Before Stroke Thrombectomy, Keep the Bed Flat, Trial Says
PHOENIX — For large vessel occlusion (LVO) acute ischemic stroke patients planned for mechanical thrombectomy, bed positioning made a big difference in clinical worsening, the ZODIAC trial showed. Keeping the head of the bed flat at a zero-degree angle after the CT scan while awaiting the cath lab led to 50-fold fewer cases of early […]
DAPT Stays Helpful for Minor Stroke Even With Later Presentation, Worse Symptoms
The benefit of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) for a minor ischemic stroke seems to apply outside the 24-hour time window and minimal stroke symptoms for which the treatment is currently recommended, based on results from the INSPIRES trial. Administered within 72 hours after onset of mild ischemic stroke or high-risk transient ischemic attack (TIA), the […]
CATIS-2: Delayed Antihypertension Tx for Acute Ischemic Stroke Still an Option
DALLAS — Antihypertensive treatment could wait for 7 days following an acute ischemic stroke (AIS), so long as the patient has no comorbidities that warrant the emergency reduction of their blood pressure (BP). In the CATIS-2 trial, there was no significant difference in the composite of major disability and death between patients with AIS who […]
Blood Type Tied to Early-Onset Stroke Risk
Two variants in ABO, a known stroke locus, were linked with early-onset ischemic stroke risk, a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) showed. The variants tagged blood type subgroups O1 and A1, and effect sizes were significantly larger in early-onset (under age 60) than late-onset stroke, reported Braxton Mitchell, PhD, MPH, of University of Maryland […]
Longer Ischemia Time Not Tied to Higher Complication Rate in Free-Tissue Transfer
DALLAS – Prolonged ischemic time for free-tissue transfer in head and neck (H&N) reconstruction was not linked with intraoperative or postoperative complications, a researcher reported here. Among patients in the quartile of fastest times — a mean of 104 minutes of ischemic time in the free flap surgery — the postop complication rate was 21.3%, […]