healthy subjects were scanned during a motor task and 12 while performing the Tower of London task. In the activated areas, the percentage signal change due to BOLD (blood oxygenation level dependent) contrast was analysed. To check basic image quality of the acquisition system we measured quality indices in a temporal series of images of a phantom. RESULTS: Motor and cognitive brain activations matched previous results obtained at higher field strengths. The mean percentage change over subjects in the motor task was in the range 1.3-2.6% for the primary motor area and 0.8-6.7% for the cerebellum. In the cognitive task, the mean percentage change over subjects was 0.7-1.2% for a frontal area and 0.6-2.8% for a parietal area. The percentage noise of the phantom temporal series was less than 0.4%. Percentage changes and signal to noise ratio, although lower than that obtained with high-field systems, allowed activation maps to be obtained in all subjects. CONCLUSION: Our results replicate previous fMRI results demonstrating reproducible motor-related brain activations and extend the field to a complex cognitive task, thus providing evidence of the safety for routine clinical use of 1-T equipment.

Every-other-day interferon beta-1b versus once-weekly interferon beta-1a for multiple sclerosis (INCOMIN Trial) II: analysis of MRI responses to treatment and correlation with Nab.

BACKGROUND: In RRMS, clinical exacerbations are usually associated with different types of active lesions at MRI, including: hyperintense lesions on T1-weighted post-gadolinium sequences; new hyperintense lesions or enlarging old lesions on PD/T2-weighted scans; or new hypointense lesions on T1-weighted pre-Gd sequences. OBJECTIVE/METHODS: Primary outcome was the occurrence of patients with at least one active MRI lesion of the different types indicated above during treatment with 250 microg every other day (EOD) interferon beta (IFNbeta)-1b or 30 microg once weekly (OW) IFNbeta-1a in outpatients with RRMS (INCOMIN Trial). RESULTS: The number of patients with at least one 'active' lesion, evaluated over the two-year follow-up, was significantly (P = 0.014) lower in the EOD IFNbeta-1 b arm (1 3/76, 17%) then in the OW IFNbeta-1a arm (25/73, 34%). NAb frequency over two-year follow-up was 22/65 (33.8%) in the EOD IFNbeta-1b arm and 4/62 (6.5%) in the OW IFNbeta-1a arm, significantly greater in the EOD IFNbeta-1b arm. CONCLUSIONS: The development of MRI active lesions is strongly reduced by EOD-IFNbeta-1b compared with OW-IFNbeta-1a, indicating that EOD-IFNbeta-1b is more effective than OW-IFNbeta-1a in reducing ongoing inflammation and demyelination in MS. Logistic regression showed that NAb status did not affect the risk of MRI activity.

Endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysms in elderly patients.

We report our experience in the endovascular treatment with detachable platinum coils of ruptured or symptomatic unruptured cerebral aneurysms in 61 patients aged 70-82 years. Complete occlusion was achieved in 38, subtotal in 17 and partial in one. The treatment failed in five patients. Clinical follow-up was performed in all patients for 8 months to 8 years. No bleeding occurred during the follow-up period. Outcome was favourable in 63% of the patients. When we compared the outcome of elderly patients with those of younger age endovascularly treated in the same period of time, we found a significantly higher frequency of poorer outcome in the elderly group (chi(2) = 9.084; P = 0.011). The frequency of favourable outcome in the elderly was significantly lower than in the younger group for H-H IV-V (chi(2) = 9.299; P = 0.010). The most important factor influencing the outcome was not age itself, but primary clinical condition on admission. The therapy of symptomatic aneurysms in elderly patients should not be purely conservative--a direct approach of the aneurysm should be considered. Endovascular treatment whenever possible seems to be a good alternative to surgery.