Publications by authors named "R L Simister"
Introduction: Stroke incidence in younger adults is increasing worldwide yet few comprehensive studies exist from a UK population. We investigated the risk factors, mechanisms, functional outcome and stroke recurrence rate in a cohort of young adults with stroke.
Patients And Methods: We included consecutive patients (<55 years) with ischaemic stroke or intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) admitted to the University College London Hospitals Hyperacute Stroke Unit between 2017 and 2020.
There are various models for acute neurology services in the UK, with considerable variation in practice. Patients are often admitted unnecessarily for neurology review, leading to delay in diagnosis and treatment. Alternative models, such as the Neurology Same Day Emergency Care service (Neuro-SDEC) at University College London Hospital provide a pathway that can prevent admissions and streamline patient care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Adverse non-motor outcomes have a major impact on patients and caregivers after stroke, but knowledge of their prevalence, predictors and patterns across multiple health domains remains limited; we therefore aimed to obtain these data in a large observational prospective cohort study.
Methods: We included data from the Stroke Investigation Group in North and Central London (SIGNAL) registry based at the University College London Hospitals (UCLH) Comprehensive Stroke Service which serves a multi-ethnic population of ∼1.6 million people.
Article Synopsis
- A significant portion of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhages (ICH) arise from macrovascular causes, necessitating a swift diagnosis, often through invasive procedures like digital subtraction angiography (DSA), which aren't suitable for all patients.
- This study aimed to develop a new risk stratification score, the MACRO score, incorporating MRI findings to improve the identification of macrovascular causes of ICH.
- The MACRO score successfully incorporates various patient factors and MRI markers, demonstrating better predictive capabilities than current CT-based scores, validating its effectiveness in a diverse patient population.
Article Synopsis
- Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) can lead to various cerebrovascular issues, but research on sex differences in SVD is limited.
- This study analyzed data from over 20,000 patients with acute ischemic stroke to examine whether the presence and severity of cerebral microbleeds (CMB) and other SVD markers differ between males and females.
- Results showed that males had more frequent CMB while females had fewer lacunes but higher severe white matter hyperintensities, indicating distinct SVD characteristics based on sex.