Better than expected survival after primary intracerebral hemorrhage in patients with untreated hypertension despite high admission blood pressures.

Background: Hypertension is the most important modifiable risk factor for primary intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), but little is known of the effect of preceding hypertension on outcome. Because high mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) at admission is an independent predictor of early death in patients with ICH, we explored its role on survival and poor outcome separately in normotensive subjects and subjects with treated and untreated hypertension.

Methods: We assessed clinical data and the 3-month outcome of patients with spontaneous ICH (n = 453) admitted to the stroke unit of Oulu University Hospital between 1993 and 2004.

Volumes of brain, grey and white matter and cerebrospinal fluid in schizophrenia in the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort: an epidemiological approach to analysis.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies in schizophrenia have seldom involved a general population birth cohort or other epidemiological samples. We studied the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort and identified all people with psychotic disorders. Along with an unaffected age-matched control sample (n = 100) from the cohort, 54 subjects with schizophrenia underwent MRI brain scan at age 33-35 years from which we defined volumes of whole brain, grey and white matter and intracranial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

Hypertension and diabetes as predictors of early death after spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.

Object: Previous investigators have suggested that a high mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) and an elevated plasma glucose level at admission are associated with a poor outcome after hemorrhagic stroke. It remains unclear, however, whether hypertension and diabetes are responsible for this effect. High admission MABP and plasma glucose levels may also be markers of other factors such as stroke severity.

Impact of ischemic heart disease and atrial fibrillation on survival after spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.

Object: The well-known predictors for increased early deaths after spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) include the clinical and radiological severity of bleeding as well as being on a warfarin regimen at the onset of stroke. Ischemic heart disease and atrial fibrillation may also increase early deaths. In the present study the authors aimed to elucidate the role of the last 2 factors.

Safety of low-dose subcutaneous enoxaparin for the prevention of venous thromboembolism after primary intracerebral haemorrhage.

Background: The risks and benefits of low molecular weight heparins (LMWH) for the prevention of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) after intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) have not been assessed. The few studies on this subject have revealed conflicting results.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated whether subcutaneous enoxaparin (20 mg daily) reduced symptomatic venous complications or caused increased 3-month death rate.

Sympathetic skin responses in multiple sclerosis.

Objectives: This study assessed the sympathetic skin responses (SSRs) and their correlation with brain lesion volumes in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Materials And Methods: The SSRs were measured in 27 patients with MS and 27 healthy controls. The volumes of the proton density-weighted MS lesions in the brain were measured using MRI.

Increasing benefit of magnetic resonance imaging in multiple sclerosis.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has emerged as an essential tool of multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis and has opened up completely new prospects in MS research and treatment trials. It is a sensitive method that gives direct evidence of tissue pathology and has greatly increased our knowledge of MS. In clinical work, MRI is used to confirm and exclude the diagnosis of MS.

Potential of diffusion imaging in brain tumors: a review.

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a method for quantifying the microscopic random motion of water molecules in tissues. Diffusion imaging provides indirect structural information of a kind not available on basic MRI sequences of many pathological conditions. Lately, especially brain tumors have been under active investigation, with numerous papers already published, and their number continues to increase.

A 3-year clinical follow-up of adult patients with 3243A>G in mitochondrial DNA.

Objective: To follow the clinical course of patients with the mitochondrial DNA mutation 3243A>G for 3 years.

Methods: Thirty-three adult patients with the 3243A>G mutation entered a 3-year follow-up study. They were clinically evaluated annually, audiometry was performed, and samples were drawn for the analysis of blood chemistry and mutation heteroplasmy in leukocytes.

Regular aspirin-use preceding the onset of primary intracerebral hemorrhage is an independent predictor for death.

Background And Purpose: Hematoma volume and impaired level of consciousness are the most potent predictors of outcome after spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). The effect of preceding aspirin-use on outcome after ICH is poorly investigated. We investigated short-term mortality and hematoma enlargement in subjects with ICH to find the predictors for these outcomes.

Brain atrophy evaluated by computed tomography in independent and institutionalized hip fracture patients.

Purpose: To examine if there is an association between brain computed tomography (CT) findings and place of residence in a series of hip fracture patients.

Method: The CT scans taken immediately after hip fracture of 215 patients (mean age 81.6 years) living in their own homes or otherwise independently (home-dwelling group) and 95 patients (mean age 82.

Hippocampus and amygdala volumes in schizophrenia and other psychoses in the Northern Finland 1966 birth cohort.

Structural brain differences have been reported in many studies with schizophrenia, but few have involved a general population birth cohort. We investigated differences in volume, shape and laterality of hippocampus and amygdala in patients with schizophrenia, all psychoses and comparison subjects within a large general birth cohort sample, and explored effects of family history of psychosis, perinatal risk and age-at-onset of illness. All subjects with psychosis from the Northern Finland 1966 birth cohort were invited to a survey including MRI scan of the brain, conducted in 1999-2001.

Thromboxane and prostacyclin biosynthesis in patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.

Objective: Elevated levels of 11-dehydrothromboxane B2 (11-dehydro-TXB2) excreted in urine have been observed in acute ischemic stroke. This marker of platelet activation has not been investigated in patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).

Methods: We examined 43 patients with spontaneous ICH and 23 controls.

Cardiovascular regulation and hippocampal sclerosis.

Purpose: Cardiovascular dysregulation has been detected in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) by using cardiovascular reflex tests and analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). The two methods have not previously been used in the same study to compare them in the assessment of cardioregulatory function. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is considered the best method to reveal structural changes such as hippocampal sclerosis associated with TLE.

Factors related to acute hydrocephalus after subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Purpose: To evaluate the influence of the amount and distribution of blood on acute ventricular enlargement in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).

Material And Methods: In a retrospective study, non-contrast computed tomography (CT) images of 180 patients with aneurysmal SAH were analysed by two neuroradiologists. The amount and distribution of the hemorrhage were scored, and prospective hydrocephalus was identified on the basis of acute CT images by calculating the cella media index, by measuring the width of the third ventricle, and by visual impression.

Effects of head and extracranial injuries on serum protein S100B levels in trauma patients.

Background: Serum protein S100B determinations have been recently suggested as markers of traumatic brain injury. However, little is known about the effects of extracranial injuries on S100B levels in trauma patients.

Methods: We studied 224 patients with head trauma (54 of whom also had extracranial injuries), 155 patients with various types of extracranial injuries, and 8 healthy pilots exposed to high Gz forces.

Cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction correlates with brain MRI lesion load in MS.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the cardiovascular autonomic control in clinically definite multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with a standardised battery of cardiovascular tests and to correlate these findings with the brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lesion load.

Methods: Fifty-one patients with MS and 50 healthy controls were studied. Brain MRI was performed in all patients showing typical MS lesions.

Neurological diseases and accidental falls of the aged.

Objective: To assess the influence of central and peripheral neurological diseases on the incidence of accidental falls of the aged.

Design: 1. Case-control study with cross-section at two years and 2.

Extracranial internal carotid and vertebral artery dissections: angiographic spectrum, course and prognosis.

We reviewed the clinical and radiological findings of 93 consecutive patients with 111 extracranial internal carotid (ICAD) and vertebral artery (VAD) dissections and one concomitant intracranial VAD; 83% of the patients had unilateral and 17% multiple vessel dissections. The diagnosis was made by intra-arterial digital subtraction angiography in 92 patients and MR angiography in one. Follow-up angiography was performed in 77 cases (83%): of 49 initially stenotic arteries, 40 became completely or almost completely normal, while three showed slight improvement.

Febrile seizures and mesial temporal sclerosis: No association in a long-term follow-up study.

Objective: To determine whether febrile seizures cause mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS), the occurrence of MTS was evaluated in an unselected series of patients with febrile seizures.

Methods: Twenty-four patients with a prolonged first febrile seizure, 8 with an unprovoked seizure after the first febrile seizure, and 32 age-, sex-, and handedness-matched control subjects with a single simple febrile seizure without later unprovoked seizures were selected from 329 febrile seizure patients followed up prospectively. The occurrence of MTS was evaluated after a mean follow-up time of 12.

Perfusion MRI and SPECT of brain after treatment for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Background: Treatment of childhood leukemia may cause perfusion defects in the brain observed by SPECT. Perfusion MRI is a novel method to study brain perfusion which has not been used previously in this setting. This study was performed to compare SPECT with perfusion MRI in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) after treatment.

MR abnormalities of the lateral pterygoid muscle in patients with nonreducing disk displacement of the TMJ.

The aim of this study was to investigate the pathological changes of the lateral pterygoid muscle (LPM) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with anterior disk displacement with nonreduction (ADDnr) of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and to compare the abnormal findings of the LPM with the clinical symptoms and other pathological MRI alterations of the TMJ. Bilateral or unilateral ADDnr was demonstrated in 142 patents by MRI (176 TMJs; 106 females; 36 males; range 19 to 72 years; mean 43.9 years).