The main Optimal Post rTpa-Iv Monitoring in Ischemic Stroke Trial (OPTIMISTmain): Protocol for a Pragmatic, Stepped Wedge, Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Introduction: Careful monitoring of patients who receive intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is resource-intensive, and potentially less relevant in those with mild degrees of neurological impairment who are at low risk of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH) and other complications.

Methods: OPTIMISTmain is an international, multicenter, prospective, stepped wedge, cluster randomized, blinded outcome assessed trial aims to determine whether a less-intensity monitoring protocol is at least as effective, safe, and efficient as standard post-IVT monitoring in patients with mild deficits post-AIS. Clinically stable adult patients with mild AIS (defined by a NIHSS <10) who do not require intensive care within 2 h post-IVT are recruited at hospitals in Australia, Chile, China, Malaysia, Mexico, UK, USA, and Vietnam.

Hyperacute stroke thrombolysis via telemedicine: a multicentre study of performance, safety and clinical efficacy.

Objectives: Timely thrombolysis of ischaemic stroke improves functional recovery, yet its delivery nationally is challenging due to shortages in the stroke specialist workforce and large geographical areas. One solution is remote stroke specialist input to regional centres via telemedicine. This study evaluates the usage and key metrics of performance of the East of England Stroke Telemedicine Partnership-the largest telestroke service in the UK-in providing hyperacute stroke care.

Modified early warning score and risk of mortality after acute stroke.

Objective: An accurate prediction tool may facilitate optimal management of patients with acute stroke from an early stage. We evaluated the association between admission modified early warning score (MEWS) and mortality in patients with acute stroke.

Method: Data from the Anglia Stroke Clinical Network Evaluation Study (ASCNES) were analysed.

Variations in Rates of Discharges to Nursing Homes after Acute Hospitalization for Stroke and the Influence of Service Heterogeneity: An Anglia Stroke Clinical Network Evaluation Study.

Nursing home placement after stroke indicates a poor outcome but numbers placed vary between hospitals. The aim of this study is to determine whether between-hospital variations in new nursing home placements post-stroke are reliant solely on case-mix differences or whether service heterogeneity plays a role. A prospective, multi-center cohort study of acute stroke patients admitted to eight National Health Service acute hospitals within the Anglia Stroke and Heart Clinical Network between 2009 and 2011 was conducted.

Pre-Stroke Modified Rankin Scale: Evaluation of Validity, Prognostic Accuracy, and Association with Treatment.

Background And Purpose: The modified Rankin Scale (mRS) was designed to measure poststroke recovery but is often used to describe pre-stroke disability. We sought to evaluate three aspects of pre-stroke mRS: validity as a measure of pre-stroke disability; prognostic accuracy and association of pre-stroke mRS scores, and process of care.

Methods: We used data from a large, UK clinical registry.

Important factors in predicting mortality outcome from stroke: findings from the Anglia Stroke Clinical Network Evaluation Study.

Background: Although variation in stroke service provision and outcomes have been previously investigated, it is less well known what service characteristics are associated with reduced short- and medium-term mortality.

Methods: Data from a prospective multicentre study (2009–12) in eight acute regional NHS trusts with a catchment population of about 2.6 million were used to examine the prognostic value of patient-related factors and service characteristics on stroke mortality outcome at 7, 30 and 365 days post stroke, and time to death within 1 year.

e-ASPECTS software is non-inferior to neuroradiologists in applying the ASPECT score to computed tomography scans of acute ischemic stroke patients.

Background The Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score (ASPECTS) is an established 10-point quantitative topographic computed tomography scan score to assess early ischemic changes. We performed a non-inferiority trial between the e-ASPECTS software and neuroradiologists in scoring ASPECTS on non-contrast enhanced computed tomography images of acute ischemic stroke patients. Methods In this multicenter study, e-ASPECTS and three independent neuroradiologists retrospectively and blindly assessed baseline non-contrast enhanced computed tomography images of 132 patients with acute anterior circulation ischemic stroke.

Time to Computerized Tomography Scan, Age, and Mortality in Acute Stroke.

Background: Time to computerized tomography (CT) is important to institute appropriate and timely hyperacute management in stroke. We aimed to evaluate mortality outcomes in relation to age and time to CT scan.

Methods: We used routinely collected data in 8 National Health Service trusts in East of England between September 2008 and April 2011.

The shock index predicts acute mortality outcomes in stroke.

Background: Shock index (SI) (ratio between heart rate and systolic blood pressure) has been shown to be associated with poor mortality outcomes in trauma and pneumonia; however it has yet to be examined in stroke. We aimed to examine the relationship between SI and acute outcomes of inpatient, 3-day and 7-day mortality in stroke. Secondly, we aimed to compare SI and systolic blood pressure (SBP) alone in predicting above outcomes.

Thrombolysis delivery by a regional telestroke network--experience from the U.K. National Health Service.

Background: The majority of established telestroke services are based on "hub-and-spoke" models for providing acute clinical assessment and thrombolysis. We report results from the first year of the successful implementation of a locally based telemedicine network, without the need of 1 or more hub hospitals, across a largely rural landscape.

Methods And Results: Following a successful pilot phase that demonstrated safety and feasibility, the East of England telestroke project was rolled out across 7 regional hospitals, covering an area of 7500 square miles and a population of 5.

Microembolism versus hemodynamic impairment in rosary-like deep watershed infarcts: a combined positron emission tomography and transcranial Doppler study.

Background And Purpose: Deep watershed infarcts are frequent in high-grade carotid disease and are thought to result from hemodynamic impairment, particularly when adopting a rosary-like pattern. However, a role for microembolism has also been suggested, though never directly tested. Here, we studied the relationships among microembolic signals (MES) on transcranial Doppler, rosary-like deep watershed infarcts on brain imaging, and cerebral hemodynamic compromise on positron emission tomography (PET), all in severe symptomatic carotid disease.

Evaluation of stroke services in Anglia Stroke Clinical Network to examine the variation in acute services and stroke outcomes.

Background: Stroke is the third leading cause of death in developed countries and the leading cause of long-term disability worldwide. A series of national stroke audits in the UK highlighted the differences in stroke care between hospitals. The study aims to describe variation in outcomes following stroke and to identify the characteristics of services that are associated with better outcomes, after accounting for case mix differences and individual prognostic factors.

The neural substrates of impaired finger tapping regularity after stroke.

Not only finger tapping speed, but also tapping regularity can be impaired after stroke, contributing to reduced dexterity. The neural substrates of impaired tapping regularity after stroke are unknown. Previous work suggests damage to the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) and prefrontal cortex (PFCx) affects externally-cued hand movement.

Motor imagery after subcortical stroke: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Background And Purpose: In recovered subcortical stroke, the pattern of motor network activation during motor execution can appear normal or not, depending on the task. Whether this applies to other aspects of motor function is unknown. We used functional MRI to assess motor imagery (MI), a promising new approach to improve motor function after stroke, and contrasted it to motor execution.

The relationship between motor deficit and hemisphere activation balance after stroke: A 3T fMRI study.

Functional imaging during movement of the hand affected by a stroke has shown excess activation of the contralesional motor network, implying less physiological hemisphere activation balance. Although this may be adaptive, the relationship between the severity of motor deficit and the hemisphere activation balance for the four major cortical motor areas has not been systematically studied. We prospectively studied 19 right-handed patients with first-ever stroke (age range 61+/-10 years) in the stable phase of recovery (>3 months after onset), using auditory-paced index-thumb (IT) tapping of the affected hand at 1.

The diffusion-weighted lesion in acute stroke: heterogeneous patterns of flow/metabolism uncoupling as assessed by quantitative positron emission tomography.

Background: To investigate what the hyperintense lesion in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of acute ischaemic stroke represents metabolically, we prospectively imaged acute carotid-territory stroke patients with DWI along with fully quantitative positron emission tomography (PET), which gives physiological maps of cerebral blood flow (CBF), the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) and the oxygen extraction fraction (OEF).

Method: Of 10 patients who consented, 5 (3 males, 2 females, 53-84 years, NIHSS 6-16) completed the imaging protocol of back-to-back DWI and PET within 21 (mean 15.7, range 7-21) h of stroke onset.

Antepartum identification of breech presentation.

Objective: To determine the accuracy of clinical identification of breech presentation during third-trimester prenatal care and to evaluate factors associated with the accuracy of this determination.

Study Design: Three hundred eleven patients in the third trimester were prospectively studied. Clinical determination of fetal presentation was made, after which ultrasound was used to determine the true presentation.

Arteriojugular endothelin-1 gradients in aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Plasma endothelin (ET) is elevated in patients with vasospasm following subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). However, systemic levels provide no indication regarding local production in the brain, and late elevation may be a consequence rather than a cause of vasospasm. We measured arteriojugular (AJ) gradients of ET-1 in 17 patients over the first week after SAH, and related these to the subsequent development of vasospasm.