scholarly journals Signs of Pulmonary Infection on Admission Chest Computed Tomography Are Associated With Pneumonia or Death in Patients With Acute Stroke

Stroke ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 1690-1695
Author(s):  
Jeroen C. de Jonge ◽  
Richard A.P. Takx ◽  
Frans Kauw ◽  
Pim A. de Jong ◽  
Jan W. Dankbaar ◽  
...  

Background and Purpose— In patients with acute stroke, the occurrence of pneumonia has been associated with poor functional outcomes and an increased risk of death. We assessed the presence and consequences of signs of pulmonary infection on chest computed tomography (CT) before the development of clinically overt pneumonia. Methods— In 200 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke who had CT angiography from skull to diaphragm (including CT of the chest) within 24 hours of symptom onset, we assessed the presence of consolidation, ground-glass-opacity and the tree-in-bud sign as CT signs of pulmonary infection and assessed the association with the development of clinically overt pneumonia and death in the first 7 days and functional outcome after 90 days with logistic regression. Results— The median time from stroke onset to CT was 151 minutes (interquartile range, 84–372). Thirty patients (15%) had radiological signs of infection on admission, and 22 (11.0%) had a clinical diagnosis of pneumonia in the first 7 days. Patients with radiological signs of infection had a higher risk of developing clinically overt pneumonia (30% versus 7.6%; adjusted odds ratios, 4.2 [95% CI, 1.5–11.7]; P =0.006) and had a higher risk of death at 7 days (adjusted odds ratios, 3.7 [95% CI, 1.2–11.6]; P =0.02), but not at 90 days. Conclusions— About 1 in 7 patients with acute ischemic stroke had radiological signs of pulmonary infection within hours of stroke onset. These patients had a higher risk of clinically overt pneumonia or death. Early administration of antibiotics in these patients may lead to better outcomes.

Circulation ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 129 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiang He ◽  
Yonghong Zhang ◽  
Tan Xu ◽  
Qi Zhao ◽  
Chung-Shiuan Chen ◽  
...  

Introduction: Observational studies have reported that a decrease in blood pressure (BP) within the first several days after stroke onset was associated with poorer, better, or no difference in adverse clinical outcomes among patients with acute ischemic stroke. Hypothesis: We investigated the association of immediate BP lowering in acute ischemic stroke patients with major clinical outcomes at 14 days or hospital discharge and at a 3 month follow-up visit. Methods: CATIS is a randomized clinical trial conducted in 4,071 Chinese patients with ischemic stroke within 48 hours of onset and elevated systolic BP (SBP). Patients were randomly assigned to receive antihypertensive treatment or control. The primary outcome was a combination of death and major disability (a modified Rankin score ≥3) at 14 days or hospital discharge or at the 3 month follow-up visit. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to adjust for baseline age, gender, SBP, NIHSS score, time of stroke onset, history of antihypertensive treatment, and intervention assignment. Results: Compared to patients with a >0-10% reduction in systolic BP within the first 24 hours after admission, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval [CI]) for patients with ≤0%, 11-20%, and ≥21% reduction in SBP were 1.40 (1.08, 1.82), 1.00 (0.81, 1.23), and 0.98 (0.73, 1.30) at 14 days or hospital discharge; and 1.31 (1.00, 1.71), 0.82 (0.66, 1.02), and 0.78 (0.58, 1.05) at 3 months follow-up. Compared to patients with a BP 130-139/85-89 mmHg at 7 days after admission, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (95% CI) for patents with BP <130/85, 140-159/90-99, and ≥160/100 mmHg were 1.07 (0.82, 1.38), 1.09 (0.89, 1.34), and 1.58 (1.18, 2.11) at 14 days or hospital discharge, and 0.89 (0.67, 1.17), 1.10 (0.89, 1.36), and 1.50 (1.11, 2.03) at 3 months follow-up, respectively. Conclusions: These data indicate that a lack of BP reduction in the first 24 hours of hospitalization and higher BP levels at 7 days after admission predict increased risk of death and major disability at 14 days or hospital discharge and at 3 months follow-up.


Angiology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 000331972110307
Author(s):  
Feng Han ◽  
Weifang Liao ◽  
Xunxin Duan ◽  
Yuying Shi ◽  
Zhijian Hu

This cohort study was designed to assess the association between serum endocan levels and the prognosis of acute ischemic stroke. A total of 227 patients were recruited consecutively. Study outcome data on death and major disability (modified Rankin Scale score ≥3) were collected at 3 months after stroke onset. After 3 months of follow-up, death and disability occurred in 48 and 85 patients, respectively, while the primary (death) and secondary (death or disability) outcome incident rate was 21.15% and 37.44%, respectively. The multivariable adjusted odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval, 95% CIs) of the highest endocan quartile for death or major disability was 1.21 (1.10, 4.13) compared with the lowest quartile. After adjusting for confounding factors, the increase in the risk of death was not significant. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that endocan predicted primary and secondary outcomes with C-statistical values (95% CIs) of 0.61 (0.55–0.67, P = .001) and 0.68 (0.59–0.76, P < .001), respectively. Elevated endocan levels were independently related to increased risk of poor outcome at 3 months after ischemic stroke onset. Endocan is a potential prognostic factor for ischemic stroke.


Stroke ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishal Shah ◽  
Ashrai Gudlavalleti ◽  
Julius G Latorre

Introduction: In patients with acute stroke, part of the acute management entails identifying the risk factors; modifiable or non modifiable. Early recognition of these factors is essential for optimizing therapeutic procedures, especially those with a known effective treatment. In this sense, Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB) has also been suggested as a modifiable and independent risk factor for stroke as defined by international guidelines and some studies have demonstrated that patients with stroke and particularly Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) have an increased risk of death or new vascular events. Pathogenesis of ischemic stroke in SDB is probably related to worsening of existing cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension and hypoxia driven cardiac arrhythmia leading to higher prevalence of ischemic stroke in patients with sleep disordered breathing disease. Despite strong evidence linking SDB to ischemic stroke, evaluation for SDB is rarely performed in patients presenting with an acute ischemic stroke. Hypothesis: Evaluation of SDB is rarely performed in patients presenting with acute ischemic stroke. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all patients above the age of 18 who were admitted to the acute stroke service at University Hospital July 2014 to December 2014. Demographic data, etiology of stroke as identified per TOAST criteria, modifiable risk factors, presenting NIHSS and frequency of testing for SDB and their results were collected. The data was consolidated and tabulated by using STATA version 14. Results: Total of 240 patients satisfied our inclusion criteria. Only 24 patients ie 10% of those who satisfied our inclusion criteria received evaluation for SDB. Out of those evaluated, 62.5% ie 15 patients out of 24 patients had findings concerning for significant desaturation. Only 2 providers out of 8 stroke physicians ie 25% tested for SDB in more than 5 patients. Conclusions: Our observations highlight the paucity in evaluation for SDB in acute ischemic stroke in a tertiary care setting. Being a modifiable risk factor, greater emphasis must be placed on evaluation for SDB in patients in patients with acute stroke. Education must be provided to all patients and providers regarding identification of these factors.


2009 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. JCNSD.S2221
Author(s):  
Byron R. Spencer ◽  
Omar M. Khan ◽  
Bentley J. Bobrow ◽  
Bart M. Demaerschalk

Background Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is a vital link in the overall chain of stroke survival. A Primary Stroke Center (PSC) relies heavily on the 9-1-1 response system along with the ability of EMS personnel to accurately diagnose acute stroke. Other critical elements include identifying time of symptom onset, providing pre-hospital care, selecting a destination PSC, and communicating estimated time of arrival (ETA). Purpose Our purpose was to evaluate the EMS component of thrombolysed acute ischemic stroke patient care at our PSC. Methods In a retrospective manner we retrieved electronic copies of the EMS incident reports for every thrombolysed ischemic stroke patient treated at our PSC from September 2001 to August 2005. The following data elements were extracted: location of victim, EMS agency, times of dispatch, scene, departure, emergency department (ED) arrival, recordings of time of stroke onset, blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), cardiac rhythm, blood glucose (BG), Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Cincinnati Stroke Scale (CSS) elements, emergency medical personnel field assessment, and transport decision making. Results Eighty acute ischemic stroke patients received thrombolysis during the study interval. Eighty-one percent arrived by EMS. Two EMS agencies transported to our PSC. Mean dispatch-to-scene time was 6 min, on-scene time was 16 min, transport time was 10 min. Stroke onset time was recorded in 68%, BP, HR, and cardiac rhythm each in 100%, BG in 81%, GCS in 100%, CSS in 100%, and acute stroke diagnosis was made in 88%. Various diagnostic terms were employed: cerebrovascular accident in 40%, unilateral weakness or numbness in 20%, loss of consciousness in 16%, stroke in 8%, other stroke terms in 4%. In 87% of incident reports there was documentation of decision-making to transport to the nearest PSC in conjunction with pre-notification. Conclusion The EMS component of thrombolysed acute ischemic stroke patients care at our PSC appeared to be very good overall. Diagnostic accuracy was excellent, field assessment, decision-making, and transport times were very good. There was still room for improvement in documentation of stroke onset and in employment of a common term for acute stroke.


2020 ◽  
Vol 116 (14) ◽  
pp. 2239-2246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Ferrante ◽  
Fabio Fazzari ◽  
Ottavia Cozzi ◽  
Matteo Maurina ◽  
Renato Bragato ◽  
...  

Abstract Aims Whether pulmonary artery (PA) dimension and coronary artery calcium (CAC) score, as assessed by chest computed tomography (CT), are associated with myocardial injury in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is not known. The aim of this study was to explore the risk factors for myocardial injury and death and to investigate whether myocardial injury has an independent association with all-cause mortality in patients with COVID-19. Methods and Results This is a single-centre cohort study including consecutive patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 undergoing chest CT on admission. Myocardial injury was defined as high-sensitivity troponin I &gt;20 ng/L on admission. A total of 332 patients with a median follow-up of 12 days were included. There were 68 (20.5%) deaths; 123 (37%) patients had myocardial injury. PA diameter was higher in patients with myocardial injury compared with patients without myocardial injury [29.0 (25th–75th percentile, 27–32) mm vs. 27.7 (25–30) mm, P &lt; 0.001). PA diameter was independently associated with an increased risk of myocardial injury [adjusted odds ratio 1.10, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.19, P = 0.01] and death [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.09, 95% CI 1.02–1.17, P = 0.01]. Compared with patients without myocardial injury, patients with myocardial injury had a lower prevalence of a CAC score of zero (25% vs. 55%, P &lt; 0.001); however, the CAC score did not emerge as a predictor of myocardial injury by multivariable logistic regression. Myocardial injury was independently associated with an increased risk of death by multivariable Cox regression (adjusted HR 2.25, 95% CI 1.27–3.96, P = 0.005). Older age, lower estimated glomerular filtration rate, and lower PaO2/FiO2 ratio on admission were other independent predictors for both myocardial injury and death. Conclusions An increased PA diameter, as assessed by chest CT, is an independent risk factor for myocardial injury and mortality in patients with COVID-19. Myocardial injury is independently associated with an approximately two-fold increased risk of death.


Neurology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (8) ◽  
pp. 805-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chongke Zhong ◽  
Jingyuan Yang ◽  
Tan Xu ◽  
Tian Xu ◽  
Yanbo Peng ◽  
...  

Objective:To examine the association between serum matrix metalloproteinases-9 (MMP-9) levels and prognosis of acute ischemic stroke.Methods:We measured serum MMP-9 levels in 3,186 participants (2,008 men and 1,178 women) from the China Antihypertensive Trial in Acute Ischemic Stroke (CATIS). Study outcome data on death, major disability (modified Rankin Scale score ≥3), and vascular disease were collected at 3 months after stroke onset.Results:During 3 months of follow-up, 767 participants (24.6%) experienced major disability or died. Serum MMP-9 was significantly associated with an increased risk of death and major disability after adjustment for age, sex, time from onset to randomization, current smoking, alcohol drinking, admission NIH Stroke Scale score, diastolic blood pressure, plasma glucose, white blood cell counts, use of antihypertensive medications, and history of hypertension, coronary heart disease, and diabetes mellitus. For example, 1-SD (0.32 ng/mL) higher log–MMP-9 was associated with an odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of 1.16 (1.06–1.28) for the combined outcome of death and major disability, 1.12 (1.01–1.23) for major disability, and 1.29 (1.01–1.66) for death. The addition of serum MMP-9 to conventional risk factors improved risk prediction of the combined outcome of death or major disability (net reclassification index 9.1%, p = 0.033; integrated discrimination improvement 0.4%, p = 0.004).Conclusions:Higher serum MMP-9 levels in the acute phase of ischemic stroke were associated with increased risk of mortality and major disability, suggesting that serum MMP-9 could be an important prognostic factor for ischemic stroke.


BMC Neurology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng Yuan ◽  
Bin Han ◽  
Yiping Xia ◽  
Ye Liu ◽  
Chunyang Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Brain ischemia activates the parasympathetic cholinergic pathway in animal models of human disease. However, it remains unknown whether activation of the cholinergic pathway impacts immune defenses and disease outcomes in patients with ischemic stroke. This study investigated a possible association between peripheral cholinergic activity, post-stroke infection, and mortality. Methods In this study, we enrolled 458 patients with acute ischemic stroke (< 24 h after onset), 320 patients with ischemic stroke on day 10, and 216 healthy subjects. Peripheral cholinergic activity, reflected by intracellular acetylcholine (ACh) content in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), was determined by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Expression of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) was measured by quantitative real-time PCR and western blot. Regression analyses were used to assess associations between peripheral cholinergic function and clinical outcomes. Results Within 24 h after the onset of acute ischemic stroke, there was a rapid increase in peripheral cholinergic activity that correlated with brain infarction volume (r = 0.67, P < 0.01). Specifically, lymphocyte-derived ACh levels were significantly higher in stroke patients with pneumonia (0.21 ± 0.02 ng/106 PBMC versus 0.15 ± 0.01 ng/106 PBMC, P = 0.03). Of note, lymphocytic AChE catalytic activity was significantly lower in these patients. One-year mortality was significantly greater in patients with higher intracellular ACh levels within the first 24 h after acute stroke. Conclusions Lymphocytes produced increased amounts of ACh in patients with acute stroke, and pneumonia was a likely result. The association between this enhanced cholinergic activity and increased risk of pneumonia/mortality suggests that increased cholinergic activity may contribute to fatal post-stroke infection.


Stroke ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Richardson ◽  
Brooke Sinha

Background: Patients who are admitted to the hospital with a non-stroke diagnosis (NSD) may be at risk for an acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Identifying stroke symptoms for admitted patients with NSD in time for consideration of acute stroke intervention is challenging. Because ‘time is brain’, learning more about patients who may be at risk for AIS during the hospital stay could impact our ability to detect stroke early and improve the patient’s chance for consideration of acute stroke intervention. Purpose: To identify the characteristic(s) of patients who may experience AIS during the hospital stay for NSD so that they may have an opportunity for timely consideration of acute stroke intervention. Methods: The population consisted of patients admitted to the hospital for NSD who had a stroke team activation during the hospital stay (n=46). Records were reviewed over a six month period. These patients records were reviewed for common characteristics that may help predict the risk of AIS. Results: Of these patient records, 46 stroke teams were activated for admitted patients with NSD, 23 (50%) had atrial fibrillation or a history of atrial fibrillation (AF) , and 14 (30%) had AIS during the hospital stay . Comparing the two groups, 13 patients experienced AIS during the hospital stay in the clinical setting of AF (28%). Conclusions: Patients admitted with NSD who also have AF may be at increased risk of AIS during the hospital stay. Consideration should be given for these patients to have serial neurological exams from the time of admission in order to detect stroke symptoms to improve their chance at consideration for acute stroke intervention.


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