Background: Subacute and chronic subdural hematomas are common and frequently recur after surgical evacuation. The effect of adjunctive middle meningeal artery embolization on the risk of reoperation remains unclear.
Methods: In a prospective, multicenter, interventional, adaptive-design trial, we randomly assigned patients with symptomatic subacute or chronic subdural hematoma with an indication for surgical evacuation to undergo middle meningeal artery embolization plus surgery (treatment group) or surgery alone (control group).
Regenerating Family Member 3 Alpha (REG3A) is an antimicrobial protein secreted by the intestine and pancreas with additional immunomodulatory properties. Previously, we published that REG3A expression in ischemic stroke patient systemic blood, during mechanical thrombectomy (MT), is significantly associated with inflammatory cytokines and patient function on admission. This paper, however, did not investigate post-acute death rates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Surgeons are at high risk for malpractice claims, which can significantly impact physician quality of life and risk of burnout. There are few published data reporting the incidence, outcomes, and repercussions of malpractice lawsuits on neurointerventionalists.
Methods: A survey of senior members of the United States Society of Neurointerventional Surgery (SNIS) was performed to study malpractice litigation and medical board complaints.
Introduction: The Appalachia region of North America is known to have significant health disparities, specifically, worse risk factors and outcomes for stroke. Appalachians are more likely to have comorbidities related to stroke, such as diabetes, obesity, and tobacco use, and are often less likely to have stroke interventions, such as mechanical thrombectomy (MT), for emergent large vessel occlusion (ELVO). As our Comprehensive Stroke Center directly serves stroke subjects from both Appalachian and non-Appalachian areas, inflammatory proteomic biomarkers were identified associated with stroke outcomes specific to subjects residing in Appalachia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInterv Neuroradiol
February 2024
Background And Importance: Neurointervention is a very competitive specialty in the United States due to the limited number of training spots and the larger pool of applicants. The training standards are continuously updated to ensure solid training experiences. Factors affecting candidate(s) selection have not been fully established yet.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To describe a unique case of a fatal self-enucleation and review previously published cases.
Methods: The authors describe a unique case of a complete unilateral self-enucleation while under the influence of drugs, which resulted in severe intracranial hemorrhages, right internal carotid artery opacification, and death. A literature review was performed by searching articles published before January 2023 in the Pubmed/MEDLINE database using the keywords "auto-enucleation or self-enucleation.
Although multidisciplinary teams have been shown to decrease in-hospital mortality for patient with infectious endocarditis, most studies have focused on the inpatient role of these teams, and are primarily based at European tertiary care centers. There is limited literature available on the optimal longitudinal care of this patient population. Here we outline our experience developing an interdisciplinary endocarditis program at the University of Kentucky, which cares for patients from their index hospitalization into the outpatient setting, while also coordinating transfers from regional hospitals and offering education to regional providers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdult moyamoya disease and syndrome are rare disorders with significant morbidity and mortality. A writing group of experts was selected to conduct a literature search, summarize the current knowledge on the topic, and provide a road map for future investigation. The document presents an update in the definitions of moyamoya disease and syndrome, modern methods for diagnosis, and updated information on pathophysiology, epidemiology, and both medical and surgical treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Emergent Large Vessel Occlusion (ELVO) stroke causes devastating vascular events which can lead to significant cognitive decline and dementia. In the subset of ELVO subjects treated with mechanical thrombectomy (MT) at our institution, we aimed to identify systemic and intracranial proteins predictive of cognitive function at time of discharge and at 90-days. These proteomic biomarkers may serve as prognostic indicators of recovery, as well as potential targets for novel/existing therapeutics to be delivered during the subacute stage of stroke recovery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe last 10 years have seen a major shift in management of large vessel ischemic stroke with changes towards ever-expanding use of reperfusion therapies (intravenous thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy). These strategies 'open the door' to acute therapeutics for ischemic tissue, and we should investigate novel therapeutic approaches to enhance survival of recently reperfused brain. Key insights into new approaches have been provided through translational research models and preclinical paradigms, and through detailed research on ischemic mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe majority of strokes, approximately 87%, are ischemic in etiology with the remaining hemorrhagic in origin. Emergent large vessel occlusions (ELVOs) are a subtype of ischemic stroke accounting for approximately 30-40% of acute large vessel blockages. Treatment for ELVOs focuses on recanalization of the occluded vessel by time-sensitive administration of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) or thrombus removal using mechanical thrombectomy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethods Mol Biol
February 2023
Moyamoya is a cerebrovascular condition that predisposes affected patients to stroke and is characterized as the progressive stenosis of the internal carotid artery (ICA) and compensatory development of collaterals at the base of the brain. Patients with moyamoya syndrome also present with comorbidities such as various autoimmune diseases and coagulopathies. We developed a surgical method using micro-coils to induce ICA-specific stenosis in mice, which induces moyamoya-like vasculopathies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cholesteatomas are growths of squamous epithelium that can form inside the middle ear and mastoid cavity and damage nearby structures causing hearing loss when located at the petrous apex. The primary goal of petrous apex cholesteatoma resection is gross total removal with tympanoplasty and canal-wall up or canal-wall down tympanomastoidectomy. At present, there is no definitive surgical approach supported by greater than level 4 evidence in the literature to date.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The aim of this article is to outline a position statement on pregnancy and parental leave for physicians practicing neurointerventional surgery.
Methods: We performed a structured literature review regarding parental leave policies in neurointerventional surgery and related fields. The recommendations resulted from discussion among the authors, and additional input from the Women in NeuroIntervention Committee, the full Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS) Standards and Guidelines Committee, and the SNIS Board of Directors.
Background: Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in the United States. Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) and tissue plasminogen activator are the current treatments for ischemic stroke, which have improved clinical outcomes. Despite these treatments, functional and cognitive deficits still occur demonstrating a need for predictive biomarkers for beneficial clinical outcomes which can be used as therapeutic targets for pharmacotherapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Access of the cavernous sinus (CS) via venous route from the inferior petrosal sinus (IPS) can sometimes be challenging during the treatment of carotid cavernous fistulas (CCF), largely because of anatomical variations, tortuosity, and/or difficult visualization of IPS given high retrograde flow through the fistulous connection.
Observations: A 58-year-old male was transferred to our university hospital center after suspected diagnosis of CCF at another hospital by head computerized tomography-angiogram. His symptoms included three weeks of right eye pain that was later complicated by redness, diplopia, and blurry vision.
Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death and disability. However, very few neuroprotective agents have shown promise for treatment of ischemic stroke in clinical trials, despite showing efficacy in many successful preclinical studies. This may be attributed, at least in part, to the incongruency between experimental animal stroke models used in preclinical studies and the manifestation of ischemic stroke in humans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a major health burden that accounts for approximately 5% of all strokes. The most common cause of a non-traumatic SAH is the rupture of a cerebral aneurysm. The most common symptom associated with SAH is a headache, often described as "the worst headache of my life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To demonstrate the clinical feasibility of a novel treatment planning algorithm via lightning dose optimizer (LDO) on Leksell Gamma Knife (LGK) GammaPlan with significantly faster planning times for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) of the complex and difficult arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) and pituitary adenomas.
Methods And Materials: After completing the in-house end-to-end phantom testing and independent dose verification of the recently upgraded LDO algorithm on GammaPlan using the MD Anderson's IROC anthropomorphic SRS head phantom irradiation credentialing, 20 previously treated GK-SRS patients (10 AVM, average volume 3.61 cm and 10 pituitary adenomas, average volume 0.
Patients with premorbid disability or dementia have generally been excluded from randomized controlled trials of reperfusion therapies such as thrombolysis and endovascular therapy for acute ischemic stroke. Consequently, stroke physicians face treatment dilemmas in caring for such patients. In this scientific statement, we review the literature on acute ischemic stroke in patients with premorbid disability or dementia and propose principles to guide clinicians, clinician-scientists, and policymakers on the use of acute stroke therapies in these populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Neurointerv Surg
March 2023