Comparison of semi-quantitative and visual assessment of early MRI signal evolution in acute ischaemic stroke.

Background: The evaluation of DWI/FLAIR mismatch in ischaemic stroke patients with unknown, time from onset can determine the treatment strategy. This approach is based on, visual assessment and may be subject to insufficient inter-rater agreement. Objective: To compare the inter-rater agreement of visual evaluation of FLAIR MRI and proposed region of interest (ROI) semiquantitative method in large vessel occlusion (LVO) strokes. Methods: Five readers have analysed MRIs of 104 patients obtained within six hours of the onset of stroke symptoms resulting from LVO visually and semi-quantitatively. For the semiquantitative analysis, a ROI method was used to obtain relative signal intensity compared to the unaffected side. Cut-off values of 1.15 and 1.10 were tested. The analysis yielded FLAIR-positive (abnormal) and negative (normal) findings. Percentage agreement and Fleiss kappa coefficients were calculated. Results: The visual agreement of 5/5 readers and ≥ 4/5 readers occurred in 31% and 59% of cases respectively. Semi-quantitative evaluation using a cut-off value of 1.15 increased the agreements to 67% and 88% respectively. The agreement of visual evaluation was fair. The semi-quantitative method utilising the cut-off of 1.15 had moderate agreement although it increased the number of FLAIR-negative results compared to the visual evaluation. A low cut-off value of 1.10 didn't improve the agreement significantly. Conclusion: The inter-rater agreement of visual evaluation of FLAIR in patients with short-duration large vessel occlusion stroke was fair. The high cut-off value of semiquantitative evaluation increased the agreement although it changed the proportion of FLAIR positive and negative results.

Testosterone, personality traits and aggressive driving among young male drivers.

INTRODUCTION: Psychological testing to examine potentially aggressive behaviour is a gold standard, but it is not sufficient. Testosterone might increase an aggressive behaviour. AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether testosterone along with psychological assessment of fitness to drive could help to identify aggressive drivers. METHODS: Male participants (n=150) aged from 20 to 25, who possessed a driving license and drive at least 100 km per week, were evaluated in this study using an Inventory of traffic-relevant personality characteristics, the Sensation Seeking Scale and the Buss-Durkee Aggression Inventory. Saliva was collected for testosterone and cortisol measurements. The five binomial logistic models with dependent variables Caused an accident, Driving license taken away, Court trial, Intoxicated driving and Sporty self-report were tested in this study. RESULTS: The 'Intoxicated driving' model, was found to be statistically highly significant, explaining 48.8 % of the dependent variable's variance (χ2(16)=36.145, p<0.01). In this model with sensation seeking, actual testosterone and their interaction was highly significant and explained 20.4 % of intoxicated driving variability (χ2(3)=14.283, p<0.01). This was higher than sensation seeking scores only. CONCLUSION: To conclude, salivary testosterone might prove a biological marker that improves the identification of those with a high probability of aggressive driving or its subtypes (Tab. 3, Ref. 53).

[Trauma Analysis in Patients Examined by Whole-Body CT]. / Analýza traumat pacientu vysetrovaných CT polytraumatickým protokolem.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of this study was to assess the available information on patients with a whole-body CT and to ascertain whether the number of examinations could be reduced. MATERIAL AND METHODS This retrospective study included all patients who underwent a whole-body CT in the University Hospital Olomouc during a period of one year. Epidemiologic data of patients and information about the trauma and injuries suffered were collected. The injuries were assessed using the Abbreviated Injury Scale and the Injury Severity Score and classified as high- and low-energy injuries. These two groups were subsequently compared. RESULTS A total of 338 patients were examined, of whom 75% were male and the median age of all patients was 48 years. The most frequent causes of trauma were road accidents in 53% and falls from height in 25%. Ninety-one percent of examined patients were admitted to hospital, 42% underwent a surgery and 3% died. The average ISS was 10.7 and the severity of injury increased with age (p = 0.01). The patients after an attempted suicide and those after motorbike and bike accidents had the highest ISS observed. A higher ISS was detected more often in high-energy traumas than in low-energy traumas (p = 0.002). A completely negative polytrauma CT scan finding was observed in 5 patients with low-energy trauma and in 9 patients with high-energy trauma. CONCLUSIONS High-energy injuries were shown to be associated with higher severity as well as more negative CT scans than lowenergy ones. Bearing in mind that a whole-body CT scan is an extensive examination in which relatively high doses of radiation are used, it should always be considered whether a selective CT of fewer body parts would not be sufficient for the diagnosis. Key words: abbreviated injury scale, injury severity score, multiple trauma.

Early complications in surgery of umbilical and epigastric hernias.

INTRODUCTION: Repairs of umbilical and epigastric hernias are common surgical procedures; the choice of the surgical method generally depends on the size of the hernial sac and fascial defect. METHODS: Data of patients operated on for umbilical or epigastric hernias in our hospital during two years were assessed retrospectively. The study group included 264 patients; 212 had an umbilical hernia and 52 had an epigastric hernia. We assessed epidemiologic and clinical parameters and their correlation with the occurrence of early postoperative complications. We also looked for the recurrence rate, although during only a short follow-up period. RESULTS: In the case of umbilical hernias, early complications occurred in 6.7% (11/165) after surgery with a simple suture and in 4.3% (2/47) with mesh repair, and the recurrence rates were 3% (5/165) and 21.3% (10/47), respectively. The risk of early complications was significantly higher in larger hernias. The recurrence rate increased with older age, an increased size of the hernial sac and fascial defect, and in patients with type 2 diabetes. In epigastric hernias, early complications occurred in 5.3% (1/19) after surgery with a simple suture and in 6.1% (2/33) with mesh repair. Recurrences only occurred in operations with mesh repair, in 9% (3/33). The risk of early complications was significantly higher in type 2 diabetes patients. CONCLUSION: Early complications were slightly more frequent in epigastric hernia repairs with mesh implantation, but this was not the case of umbilical hernias. We recommend mesh implantation in larger and borderline sized hernias to reduce the risk of recurrence.