Beyond Anticoagulation: Limitations of Oral Anticoagulants in Preventing Stroke Recurrence in Atrial Fibrillation.

: Despite the widespread use of oral anticoagulants (OACs), acute ischemic stroke (AIS) remains a significant risk for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The real-world effectiveness of OACs in preventing recurrent strokes, particularly following an initial stroke of cardioembolic (CE) origin, continues to be a major challenge for clinicians managing AF patients. This study evaluated the efficacy of OACs in secondary stroke prevention and investigated the influence of anticoagulation type and quality on recurrence risk.

Bridging the Gap: Improving Acute Ischemic Stroke Outcomes with Intravenous Thrombolysis Prior to Mechanical Thrombectomy.

Background/objectives: Current guidelines recommend intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) followed by mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) caused by large vessel occlusion (LVO). This combined approach, known as bridging therapy (BT), is believed to increase the likelihood of a favorable functional outcome when administered within 4.5 h of symptom onset.

Neurovascular changes of the retina and optic nerve head in episodic migraine.

To investigate neurovascular changes; including macular vascular density (VD), thickness of the ganglion cell layer (GCL) and optic nerve head (ONH) parameters in episodic migraine patients. 80 eyes of 40 episodic migraine patients were recruited. Thirty patients having a dominant side of migraine headache were statistically analyzed (5 male and 25 female; mean age 31.

Differentiation of hemispheric white matter lesions in migraine and multiple sclerosis with similar radiological features using advanced MRI.

Background And Aim: White matter hyperintensities (WMHs), presented on T2-weighted or fluid-attenuated inversion recovery magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences, are lesions in the human brain that can be observed in both migraine and multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: Seventeen migraine patients and 15 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis with WMHs, and 17 healthy subjects age-and sex-matched to the migraine group were prospectively enrolled and underwent conventional and advanced MRI studies with diffusion-and perfusion-weighted imaging and single voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Results: In both disease groups, elevated T2 relaxation time, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values, and decreased -acetyl-aspartate levels were found in the intralesional white matter compared to the contralateral normal-appearing white matter (NAWM), while there was no difference between the hemispheres of the control subjects.

Volumetric alteration of brainstem in female migraineurs with and without aura.

Background And Aim: Brainstem descending modulatory circuits have been postulated to be involved in migraine. Differences in brainstem volume between migraineurs and healthy controls have been demonstrated in previous research, nevertheless, the effect of migraine aura on brainstem volume is still uncertain. The aim of this study was to investigate the brainstem volume in migraineurs and examine the effect of migraine aura on brainstem volume.