Influence of Different Antiseizure Medications on Vascular Risk Factors in Children with Epilepsy.

Many studies have proposed that plasma homocysteine levels are increased as a side effect with the prolonged use of antiseizure medications. This is associated with an increase in carotid intima media thickness; hence, it increases the threat of atherosclerosis at a young age. We aimed to assess serum levels of homocysteine in epileptic children on long-standing antiseizure medications and its association with increased occurrence of cardiovascular disease. The study included 60 epileptic children aged between 2 and 15 years old who visited our pediatric neurology outpatient clinic and 25 apparently healthy children served as a control group. All included children were subjected to careful history taking, clinical examination, anthropometric measures, laboratory investigations including serum homocysteine levels and lipid profile, along with radiological assessment involving carotid intima media thickness and carotid stiffness. Results demonstrated a significant increase in the serum levels of homocysteine, carotid intima media thickness, and carotid stiffness in children on monotherapy of old generation antiseizure medications and polytherapy than that in children on monotherapy of new generation antiseizure medications and control children. Epileptic children on old generation and polytherapy antiseizure medications have an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases and need follow up for early intervention when needed.

Efficacy of Computed Tomography Pulmonary Angiography as Non-invasive Imaging Biomarker for Risk Stratification of Acute Pulmonary Embolism.

OBJECTIVES: Massive and sub-massive pulmonary embolisms (PEs) are associated with high mortality and morbidity. The mainstay of treatment for PE is anticoagulation. However, high- and intermediate-risk patients may benefit from interventional thrombolytic therapy. Computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) is widely available, fast, and non-invasive technique, and it can identify pulmonary thrombus down to at least a segmental level. In this study, we attempt to evaluate the efficacy of CTPA as a non-invasive imaging biomarker for risk stratification of acute PE (APE) patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a prospective study conducted on 150 patients who proved to have APE by CTPA. The simplified PE severity index score was obtained. The pulmonary artery obstruction index (PAOI) using and right to left ventricular (RV/LV) diameter ratios were calculated. RESULTS: The patients were divided into (1) high risk (shocked) and (2) non-high risk groups. There was a significant difference between the 1st and 2nd groups regarding PAOI. Hemodynamically stable patients were further subclassified according to the right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) into Group Ia (intermediate risk) and Group Ib (low risk). There was a significant difference between subgroups regarding PAOI (P < 0.0001, r = 0.385). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed PAOI >47% associated with RV/LV ratio >1. CONCLUSION: Our results support the use of CTPA as a surrogate imaging biomarker for both diagnosis and risk stratification of APE patients. CTPA allows assessment of clot burden through PAOI calculation and identification of intermediate-risk PE through the assessment of RVD.

MRI prognostic factors of tongue cancer: potential predictors of cervical lymph nodes metastases.

Background This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of three MR imaging parameters, which are tumour thickness, para-lingual distance and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value for prediction of cervical lymph nodes metastasis in cancer tongue patients. Patients and methods Fifty patients with proved cancer tongue by histopathological examination underwent MRI examination. T1 and T2- weighted MRI, diffusion-weighted images and post-contrast T1 fat suppression sequences were used. Results The patients were classified according to lymph nodes involvement as seen by MRI into two groups. Significant differences between positive and negative nodes groups were observed regarding tumour thickness and para-lingual distance (p-values = 0.008 and 0.003 respectively). ROC curve analyses revealed cut-off values >13.8 mm and ≤ 3.3 mm for tumour thickness and para-lingual distance respectively for prediction of nodes involvement. No significant differences between patients with and without cervical lymph nodes metastasis were found regarding corresponding ADC value of the tumour (p-value = 0.518). Conclusions Para-lingual distance and tumour thickness are factors that could influence pre-operative judgment and prognosis of tongue cancer patients. ADC value of the tumour itself seem not to be a reliable index of cancer progression to regional lymph nodes.

Diagnostic performance of CT cerebral blood volume colour maps for evaluation of acute infarcts; comparison with diffusion-weighted MRI within 12hours of major stroke onset.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Recent developments in treatment of ischemic stroke increased importance of defining limits of ischemic insult by imaging. Some studies postulated that CTP is a promising technique, which can discriminate between ischemic core and penumbra. In this study, we sought to evaluate diagnostic performance of CTP-CBV colour maps, regarded as a marker of acute infarct; in comparison with DWI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 48 patients with CTA proved major ischemic stroke within 12hours of onset, they had DWI and CTP exams within 1hour of each other, regardless of order. DWI sizes were calculated. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of CBV colour maps for identification of acute infarcts were calculated. ROC curve was constructed. RESULTS: CBV colour maps missed a lot of small infarcts that were identified by DWI with an overall diagnostic accuracy of (62.5%) and low sensitivity (38.5%) for patients whom DWI size<70mL. Area under curve was 0.79. DWI size was an only predictor of abnormal CBV colour maps (P=0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Assuming direct equivalence of DWI and CBV-based core might be unrealistic for individual patients in clinical practice. CBV colour maps are highly specific for acute infarcts, but with lack of sufficient sensitivity; particularly for small sized infarcts.

Time and diffusion lesion size in major anterior circulation ischemic strokes.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Major anterior circulation ischemic strokes caused by occlusion of the distal internal carotid artery or proximal middle cerebral artery or both account for about one third of ischemic strokes with mostly poor outcomes. These strokes are treatable by intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator and endovascular methods. However, dynamics of infarct growth in these strokes are poorly documented. The purpose was to help understand infarct growth dynamics by measuring acute infarct size with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) at known times after stroke onset in patients with documented internal carotid artery/middle cerebral artery occlusions. METHODS: Retrospectively, we included 47 consecutive patients with documented internal carotid artery/middle cerebral artery occlusions who underwent DWI within 30 hours of stroke onset. Prospectively, 139 patients were identified using the same inclusion criteria. DWI lesion volumes were measured and correlated to time since stroke onset. Perfusion data were reviewed in those who underwent perfusion imaging. RESULTS: Acute infarct volumes ranged from 0.41 to 318.3 mL. Infarct size and time did not correlate (R2=0.001). The majority of patients had DWI lesions that were <25% the territory at risk (<70 mL) whether they were imaged <8 or >8 hours after stroke onset. DWI lesions corresponded to areas of greatly reduced perfusion. CONCLUSIONS: Poor correlation between infarct volume and time after stroke onset suggests that there are factors more powerful than time in determining infarct size within the first 30 hours. The observations suggest that highly variable cerebral perfusion via the collateral circulation may primarily determine infarct growth dynamics. If verified, clinical implications include the possibility of treating many patients outside traditional time windows.