Seizure development after stroke.

Although there have been many studies on seizures following stroke, there is still much we do not know about them. In this study, we evaluated the characteristics of seizures in stroke patients. There were 2267 patients with a first-ever stroke, and after excluding 387 patients, 1880 were available for analysis. Of these 1880 patients, we evaluated 200 patients with seizures and 400 patients without seizures. We investigated the seizures according to age, gender, stroke type, the aetiology of ischaemic stroke and the localisation of the lesion. The seizures were classified as early onset and late onset and the seizure type as partial, generalised or secondarily generalised. Seizures occurred in 200 (10.6%) of 1880 strokes. The number of patients with seizures were 138 (10.6%) in ischaemic stroke group and 62 (10.7%) in haemorrhagic stroke group. Patients with ischaemic strokes had 41 embolic (29.7%) and 97 thrombotic (70.3%) origin, and these were not statistically significant in comparison with controls. Cortical involvement for the development of seizures was the most important risk factor (odds ratios = 4.25, p < 0.01). It was concluded that embolic strokes, being younger than 65 years old, and cortical localisation of stroke were important risks for developing seizures.

The sensitivity of sympathetic skin responses and standard electrophysiological methods in diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy.

This study was planned to compare the sensitivity of standard electrophysiologic methods and sympathetic skin responses (SSRs) in the diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy. Randomly selected 49 patients, who were followed by Haydarpasa Numune Hospital Diabetes Outpatient Department and age matched 26 healthy persons were included in the study. All of the patients and control subjects were assessed by standard electrophysiologic methods (nerve conduction velocities, H-reflex, F-waves) and SSRs parameters. The abnormality ratios were 85.8% for standard electrophysiological methods, and 76.2% for SSRs. The higher abnormality ratio for SSRs was found important. As a result, it was concluded that standard electrophysiologic methods (including F-wave latency) and SSRs investigations for the early diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy, could be very useful in the prevention of morbidity.