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).

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.

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.