Depression may negatively affect the change in freezing of gait following subthalamic nucleus stimulation in Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the influence of preoperative depression on the change in freezing of gait (FOG) following subthalamic nucleus stimulation (STN-DBS) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS: One hundred and twelve PD patients were included who received bilateral STN-DBS. Of these, 33 had no preoperative depression (PD-ND) and the other 79 had preoperative depression (PD-D). Each PD-ND patient was matched with one PD-D patient by the propensity score for which sex, age at PD onset, disease duration, UPDRS-III score during off-medication state, levodopa-equivalent daily dose, and mini mental state examination were the independent variables. We compared both a FOG-questionnaire (FOG-Q) and the axial score from UPDRS-III between the two groups over 12-month follow-up. RESULTS: During the off-medication state, FOG-Q at 12-month was decreased with STN-DBS in both PD-ND (-52.9%, p < 0.001) and PD-D (-24.2%, p < 0.001) with a significant difference in the change of FOG in favor of PD-ND (p = 0.001). Similarly, there was an improvement in the axial score for both PD-ND (-66.1%, p < 0.001) and PD-D (-45.3%, p < 0.001) at 12-month with a significant difference between the groups. (p = 0.005). During the on-medication state, both the FOG-Q and axial score at 12-month were not improved with STN-DBS in the PD-ND and PD-D with no difference between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that preoperative depression negatively affects the outcome of FOG following STN-DBS in the off-medication state but not in the on-medication state.

Safety and efficacy of mechanical thrombectomy with the Solitaire device in large artery occlusion.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) has limited efficacy in proximal large vessel occlusions. This study was to assess the safety and efficacy of mechanical thrombectomy with a retrievable Solitaire stent in acute large artery occlusions . MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a single center study enrolling patients treated with Solitaire-assisted thrombectomy between November 2010 and March 2011. Inclusion criteria were severe stroke of National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score ≥10, treatment initiation within 6 hours from onset, and an angiographically verified occlusion of proximal middle cerebral artery (MCA) or internal carotid artery (ICA). The primary outcome was recanalization defined as Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarct (TICI) reperfusion grade 2b/3. Secondary outcomes were good functional outcome at 3 months (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] ≤2), early substantial neurological improvement (NIHSS score improvement ≥8 at 24 hours), and symptomatic hemorrhagic transformation (SHT). RESULTS: Ten patients were consecutively enrolled: Age: 72.4 ΁ 5.7 years; female: 70%; baseline median NIHSS score: 19.5; and ICA occlusion in 50% and M1 portion of MCA occlusion in 50%. Six patients received intravenous TPA before intra-arterial treatment, and five patients were treated with adjuvant intra-arterial urokinase. Successful recanalization was achieved in 7 (70%) patients. Four (40%) patients had a good functional outcome at 3 months, and three (30%) patients had an early substantial neurological improvement. SHT occurred in two patients (20%), and 3-month mortality rate was 30%. There was no procedure-related complication. CONCLUSIONS: Mechanical thrombectomy with the Solitaire device can effectively recanalize proximal large vessel occlusions, and potentially improves clinical outcome.

Weekend admission in patients with acute ischemic stroke is not associated with poor functional outcome than weekday admission.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Stroke requires consistent care, but there is concern over the "weekend effect", whereby a weekend admission results in a poor outcome. Our aim was to determine the impact of weekend admission on clinical outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke in Korea. METHODS: The outcomes of patients admitted on weekdays and weekends were compared by analyzing data from a prospective outcome registry enrolling 1247 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke admitted to four neurology training hospitals in South Korea between September 2004 and August 2005. The primary outcome was a poor functional outcome at 3 months, defined as modified Rankin Scale (mRS) of 3-6. Secondary outcomes were 3-month mortality, use of thrombolysis, complication rate, and length of hospitalization. Shift analysis was also performed to compare overall mRS distributions. RESULTS: On weekends, 334 (26.8%) patients were admitted. Baseline characteristics were comparable between the weekday and weekend groups except for more history of heart disease and shorter admission time in weekend group. Univariate analysis revealed poor functional outcome at 3 months, 3-month mortality, complication rate, and length of hospitalization did not differ between the two groups. In addition, overall mRS distributions were comparable (p=0.865). After adjusting for baseline factors and stroke severity, weekend admission was not associated with poor functional outcome at 3 months (adjusted odds ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.74-1.50). Furthermore, none of secondary endpoints differed between the two groups in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Weekend admission was not associated with poor functional outcome than weekday admission in patients with acute ischemic stroke in this study. The putative weekend effect should be explored further by considering a wider range of hospital settings and hemorrhagic stroke.