ObjectiveTo analyze the patterns of recurrent strokes among patients with initial ischemic stroke and investigate the possible predictors of recurrent ischemic stroke. MethodPatients with recurrent strokes after initial ischemic strokes hospitalized in our hospital between January 2008 and December 2012 were included in the study, and the data of general demographic information, life history, past medical history and laboratory test results were all retrospectively analyzed. The patterns of recurrent strokes in patients with initial ischemic stroke were analyzed, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the independent risk factors for recurrent ischemic stroke. ResultsA total of 237 patients were included in this study, including 198 patients with recurrent ischemic stroke and 39 patients with recurrent hemorrhagic stroke. Among patients with recurrent ischemic stroke, there were 137 patients with anterior circulation stroke, 52 with posterior circulation stroke and 9 with multiple infarction. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that older age at initial stroke onset[OR=1.968, 95%CI (1.533, 2.152), P=0.009], frequent mood swings[OR=1.345, 95%CI (1.121, 1.783), P=0.011], hyperlipidemia[OR=1.436, 95%CI (1.216, 1.732), P=0.018] and atrial fibrillation[OR=3.417, 95%CI (2.927, 4.897), P=0.005] were independent risk factors for recurrent ischemic stroke. ConclusionsIschemic stroke is the most common pattern of recurrent strokes; and aging, frequent mood swings, hyperlipidemia and atrial fibrillation are possible predictors of recurrent ischemic stroke after the initial ischemic stroke.
Ischemic stroke can lead to disruption in the oral ecology and an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria, resulting in periodontal disease. Meanwhile, the aspiration and pulmonary infection resulted from dysphagia can increase the unfavorable prognosis. Some studies have found that there exist oral bacteria in the thrombus in myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke patients, showing that oral flora might be associated with thrombus and stroke-associated pneumonia. There are few high quality clinical studies or evidence-based guidelines. Priority should be given to high quality research that provides oral care standards, and incorporating oral care into future stroke pathways to improve the prognosis.
Objective To systematically evaluate the influence of alcohol intervention on the outcome of rats and mice with ischemic stroke. Methods Databases including PubMed, EMbase, BIOSIS and CNKI were electronically searched from establishment dates of databases to June 2012 to retrieve animal experiments on the influence of alcohol intervention on the outcome of rats and mice with ischemic stroke. The relevant studies were identified according to the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, the data were extracted, and the quality was evaluated. Then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.1 software. Results Eight studies were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that no significant difference was found between the alcohol intervention group and the control group (MD=?6.98%, 95%CI ?20.38% to 6.43%, P=0.31). However, compared with the control group, low dose of acute alcohol intervention (less than 2 g/kg) improved the prognosis of ischemic stroke with a significant difference (MD=?22.83%, 95%CI ?38.77% to ?6.89%, P=0.005), and highly-concentrated of chronic alcohol intervention worsened the cerebral ischemic damage of rats and mice with a significant difference (MD=24.06%, 95%CI 10.54% to 37.58%, P=0.000 5). Conclusion Low dose of acute alcohol intervention (less than 2 g/kg) could improve the prognosis of rats and mice with ischemic stroke which has the potential neuro-protective effects. However, highly-concentrated chronic alcohol intervention could worsen the cerebral ischemic damage. Due to the limitations of the included studies such as publication bias, the influence of alcohol intervention on the outcome of rats and mice with ischemic stroke could be overestimated.
ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between the level of homocysteine (HCY) and the overall burden of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) in patients with ischemic stroke.MethodsA total of 322 patients with first-ever ischemic stroke admitted to the People’s Hospital of Deyang City between January 2016 and December 2017 were enrolled. The patients’ demographic information, clinical information, and serum HCY concentration were collected after admission. The presence or absence of a CSVD was assessed by MRI and the overall burden score for the CSVD was determined. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess whether serum HCY level was associated with the overall burden of CSVD.ResultsThe median level of HCY was 13.2 μmol/L (inter-quartile range: 4.3 to 22.6 μmol/L). Univariate analysis showed that the difference of HCY levels among patients with different total CSVD scores was statistically significant (F=6.874, P=0.001); Spearman correlation analyses showed that the HCY level grouped by quartiles was correlated to the number of lacunar infarctions (rs=0.267, P=0.001), Fazekas score of white matter lesions (rs=0.122, P=0.042), and enlarged perivascular space (EPV) score (rs=0.319, P=0.001), but was not correlated to cerebral microhemorrhage (rs=?0.010, P=0.869). After multivariate regression analysis to adjust the effects of other factors, compared with the patients with HCY levels in the lowest quartile group, the patients with HCY levels in the highest quartile group were more likely to develop lacunar infarction [odds ratio (OR)=1.892, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.012, 2.987)], white matter lesions [OR=1.548, 95%CI (1.018, 1.654)], severe EPV [OR=6.347, 95%CI (3.592, 13.978)], and the increase in the CSVD score [OR=2.981, 95%CI (1.974, 5.398)].ConclusionIn patients with ischemic stroke, elevated HCY levels may be associated with the overall burden of the CSVD.
Objective To know more about the correlation between patent foramen ovale (PFO) and ischemic stroke among young and middle-aged people through analysis on various risk factors of ischemic stroke. Methods Eighty-three patients with cerebral infarction from 15 to 55 years old diagnosed for the first time in the Department of Neurology of Xianyang Hospital between January 2016 and January 2017 were selected as the study subjects. They were divided into two groups, PFO group (n=42) and non-PFO group (n=41). Seventy-eight heathy people from the Physical Examination Department of the same hospital were selected as controls. All patients and heathy subjects underwent transcranial Doppler (TCD) foaming experiments, and the occurrence and shunt volume of PFO were observed. General information and cerebrovascular disease risk factors of the patients were investigated. Results The age of subjects in PFO and non-PFO groups was not significantly different (P>0.05). Among the risk factors, there was no significant difference between the PFO and non-PFO groups in drinking history (P>0.05). The incidences of other ischemic stroke risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, smoking, hyperlipidemia, hyperhomocysteinemia, and carotid arteriosclerosis) in the PFO group were significantly lower than those in the non-PFO group (P<0.05). The rank sum test results showed that large and medium shunt rates of the cerebral infarction group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusions PFO may be one of the cause of ischemic stroke in young and middle-aged people. Pathogenesis of ischemic stroke is likely to have a relationship with the severity of the shunt from right to left.
Hemorrhagic transformation is one of the most serious complications after endovascular treatment in patients with acute ischemic stroke, which is closely related to neurological deterioration and poor functional prognosis. Therefore, early detection and treatment of hemorrhagic transformation are of great significance for improving patient prognosis. Brain CT, CT angiography, CT perfusion imaging, MRI, diffusion weighted imaging, and susceptibility weighted imaging are relatively commonly used imaging methods in clinical practice. Reasonable use of imaging methods can reduce the risk of hemorrhagic transformation and improve patient prognosis. This article reviews common imaging evaluation techniques for hemorrhagic transformation in clinical practice in order to provide ideas for clinical diagnosis and treatment.
Objective To analyze the methodological quality of clinical trails on butylphthalide for cerebral ischemic stroke. Methods We collected all of the published clinical studies on butylphthalide for cerebral ischemic stroke in the world, and evaluated the methodological quality of the included studies according to clinical epidemiologic standard. The search time was from the establishment of each database to December, 2009. Results A total of 62 studies involving 5 762 patients were included. In all included studies, there were 56 randomized controlled trials (RCTs). A total of 8 studies described the method of random assignments. There were 4 multi-center randomized double-blind placebo-control trials. A total of 55 reported diagnosis criteria, 40 reported included criteria, 28 reported excluded criteria; 36 reported the curative efficacy at the end of the treatment, 51 assessed the neurological deficit score of patients before and after the treatment, 27 evaluated the ADL scores; 32 studies reported the side effects; 6 trials did not conduct intention-to-treat analysis even though some people withdrew the treatment because of the side effects or poor tolerance, etc. Conclusion Except for several high quality RCTs, current quality of some clinical trials on butylphthalide for ischemic stroke should be improved. We recommend that researchers should use internationally accepted consolidate standards of reporting trials (CONSORT) in future studies.
In recent years, the incidence rate of ischemic stroke in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) is increasing, attracting wide attention from scholars at home and abroad. In addition to traditional risk factors of stroke, the secondary ischemic stroke in PLWHA is also affected by HIV infection. This study reviews the incidence rate and risk factors of secondary ischemic stroke in PLWHA, in order to provide a theoretical basis for preventing and reducing the incidence of ischemic stroke in PLWHA.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the correlation between atrial fibrillation and prognosis of patients with ischemic stroke after intravenous thrombolysis. MethodsLiterature search was carried out in PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2014), CBM and WanFang Data up to April 2014 for the domestic and foreign cohort studies on atrial fibrillation and prognosis of patients with ischemic stroke after intravenous thrombolysis. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed methodological quality of included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2. ResultsA total of 7 cohort studies were finally included involving 69 017 cases. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with patients without atrial fibrillation, atrial fibrillation reduced 3-month favourable nerve function of patients with atrial fibrillation (OR=0.85, 95%CI 0.73 to 0.98, P=0.03) but did not influence the risk of death after intravenous thrombolysis (OR=1.47, 95%CI 0.75 to 2.86, P=0.26); and increased the risks of intracranial haemorrhagic transformation (OR=1.36, 95%CI 1.26 to 1.47, P < 0.001) and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage after intravenous thrombolysis (OR=1.43, 95%CI 1.02 to 1.99, P=0.04). ConclusionFor patients with ischemic stroke, atrial fibrillation does not influence the risk of death, but it increases the risks of intracranial hemorrhage, and worsens 3-month favourable nerve function of after intravenous thrombolysis. For those patients, more assessment before intravenous thrombolysis and more monitoring after intravenous thrombolysis are necessary. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, the abovementioned conclusion still needs to be verified by conducting more high quality studies.