Effect of smoking status on clinical outcomes after reperfusion therapy for acute ischemic stroke.

Smoking has detrimental effects on the cardiovascular system; however, some studies have reported better clinical outcomes after thrombolysis for ischemic stroke in smokers than in nonsmokers, a phenomenon known as the smoking paradox. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the smoking paradox in patients with ischemic stroke receiving reperfusion therapy. Data were collected from a multicenter hospital-based acute stroke registry in Fukuoka, Japan.

Body temperature in the acute phase and clinical outcomes after acute ischemic stroke.

Background: This study aimed to examine whether post-stroke early body temperature is associated with neurological damage in the acute phase and functional outcomes at three months.

Methods: We included 7,177 patients with acute ischemic stroke within 24 h of onset. Axillary temperature was measured daily in the morning for seven days.

Prediction of intracranial lesions in patients with consciousness disturbance by ultrasonography in the intensive care unit.

Objective: This study was performed to evaluate the correlation between parameters measured by bedside ultrasonography and detection of intracranial organic lesions in patients with impaired consciousness in an intensive care unit (ICU) setting.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who were admitted to our ICU from April 2017 to July 2019. Patients who underwent computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging examination and measurement of the flow velocity of the carotid and intracranial arteries and the optic nerve sheath diameter by ultrasonography were selected for analysis.

Meningitis retention syndrome associated with complicated mild encephalitis/encephalopathy with reversible splenial lesion in a young adult patient: a case report.

Meningitis retention syndrome (MRS), comprising aseptic meningitis and urinary retention, is a self-limiting disease that resolves within a few weeks. Refractory urinary retention and encephalitic syndromes are rare. A 32-year-old man presented with acute fever and headache followed by acute urinary retention (UT).

Usefulness of Transesophageal Echocardiography for Predicting Covert Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with Embolic Stroke of Undetermined Source.

Background: Covert paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (CPAF) is a major cause of embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS). However, detecting PAF during hospitalization in these patients is difficult.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether findings of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) during hospitalization are associated with later detection of PAF in patients with ESUS.

Isolated and repeated stroke-like episodes in a middle-aged man with a mitochondrial ND3 T10158C mutation: a case report.

Background: Mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) syndrome, is the most common phenotype of mitochondrial disease. It often develops in childhood or adolescence, usually before the age of 40, in a maternally-inherited manner. Mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are frequently responsible for MELAS.

Esophageal perforation due to blunt chest trauma: Difficult diagnosis because of coexisting severe disturbance of consciousness.

Esophageal perforation due to blunt trauma is a rare clinical condition, and the diagnosis is often difficult because patients have few specific symptoms. Delayed diagnosis may result in a fatal clinical course due to mediastinitis and subsequent sepsis. In this article, we describe a 26-year-old man with esophageal perforation due to blunt chest trauma resulting from a motor vehicle accident.

Clinical characteristics of type A acute aortic dissection with CNS symptom.

Background And Purpose: Accurate diagnosis of acute aortic dissection (AAD) is sometimes difficult because of accompanying central nervous system (CNS) symptoms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of Type A AAD (TAAAD) with CNS symptoms.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 8403 patients ambulanced to our emergency and critical care center between April 2009 and May 2014.

[Two cases of ischemic cerebrovascular disease with only memory disturbance as neurological symptom and abnormal MR findings].

Case 1 involved a 77-year-old man admitted to our hospital after he lost almost all memory of work on the day before. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) revealed spotty hyperintensities in the bilateral hippocampi, which were considered responsible for the amnesia. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) showed severe aortic arch atheroma, 6.