Publications by authors named "Zhe K Law"

Unlabelled: The growing interest in complementary interventions for stroke recovery necessitates the need for neural insights to aid in making evidence-based clinical decisions. This systematic review examined the brain activation effects of complementary therapies, including acupuncture ( = 5), motor imagery therapy (MIT) ( = 5), music ( = 3), and virtual reality (VR) interventions ( = 3), on clinical outcomes and neural activity in stroke patients. All therapies engaged motor and sensory networks, frontal regions, parietal regions, and temporal regions, suggesting their potential to improve motor control, attention, memory, and cognitive function.

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  • Tranexamic acid, an antifibrinolytic agent, was tested in a study on patients with intracerebral hemorrhage who had ongoing bleeding (spot signs) to assess its effect on hematoma growth when administered within 4.5 hours of onset.
  • A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted, evaluating randomized trials comparing tranexamic acid to a placebo, specifically including 162 participants with follow-up imaging.
  • Results showed that tranexamic acid treatment did not significantly reduce hematoma growth compared to placebo, with a slightly lower growth rate in the treatment group, but overall outcomes suggested continued monitoring and assessment of safety was needed.
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  • * Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are beginning to establish telestroke services, indicating a potential shift in access to specialized stroke care.
  • * The analysis identified significant variations in network structures and technologies used, with 75% employing real-time video and image transfer, and a focus on quality monitoring in 74% of networks.
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  • The TICH-2 trial found no significant improvements in death and dependency outcomes at 90 days after administering tranexamic acid for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), but it suggested that recovery from stroke may take longer than three months.
  • The study included 2325 patients, with outcomes assessed at one year using various scales, and showed that tranexamic acid did not lead to better functional results at that time, though it associated with a lower mortality rate.
  • Despite the potential for reduced mortality, the conclusion emphasizes caution as these findings come from a secondary analysis of a trial that did not show overall benefits.
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Background And Objectives: An important proportion of patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) undergo neurosurgical intervention to reduce mass effect from large hematomas and control the complications of bleeding, including hematoma expansion and hydrocephalus. The Tranexamic acid (TXA) for hyperacute primary IntraCerebral Hemorrhage (TICH-2) trial demonstrated that tranexamic acid (TXA) reduces the risk of hematoma expansion. We hypothesized that TXA would reduce the frequency of surgery (primary outcome) and improve functional outcome at 90 days in surgically treated patients in the TICH-2 data set.

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  • The study aimed to evaluate if achieving and maintaining systolic blood pressure (SBP) between 120-140 mm Hg early on improves patient outcomes in acute intracerebral hemorrhage cases.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 5,761 patients and found that earlier SBP control was linked to better functional outcomes and reduced risk of hematoma expansion.
  • The findings emphasize the importance of quick diagnosis, timely transfer, and immediate treatment for patients experiencing intracerebral hemorrhage, especially those with larger initial hematomas.
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Background: Outcome after acute spontaneous (non-traumatic) intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) is influenced by haematoma volume. ICH expansion occurs in about 20% of people with acute ICH. Early haemostatic therapy might improve outcome by limiting ICH expansion.

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Background: Tranexamic acid reduced haematoma expansion and early death, but did not improve functional outcome in the tranexamic acid for hyperacute spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage-2 (TICH-2) trial. In a predefined subgroup, there was a statistically significant interaction between prerandomisation baseline systolic blood pressure (SBP) and the effect of tranexamic acid on functional outcome (p=0.019).

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Background: Neurological involvement associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection has been reported from different regions of the world. However, data from South East Asia are scarce. We described the neurological manifestations and their associated factors among the hospitalized COVID-19 patients from an academic tertiary hospital in Malaysia.

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This study evaluated deep learning algorithms for semantic segmentation and quantification of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), perihematomal edema (PHE), and intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) on noncontrast CT scans of patients with spontaneous ICH. Models were assessed on 1732 annotated baseline noncontrast CT scans obtained from the Tranexamic Acid for Hyperacute Primary Intracerebral Haemorrhage (ie, TICH-2) international multicenter trial (ISRCTN93732214), and different loss functions using a three-dimensional no-new-U-Net (nnU-Net) were examined to address class imbalance (30% of participants with IVH in dataset). On the test cohort ( = 174, 10% of dataset), the top-performing models achieved median Dice similarity coefficients of 0.

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  • Acute stroke is the leading cause of disability in the UK and a significant global cause of death, particularly affecting patients with minor stroke symptoms who may first encounter healthcare providers.
  • Urgent evaluation and treatment are crucial as these patients face a high risk of major health events and death shortly after the stroke occurs.
  • The review discusses four antiplatelet therapies—aspirin, clopidogrel, dipyridamole, and ticagrelor—emphasizing aspirin’s early benefits and the enhanced effectiveness of combining aspirin with clopidogrel, while also noting areas for further research to improve treatment strategies.
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Background And Purpose: Intracerebral haemorrhage volume (ICHV) is prognostically important but does not account for intracranial volume (ICV) and cerebral parenchymal volume (CPV). We assessed measures of intracranial compartments in acute ICH using computerised tomography scans and whether ICHV/ICV and ICHV/CPV predict functional outcomes. We also assessed if cistern effacement, midline shift, old infarcts, leukoaraiosis and brain atrophy were associated with outcomes.

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Objective: We assessed whether hematoma expansion (HE) and favorable outcome differ according to type of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).

Methods: Among participants with ICH enrolled in the TICH-2 (Tranexamic Acid for Hyperacute Primary Intracerebral Haemorrhage) trial, we assessed baseline scans for hematoma location and presence of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) using computed tomography (CT, simplified Edinburgh criteria) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI; Boston criteria) and categorized ICH as lobar CAA, lobar non-CAA, and nonlobar. The main outcomes were HE and favorable functional outcome.

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Importance: Hyperintense foci on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) that are spatially remote from the acute hematoma occur in 20% of people with acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Tranexamic acid, a hemostatic agent that is under investigation for treating acute ICH, might increase DWI hyperintense lesions (DWIHLs).

Objective: To establish whether tranexamic acid compared with placebo increased the prevalence or number of remote cerebral DWIHLs within 2 weeks of ICH onset.

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Background: Seeking consent rapidly in acute stroke trials is crucial as interventions are time sensitive. We explored the association between consent pathways and time to enrollment in the TICH-2 (Tranexamic Acid in Intracerebral Haemorrhage-2) randomized controlled trial.

Methods: Consent was provided by patients or by a relative or an independent doctor in incapacitated patients, using a 1-stage (full written consent) or 2-stage (initial brief consent followed by full written consent post-randomization) approach.

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  • The study looked at different ways to lower blood pressure after a type of brain bleeding called intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).
  • Researchers checked many trials and found that lowering blood pressure didn’t help people recover better, but it did reduce further bleeding in the brain.
  • The results showed that different methods worked differently, meaning some ways were better than others at preventing more blood from pooling in the brain.
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Background Aims: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are characterized by paracrine and immunomodulatory functions capable of changing the microenvironment of damaged brain tissue toward a more regenerative and less inflammatory milieu. The authors conducted a phase 2, single-center, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial to investigate the safety and efficacy of intravenous autologous bone marrow-derived MSCs (BMMSCs) in patients with subacute middle cerebral artery (MCA) infarct.

Methods: Patients aged 30-75 years who had severe ischemic stroke (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] score of 10-35) involving the MCA territory were recruited within 2 months of stroke onset.

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Objectives: To test radiomics-based features extracted from noncontrast CT of patients with spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage for prediction of haematoma expansion and poor functional outcome and compare them with radiological signs and clinical factors.

Materials And Methods: Seven hundred fifty-four radiomics-based features were extracted from 1732 scans derived from the TICH-2 multicentre clinical trial. Features were harmonised and a correlation-based feature selection was applied.

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Background Antiplatelet therapy increases the risk of hematoma expansion in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) while the effect on functional outcome is uncertain. Methods and Results This is an exploratory analysis of the TICH-2 (Tranexamic Acid in Intracerebral Hemorrhage-2) double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, which studied the efficacy of tranexamic acid in patients with spontaneous ICH within 8 hours of onset. Multivariable logistic regression and ordinal regression were performed to explore the relationship between pre-ICH antiplatelet therapy, and 24-hour hematoma expansion and day 90 modified Rankin Scale score, as well as the effect of tranexamic acid.

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Neurological deterioration is common after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We aimed to identify the predictors and effects of neurological deterioration and whether tranexamic acid reduced the risk of neurological deterioration. Data from the Tranexamic acid in IntraCerebral Hemorrhage-2 (TICH-2) randomized controlled trial were analyzed.

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  • There are challenges in distinguishing dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias despite better diagnostic criteria.
  • A systematic review analyzed 43 studies using EEG to explore its role in diagnosing DLB compared to AD and other dementias, focusing on various EEG assessment methods.
  • The study found that slowed EEG rhythms (<8 Hz) were prevalent in about 90% of DLB patients, distinguishing them from only around 10% of AD patients, but noted that inconsistencies in study methods highlighted the need for standardized EEG protocols.
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Introduction: Seizures are common after intracerebral haemorrhage. Tranexamic acid increases the risk of seizures in non-intracerebral haemorrhage population but its effect on post-intracerebral haemorrhage seizures is unknown. We explored the risk factors and outcomes of seizures after intracerebral haemorrhage and if tranexamic acid increased the risk of seizures in the Tranexamic acid for IntraCerebral Haemorrhage-2 trial.

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Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is also known as motor neuron disease (MND), is a fatal disease associated with rapidly progressive disability, for which no definitive treatment exists. Current treatment approaches largely focus on relieving symptoms to improve the quality of life of those affected. The therapeutic potential of cell-based therapies in ALS/MND has not been fully evaluated, given the paucity of high-quality clinical trials.

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