Anne W Wojner | Search PubMed

PubMed2003

Is the benefit of early recanalization sustained at 3 months? A prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Early arterial recanalization can lead to dramatic recovery (DR) during intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) therapy. However, it remains unclear whether this clinical recovery is sustained 3 months after stroke. METHODS: We studied consecutive patients treated with intravenous tPA (0.9 mg/kg within 3 hours) who had M1 or proximal M2 middle cerebral artery occlusion on pretreatment transcranial Doppler according to previously validated criteria. Patients were continuously monitored for 2 hours after tPA bolus to determine complete, partial, or no early recanalization with the Thrombolysis in Brain Ischemia (TIBI) flow grading system. A neurologist obtained the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores independently of transcranial Doppler results. DR was defined as a total NIHSS score of 0 to 3 points, and early recovery (ER) was defined improvement by > or =10 points at 2 hours after tPA bolus. Good long-term outcome was defined as an NIHSS score of 0 to 2 or an mRS score of 0 to 1 at 3 months. RESULTS: Fifty-four patients with proximal middle cerebral artery occlusion had a median prebolus NIHSS score of 16 (range, 6 to 28; 90% with > or =10 points). The tPA bolus was given at 130+/-32 minutes (median, 120 minutes; 57% treated within the first 2 hours). DR+ER was observed in 50% of patients with early complete recanalization (n=18), 17% with partial recanalization (n=18), and 0% with no early recanalization (n=18) (P=0.025). Overall, DR+ER was observed in 12 patients (22%), and 9 (75%) had good outcome at 3 months in terms of NIHSS (P=0.009) and mRS (P=0.006) scores compared with non-DR and non-ER patients. If early recanalization was complete, 50% of these patients had good outcome at 3 months, and 78% with DR+ER sustained early clinical benefit. If recanalization was partial, 44% had good long-term outcome, and 66% of patients with DR+ER sustained the benefit. If no early recanalization occurred, 22% had good long-term outcome despite the lack of DR within 2 hours of tPA bolus (P=0.046). Mortality was 11%, 11%, and 39% in patients with complete, partial, and no early recanalization, respectively (P=0.025). Reasons for not sustaining DR in patients with early recanalization were subsequent symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage and recurrent ischemic stroke. CONCLUSIONS: DR or ER after recanalization within 2 hours after tPA bolus was sustained at 3 months in most patients (75%) in our study. Complete or partial early recanalization leads to better outcome at 3 months after stroke. Fewer patients achieve good long-term outcome without early recanalization.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Capturing error rates and reporting significant data.

Programs that embrace sound outcomes, process, and structure assessment complemented by systematic inquiry and improvement serve as protectors of quality during an era of dramatic cost reduction. Outcome data presented alongside process and structural methods enable a clear understanding of quality, balancing the scales between societal cost and individual health. The ability to change a system through the generation and use of powerful data reporting mechanisms takes on increased significance as we strive to improve the safety of US health care. The NQF's work is just the tip of the iceberg; health care organizations must accept the inevitable: Practice standardization and delineation of concrete, nationwide quality benchmarks are the future of US health care.

Benchmarking↗

PubMed2002

Effect of head positioning on intracranial blood flow velocities in acute ischemic stroke: a pilot study.

Current nursing practice for the care of patients with ischemic stroke advocates routine elevation of the head of the bed (HOB) to 30 degrees. Evidence supporting this practice is lacking, and it may reflect inappropriate generalization of findings from studies conducted primarily on traumatic brain injury patients with associated increased intracranial pressure to the ischemic stroke population. We used a repeated measures design to conduct a pilot study of the effect of three HOB positions on middle cerebral artery mean flow velocities (MCA-MFV) in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) sonography was used to measure MCA-MFV. Eleven patients were enrolled in the study; the mean age of the sample was 60 years, and the mean National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score was 8.7. On average, a 9.2% increase in MCA-MFV was measured when the HOB was lowered to 15 degrees from the 30 degrees elevation standard (p = .02); MCA-MFV increased on average by 3.9% when the HOB was again lowered from the 15 degrees position to the 0 degrees (flat) position (p = not significant). Mean arterial pressure, heart rate, and pulse pressure remained stable without significant change throughout the positioning intervention and measurement period. The overall increase in MCA-MFV achieved from lowering the HOB position from 30 degrees to a flat position was 13.1% (p = .054). Our findings from this small sample suggest that patients with acute ischemic stroke may benefit from lower HOB positions, in particular flat positioning, to promote an increase in flow to ischemic brain tissue that may ultimately reduce brain infarct volume.

Adult↗