Objectives: The treatment of neuropathic pain is mainly based on antiepileptics, tricyclic antidepressants, and opiates. These drugs have important side effects disturbing the patient's quality of life. Mirtazapine (MTZ) is a new and well-tolerated tricyclic antidepressants with both monoaminergic and opioid properties that might favorably influence pain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: A right-to-left shunt can be identified by contrast transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (c-TCD) at rest and/or after a Valsalva maneuver (VM) or by arterial blood gas (ABG) measurement. We assessed the influence of controlled strain pressures and durations during VM on the right-to-left passage of microbubbles, on which depends the shunt classification by c-TCD, and correlated it with the right-to-left shunt evaluation by ABG measurements in stroke patients with patent foramen ovale (PFO).
Methods: We evaluated 40 stroke patients with transesophageal echocardiography-documented PFO.