[Parma Stroke Data Bank: embolic stroke].

Cerebral infarction is one of the three main causes of death in most countries. It is very frequent and, since it is more often disabiliting rather than fatal, it is of high social impact. The correct classification of patients and the accurate diagnostic definition of the various subtypes of stroke is of great prognostic and therapeutic importance since cerebral infarction is not a single entity.

[Parma stroke data bank: atherothrombotic and lacunar stroke].

In an epidemiological research about stroke, we studied 235 patients with atherothrombotic brain infarctions and 81 patients with lacunes. It was a longitudinal study concerning patients admitted to our Medical Division during the acute phase and followed up for one year after the onset. We report some anamnestic data, the frequency of positive brain CT scan, main risk factors, symptoms at the onset, severity degree of the stroke within the first 72 hours, complications during, and outcome after, the first four weeks, including personal performances and environmental fitness, mortality rate and frequency of relapses.

Prevalence and prognostic value of peripheral arterial disease in stroke patients.

As atherosclerosis is a multi-systemic disease, each patient presenting clinical manifestation of atherosclerosis such as a stroke or RIND should be, from a vascular point of view, globally evaluated. The availability of Doppler ultrasound technique enables us to discover the presence of Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) which is not always overt in the patient's history. Furthermore the presence of PAD is associated with a poorer prognosis in stroke patients.

[Spontaneous changes in blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the acute phase of a stroke].

Plasma cholesterol and triglycerides concentration were determined in 32 patients with acute stroke (23 males and 9 females, mean age = 70.5 +/- 10.4 years) within the first 24 hours from the beginning of symptoms, and repeatedly afterwords, until the 22nd day.

Hematocrit and stroke. A case-control study.

A case-control study was undertaken to evaluate the role of hematocrit (Hct) level in the pathogenesis of stroke. Hct was determined in 110 subjects with acute ischemic stroke and compared with the values obtained in 110 subjects, matched for age and sex, admitted to our Division of General Medicine because of other diseases. Statistical analysis of the results by means of the McNemar test for pairs did not confirm the hypothesis that Hct values in stroke patients differ significantly from the control values.