Publications by authors named "Wechsler L"

Article Synopsis
  • This study analyzed decisions regarding decompressive hemicraniectomy (DHC) and early withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy (WLST) in patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO) and large ischemic strokes from the SELECT2 trial.* -
  • Among 352 patients, DHC was utilized in 55 patients, and WLST was chosen for 81, showing no significant differences in usage between those receiving endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) and those treated medically.* -
  • About 21% of DHC patients were able to walk independently after one year, indicating that DHC did not negatively impact the benefits of thrombectomy, while WLST generally resulted in poor outcomes.*
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Article Synopsis
  • Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) has proven safe and effective for patients suffering from large core strokes, but the effects of reperfusion quality and procedure details on outcomes are still unclear.
  • In the SELECT2 trial, findings indicated that 80% of patients experienced successful reperfusion, which correlates with better clinical outcomes, particularly in those who achieved near-complete reperfusion.
  • Longer procedure times negatively impacted patient outcomes, while the method of thrombectomy (aspiration vs stent-retriever) showed no significant differences in reperfusion success or functional recovery.
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Background And Objectives: Teleneurology usage has increased during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic. However, studies evaluating physician impressions of inpatient teleneurology are limited. We implemented a quality improvement initiative to evaluate neurologists' impression following individual inpatient teleneurology consultation at a satellite hospital of a large academic center with no in-person neurology coverage.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers looked at how bleeding in the brain (intracerebral hemorrhage or ICH) affects people who had a specific treatment for severe strokes called endovascular thrombectomy (EVT).
  • Out of the 351 patients studied, many experienced bleeding, especially those who had EVT, but serious types of bleeding were rare.
  • In the end, having some bleeding didn’t make the patients’ health outcomes worse, and there may be new treatments that could help those with bleeding issues in similar cases.
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Background: Recruitment of participants is the greatest risk to completion of most clinical trials, with 20-40% of trials failing to reach the targeted enrollment. This is particularly true of trials of central nervous system (CNS) therapies such as intervention for chronic stroke. The PISCES III trial was an invasive trial of stereotactically guided intracerebral injection of CTX0E03, a fetal derived neural stem cell line, in patients with chronic disability due to ischemic stroke.

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Article Synopsis
  • Patients with large ischemic core strokes often have poor outcomes and are rarely transferred for endovascular thrombectomy (EVT), leading to a need for better understanding of treatment effects in different patient groups.
  • The study analyzed data from the SELECT2 trial, focusing on adults with acute ischemic strokes due to specific artery occlusions, comparing those who were directly treated at EVT centers with those who were transferred.
  • Results indicated that EVT improved functional outcomes in both transfer and non-transfer patients, suggesting that EVT can benefit patients regardless of transfer delays, although the median ASPECTS score showed a decline during transfers.
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Background: Multiple randomised trials have shown efficacy and safety of endovascular thrombectomy in patients with large ischaemic stroke. The aim of this study was to evaluate long-term (ie, at 1 year) evidence of benefit of thrombectomy for these patients.

Methods: SELECT2 was a phase 3, open-label, international, randomised controlled trial with blinded endpoint assessment, conducted at 31 hospitals in the USA, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand.

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Importance: Whether endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) efficacy for patients with acute ischemic stroke and large cores varies depending on the extent of ischemic injury is uncertain.

Objective: To describe the relationship between imaging estimates of irreversibly injured brain (core) and at-risk regions (mismatch) and clinical outcomes and EVT treatment effect.

Design, Setting, And Participants: An exploratory analysis of the SELECT2 trial, which randomized 352 adults (18-85 years) with acute ischemic stroke due to occlusion of the internal carotid or middle cerebral artery (M1 segment) and large ischemic core to EVT vs medical management (MM), across 31 global centers between October 2019 and September 2022.

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Brewer's spent grain (BSG) is the main solid waste generated in beer production and primarily consists of barley malt husks. Based on the active promotion of circular economy practices aimed at recycling food industry by-products, this study assessed for the first time the production of particleboards based on BSG as the sole source of lignocellulosic material and natural adhesive without the use of additives or other substrates. In order to achieve particleboards from entirely sustainable sources, BSG particles have to self-bind by thermo-compression with water.

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The Stroke Treatment Academic Industry Roundtable XII included a workshop to discuss the most promising approaches to improve outcome from acute stroke. The workshop brought together representatives from academia, industry, and government representatives. The discussion examined approaches in 4 epochs: pre-reperfusion, reperfusion, post-reperfusion, and access to acute stroke interventions.

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Background And Objectives: Teleneurology is common in clinical practice partly due to the SARS CoV-2 pandemic. Impressions about teleneurology from patients and providers alike are generally favorable; some of the reported benefits include ease of access to specialized health care, savings of time and money, and similar quality of care as an in-person visit. However, comparisons between patient and provider impressions about the same teleneurology encounter have not been described.

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Background: The physical activity counseling for in-patients with major depression (PACINPAT) randomized controlled trial was launched to tackle physical inactivity for in-patients with major depressive disorder. Evidence shows that despite potential treatment effects, physical inactivity is prevalent in this population. To contribute to the assessment of how this in-person and remote, theory-based, individually tailored intervention was designed, received and effected behavior, the aim of this study was to evaluate its implementation.

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Severe traumatic injury leads to marked systemic inflammation and multiorgan injury. Endogenous drivers such as extracellular nucleic acid may play a role in mediating innate immune response and the downstream pathogenesis. Here, we explored the role of plasma extracellular RNA (exRNA) and its sensing mechanism in inflammation and organ injury in a murine model of polytrauma.

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Background: Stroke is the primary cause of chronic disability in the elderly, as there are no neurorestorative treatments for those who do not qualify for recanalization therapy. Experimental evidence in stroke animals suggests that transplantation of bone marrow-derived human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) holds promise, but hMSC transplantation has not been systematically tested in aged animals. We tested the hypothesis that poststroke hMSC transplantation improves stroke recovery in aged mice by promoting brain repair.

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Background: Trials of the efficacy and safety of endovascular thrombectomy in patients with large ischemic strokes have been carried out in limited populations.

Methods: We performed a prospective, randomized, open-label, adaptive, international trial involving patients with stroke due to occlusion of the internal carotid artery or the first segment of the middle cerebral artery to assess endovascular thrombectomy within 24 hours after onset. Patients had a large ischemic-core volume, defined as an Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score of 3 to 5 (range, 0 to 10, with lower scores indicating larger infarction) or a core volume of at least 50 ml on computed tomography perfusion or diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

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Background: It is currently unclear if active left ventricular (LV) unloading should be used as a primary treatment strategy or as a bailout in patients with cardiogenic shock (CS) treated with venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO).

Objectives: This study sought to evaluate the association between timing of active LV unloading and implantation of VA-ECMO with outcomes of patients with CS.

Methods: Data from 421 patients with CS treated with VA-ECMO and active LV unloading at 18 tertiary care centers in 4 countries were analyzed.

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Background And Objectives: To review treatments for reducing the risk of recurrent stroke or death in patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic arterial stenosis (sICAS).

Methods: The development of this practice advisory followed the process outlined in the American Academy of Neurology as amended. The systematic review included studies through November 2020.

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Background And Purpose: Cryptogenic stroke accounts for 30% of ischemic stroke and in such patients, cardiac monitoring leads to increased detection of AF, increased utilization of anticoagulation, and decreased risk of recurrent stroke. We aim to identify differences in inpatient utilization of implantable cardiac monitors (ICMs) in patients with ischemic stroke.

Methods: This is an analysis of the National Inpatient Sample.

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Reperfusion therapy with intravenous alteplase and endovascular therapy are effective treatments for selected patients with acute ischemic stroke. Guidelines for treatment are based upon randomized trials demonstrating substantial treatment effects for highly selected patients based on time from stroke onset and imaging features. However, patients beyond the current established guidelines might benefit with lesser but still clinically significant treatment effects.

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Teleneurology has become widely adopted during severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic. However, provider impressions about the teleneurology experience are not well described. A novel questionnaire was developed to collect provider impressions about video teleneurology encounters.

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Objective: To determine whether telemedicine technology can be used to reliably determine the neurologic diagnosis of death (NDD) in patients with catastrophic brain injury (CBI).

Methods: We included a convenience sample of patients with CBI at a single academic medical center from November 2016 through June 2018. We simultaneously performed brain death evaluation at the bedside and remotely via telemedicine.

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Objectives: While telestroke 'hub-and-spoke' systems are a well-established model for improving acute stroke care at spoke facilities, utility beyond the hyperacute phase is unknown. In patients receiving intravenous thrombolysis via telemedicine, care at spoke facilities has been shown to be associated with longer length of stay and worse outcomes. We sought to explore the impact of ongoing stroke care by a vascular neurologist via telemedicine compared to care provided by local neurologists.

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Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) replacement holds potential for restoring vision lost to optic neuropathy. Transplanted RGCs must undergo neuroretinal integration to receive afferent visual signals for processing and efferent transmission. To date, retinal integration following RGC transplantation has been limited.

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