Posts Tagged ‘stroke’

April 9th, 2015

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: April 9th

This week’s topics include the PROMISE trial, the efficacy of folic acid therapy in primary prevention of stroke among patients with hypertension in China, and more.


March 30th, 2015

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: March 30th

This week’s topics include two papers comparing everolimus-eluting stents and CABG and a study of short-term exposure to air pollution and stroke.


February 19th, 2015

A Close Examination of Recent Studies of Endovascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke

Rory Spiegel takes a close look at the MR CLEAN, EXTEND-IA, and ESCAPE trials.


February 12th, 2015

Three Trials Show Benefits of Thrombectomy in Stroke Patients

Three new studies offer important additional evidence that early treatment with current thrombectomy devices that extract clots from blood vessels in the brain can lead to improved outcomes in carefully selected stroke patients. The trials were stopped early based on efficacy following positive findings last year from another trial, MR CLEAN. The three new trials […]


January 22nd, 2015

How Accurately Do ICD-9 Codes Identify Strokes in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation?

Jonathan L. Thigpen discusses his research group’s assessment of the validity of ICD-9 codes in identifying strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation.


December 24th, 2014

An Examination of MR CLEAN

Rory Spiegel examines why the MR CLEAN trial of interventional therapy for acute ischemic stroke succeeded where its predecessors failed.


December 17th, 2014

Dutch Trial Gives Support to Thrombectomy for Ischemic Stroke

A large new trial provides the first substantial evidence that thrombectomy may be beneficial in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Previous thromboectomy trials have been disappointing; some experts have speculated this may be due to the use of early-generation devices, long treatment delays, and difficulties in recruiting suitable patients into the trials. The Multicenter Randomized Clinical […]


November 3rd, 2014

AF Patients at Increased Risk for Silent Strokes

The increased risk of stroke in people with atrial fibrillation (AF) is well known, and this stroke risk is, of course, linked to an increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Less well known is that people with AF have an increased risk for cognitive impairment independent of their stroke risk. Now a new study […]


August 7th, 2014

Neck Manipulation Linked to Cervical Dissection

After a neck adjustment — also known as cervical manipulative therapy and typically employed by chiropractors and other healthcare providers — people are at increased risk for cervical dissections, which can lead to stroke, according to a scientific statement released by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Although a cause-and-effect relationship is far from being proved, the groups say that […]


August 5th, 2014

Large Analysis Supports Thrombolysis for Stroke

Although thrombolysis for ischemic stroke has been widely recognized as beneficial, its use has been limited because of concerns about its effects in patients treated after 3 hours, in older patients, and in patients with mild and with severe strokes. Now a meta-analysis published in the Lancet offers evidence that the use of thrombolysis should be […]