Is mobile teleconsulting equivalent to hospital-based telestroke services?

Background And Purpose: Telemedicine is increasingly used to provide acute stroke expertise for hospitals without full-time neurological services. Teleconsulting through mobile laptop computers may offer more flexibility compared with hospital-based services, but concerns about quality and technical reliability remain.

Methods: We conducted a controlled trial, allocating hospital-based or mobile teleconsulting in a shift-by-shift sequence and evaluating technical parameters, acceptability, and impact on immediate clinical decisions.

Fischer-344 rats are unsuitable for the MCAO filament model due to their cerebrovascular anatomy.

Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in Fischer-344 rats results in a small variance of infarct size. However, complications are frequent especially in aged Fisher-344 rats undergoing endovascular suture occlusion of the middle cerebral artery. Analyzing our experiences with 165 Wistar, 13 Sprague-Dawley and 10 F-344 rats, we compared the incidence of impossible thread advancement and subarachnoid hemorrhage, respectively.

Application of clinical scanners in rats: experimental carotid imaging using magnetic resonance imaging, spiral computed tomography, and color duplex ultrasound.

Background And Purpose: Noninvasive small animal imaging allows for reduction of the required numbers of animals in research by providing the possibility of long-term follow-up at various time points. Additionally, correlation to the investigated respective human disease is possible as equivalent equipment is employed. The authors therefore evaluate feasibility and potential of color duplex sonography, computed tomography angiography (CTA), and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) by the use of clinical scanners for carotid artery imaging in rats.

Closing microvascular lesions with fibrin sealant-attached muscle pads.

Fibrin sealants are used in a variety of surgical procedures, mainly for purposes of hemostasis and assisted wound healing. The combined use of fibrin sealant and autologous muscle pads for hemostasis was not reported previously. Arterial incisions in the common carotid artery in rats were closed by the combined application of fibrin sealant and an autologous muscle pad.

Thrombolysis for stroke in the elderly.

Introduction: Systemic thrombolysis with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt PA) for acute ischemic stroke had been licensed for patients up to 75 years in age in many European countries and was recently extended to 80 years. This age restriction results from the potential higher risk of cerebral bleeding in the elderly. The major rt PA trials included only 42 patients above 80 years showing a potential benefit from treatment.

The role of ECA transection in the development of masticatory lesions in the MCAO filament model.

In the intraluminal suture model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in the rat, lesions of the masticator muscles associated with impaired functional outcome occur. We evaluated the role of external carotid artery (ECA) transection. We assessed whether isolated interruption of an arterial or a venous connection to the ECA territory was sufficient to induce masticatory hypoperfusion and lesions.

Ketamine/xylazine anesthesia for radiologic imaging of neurologically impaired rats: dose response, respiratory depression, and management of complications.

In vivo imaging of rats represents an important tool for outcome evaluation in research on stroke, brain trauma, and other neurologic diseases. Since sedation of animals is necessary to avoid artifacts, a mixture of ketamine and xylazine is frequently used for anesthesia. We assessed the suitable dosage of narcotics and its correlation to severe respiratory adverse events in 269 cases of ketamine/xylazine anesthesia in male Wistar rats for performance of magnetic resonance imaging after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) or sham surgery.