INTRODUCTION: The treatment of stroke by thrombolysis or other methods (neuroprotection, basic care, etc.) is more effective the sooner it is begun. The main reasons for patients not receiving treatment during the acute phase of their illness are slowness in reaching hospital and delay in emergency assessment once they arrive there. It is necessary to identify the factors involved in these delays so as to modify what can be improved and establish guidelines. DEVELOPMENT: In the chain of events leading to arrival in hospital there are independent factors related to the social and health characteristics of the patients, their attitudes to illness, characteristics of the stroke itself and of the health district. Analysis of the system for response to stroke patients is extremely important before investing in measures to be applied during the acute phase. This analysis should be based on the different stages at which delays may occur. Outside the hospital, the systems to be recognized are those of the patient and his family, contact with prehospital care teams and transport to the hospital of reference. Hospital care involves making contact on arrival at the Emergency Department, and the response of the neurologist or stroke team who give the initial treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Programmes of education and improvement in the organization of the different protagonists at the various stages reduce the time lost by delay.

Acute Disease↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Transient global amnesia and vascular risk factors].

INTRODUCTION: Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a clinical syndrome determined by an episode of less than 24 hours consisting of temporo-spatial disorientation with retrograde and anterograde amnesia followed by complete recovery. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether the presence or absence of vascular risk factors (VRF) in patients with TGA is associated with different clinical data and/or examination findings. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was made of two groups of 13 and 12 patients with TGA, who presented with and without VRF, respectively. The following variables were determined: VRF, age, a previous history of migraine, triggering factors, duration and repetition of the episodes, associated neurological symptoms and findings obtained by neuroimaging, eco-Doppler of the supra-aortic trunks and transcranial Doppler. The data were subjected to statistical analysis by univariate analysis with Fischer's exact probability test. RESULTS: The statistical studies showed no significant differences between the variables obtained in the two groups of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Transient global amnesia has been particularly related to migraine, epilepsy and cerebral vascular pathology, although its aetiology has not been fully determined. In this study we compare clinical data between the two groups of patients with and without VRF who have had TGA. The lack of significant differences between them tends to rule out a vascular aetiology as the sole cause of this syndrome. Recently Leao's propagated depression has been suggested as the physiopathological mechanism involved. According to this theory, the vascular pathology might act as the trigger but probably not as the aetiological factor. The findings of our study may support this thesis.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Essential mixed cryoglobulinemia as a cause of ischemic cerebrovascular accident].

INTRODUCTION: Involvement of the central nervous system in patients with essential mixed cryoglobulinaemia is rare, and there are few cases described in the medical literature. Moreover, the mechanism by which lesions are produced in the central nervous system is still not clear. CLINICAL CASE: We describe the case of a 35 year old woman who presented with dysarthria, weakness and paraesthesia of her left limbs and left central facial paralysis of sudden onset. Vascular studies showed the presence of IgG-IgM polyclonal positive cryoglobulins and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) showed hepatitis C virus to be present. Cerebral magnetic resonance showed ischemic lesions in the tail of the right caudate nucleus and right corona radiata and the posteromedial part of the right putamen. Other investigations were negative or normal. CONCLUSIONS: In young patients with cerebral vascular pathology the possibility of hepatitis C and essential mixed cryoglobulinemia should be considered, especially when the transaminases are raised as in our patient. We consider that the physiopathological mechanisms must be related to factors which determine a prothrombotic state in the arterial bed involved.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Blood flow in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. Does there exist the associated hypoperfusion? A transcranial Doppler study].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate, using transcranial Doppler, changes in parameters in patients with cerebral hematoma, as compared with controls, for detection of possible regional hypoperfusion. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied 24 patients with cerebral hematomas and 15 healthy volunteers. The volume of the hematoma and the hypodense area was determined by computerized axial tomography of the skull at the time of admission. The average speed and index of pulsation of the anterior, middle and posterior cerebral arteries were measured in both hemispheres using transcranial Doppler within the first 100 hours. The differences between the averages were analysed using the ANOVA test and the correlations with Pearson's coefficient of correlation. RESULTS: The average speeds, except in the anterior cerebral artery, were lower in both hemispheres in the patients than in the controls (p < 0.001). There were interhemispherical differences in the average speeds in the patients (p = 0.06). The indices of pulsatility were greater in both hemispheres in the patients than in the controls (p < 0.001). These differences were independent of age, sex and arterial blood pressure. The average speed in the ipsilateral middle cerebral artery showed excellent correlation with the size of the hypodense area (r = -0.92) and the hematoma (r = -0.89). The indices of pulsatility showed little correlation with the size of the lesion. There was moderate correlation between transcranial Doppler and clinical scales. CONCLUSION: Transcranial Doppler detects cerebral hypoperfusion in patients with hematoma. The excellent correlation of the average speed in the middle cerebral artery with the size of the lesion and the low correlation of the indices of pulsatility, which did not show interhemispherical asymmetry, suggest that the mechanisms of hipoperfusion are different from the intracranial hypertension.

Adult↗