Background And Purpose: Since the FDA approved tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in 1996 for acute ischemic stroke, few data have been obtained during the postmarketing phase, and applicability in rural hospitals does not exist. We attempt to examine the safety and outcome of intravenous tPA for acute ischemic stroke in the OSF Stroke Network.
Methods: Fifty-seven consecutive patients treated with tPA were examined from June 1996 through December 1998. Admission and discharge National Institute of Health Stroke Scales (NIHSS), modified Rankin Scales (MRS), and discharge disposition, as well as intracerebral hemorrhage and mortality rates, were compared.
Results: Of 20 network hospitals, 12 had the experience of administering tPA. No statistically significant differences in the variables recorded were observed for patients treated at the community hospitals versus those who received tPA at the tertiary medical center. In 35% of patients, tPA was initiated by an emergency room or primary care physician in consultation with an OSF neurologist. At discharge, 47% of the patients had minimal or no disability (MRS, 0 to 1), 44% had an NIHSS score of 0 or 1, 54% went home, 25% were transferred to in-patient rehabilitation, 12% went to a nursing or skilled-care facility, and 9% died. Intracerebral hemorrhage rate was 9%; 5% were symptomatic.
Conclusions: tPA can be administered safely with good outcome at community and rural hospitals. The OSF Stroke Network can serve as a model to assist small community hospitals to set up stroke programs and deliver up-to-date, acute stroke therapies.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/01.str.31.1.77 | DOI Listing |
BMJ Open
January 2025
Southern Medical University Institute for Global Health, Dermatology Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Introduction: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is commonly used alongside Western medicine for stroke management in China. However, there is significant variation in TCM practice, and the utilisation of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines is inadequate. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of three popular frameworks-Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) and Normalization Process Theory (NPT)-in improving implementation outcomes for the integrated TCM and Western medicine clinical practice guideline for stroke management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychon Bull Rev
January 2025
Boston University, Boston, USA.
Individuals with "agrammatic" receptive aphasia have long been known to rely on semantic plausibility rather than syntactic cues when interpreting sentences. In contrast to early interpretations of this pattern as indicative of a deficit in syntactic knowledge, a recent proposal views agrammatic comprehension as a case of "noisy-channel" language processing with an increased expectation of noise in the input relative to healthy adults. Here, we investigate the nature of the noise model in aphasia and whether it is adapted to the statistics of the environment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrug Saf
January 2025
Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Environmental Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000, Odense C, Denmark.
Introduction: Large administrative healthcare databases can be used for near real-time sequential safety surveillance of drugs as an alternative approach to traditional reporting-based pharmacovigilance. The study aims to build and empirically test a prospective drug safety monitoring setup and perform a sequential safety monitoring of rofecoxib use and risk of cardiovascular outcomes.
Methods: We used Danish population-based health registers and performed sequential analysis of rofecoxib use and cardiovascular outcomes using case-time-control and cohort study designs from January 2000 to September 2004.
PLoS One
January 2025
Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Background: Aeromedical transfer of patients with ischemic stroke to access hyperacute stroke treatment is becoming increasingly common. Little is known about how rapid changes of altitude and atmospheric pressure can impact cerebral perfusion and ischemic burden. In patients with ischemic stroke, there is a theoretical possibility that this physiologic response of hypoxia-driven hyperventilation at higher altitude can lead to a relative drop in PaCO2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSyst Rev
January 2025
Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Background: The inadequate inclusion of sex and gender in medical research has resulted in biased clinical guidance and disparities in knowledge and patient outcomes. Despite efforts by regulatory and funding agencies, opportunities to generate sex-specific knowledge are frequently overlooked. While certain disciplines in cardiovascular medicine have made notable progress, these advances have yet to permeate the literature on perioperative cardiovascular complications in non-cardiac surgery.
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