Background and Purpose— There are few large studies examining comorbidities, outcomes, and acute interventions for patients with retinal artery occlusion (RAO). RAO shares pathophysiology with acute ischemic stroke (AIS); direct comparison may inform emergent treatment, evaluation, and secondary prevention. Methods— The National Readmissions Database contains data on ≈50% of US hospitalizations from 2013 to 2015. We used International Classification of Diseases , Ninth Revision , codes to identify and compare index RAO and AIS admissions, comorbidities, and interventions and Clinical Comorbidity Software codes to identify readmissions causes, using survey-weighted methods when possible. Cumulative risk of all-cause readmission after RAO ≤1 year was estimated by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results— Among 4871 RAO and 1 239 963 AIS admissions, patients with RAO were less likely ( P <0.0001) than patients with AIS to have diabetes mellitus (RAO, 24.3% versus AIS, 36.8%), congestive heart failure (9.1% versus 14.8%), atrial fibrillation (15.5% versus 25.2%), or hypertension (62.2% versus 67.6%) but more likely to have valvular disease (13.3% versus 10.5%) and tobacco usage (38.6% versus 32.9%). In RAO admissions, thrombolysis was administered in 2.9% (5.8% in central RAO subgroup, versus 8.0% of AIS), therapeutic anterior chamber paracentesis in 1.0%, thrombectomy in none; 1.4% received carotid endarterectomy during index admission, 1.6% within 30 days. Nearly 1 in 10 patients with RAO were readmitted within 30 days and were more than twice as likely as patients with AIS to be readmitted for dysrhythmia or endocarditis. Readmission for stroke after RAO was the highest within the first 150 days after index admission, and risk was higher in central RAO than in branch RAO. Conclusions— Patients with RAO had high prevalence of many stroke risk factors, particularly valvular disease and smoking, which can be addressed to minimize subsequent risk. Despite less baseline atrial fibrillation, RAO patients were more likely to be readmitted for atrial fibrillation/dysrhythmias. A variety of interventions was administered. AIS risk is the highest shortly after RAO, emphasizing the importance of urgent, thorough neurovascular evaluation.

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Objective This study aimed to evaluate the proportion of patients with seizures and electroencephalography (EEG) abnormalities in autoimmune encephalitis (AE) and its most common subtypes. Methods This systematic review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analysis (PRISMA) standards and was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO). We searched Medline All, Embase, and PsychINFO in Ovid from inception to June 2019 for articles pertaining to AE and seizure. Included studies reported seizure and/or EEG data in cohorts of ≥10 AE patients. Patient demographics, antibody type, seizure incidence, and EEG findings were extracted. Review of studies and data extraction were performed in duplicate. In addition to descriptive analysis, quantitative synthesis stratified by autoantibody subtype was performed with logistic regression and chi‐square analyses. Results Our search yielded 3856 abstracts: 1616 were selected for full‐text review and 118 studies met eligibility criteria. Of 3722 antibody‐positive AE patients, 2601 (69.9%) had clinical seizures during the course of their illness. Of the 2025 patients with antibody‐positive AE and available EEG data, 1718 (84.8%) had some EEG abnormality (eg, epileptiform discharges, slowing, and so on). Anti‐ N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor encephalitis (anti‐NMDARE) was the most commonly reported type of AE (1985/3722, 53.3%). Of the anti‐NMDARE patients with available seizure or EEG data, 71.8% (n = 1425/1985) had clinical seizures during their illness, and 89.7% (n = 1172/1306) had EEG abnormalities. For all AE patients and in the anti‐NMDARE subpopulation, seizures were more common in younger patients (p < .05). Significance This systematic review provides an estimate of the proportion of AE patients with seizures, confirming the magnitude of seizure burden in this population. Prospective studies are needed to understand population‐based prevalence of seizures, identify factors associated with seizures, and evaluate particular EEG findings as biomarkers of seizures and outcomes in AE.

At present, management strategies are aimed at treating the MPN and regularly monitoring the MGUS for transformation to an overt plasma-cell malignancy. However, for patients who develop overt MM, management is focused more on treating the myeloma and monitoring the MPN. It has not yet been definitively shown that these 2 entities arise from a common-ancestor hematopoietic stem cell.

Myelofibrosis (MF) is a chronic progressive hematologic malignancy with a median overall survival (OS) of approximately 6 years. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the sole treatment approach that offers curative potential. The use of reduced-intensity conditioning regimens has expanded the application of HSCT to patients with MF up to age 70 years. Recent retrospective and prospective reports have suggested worse HSCT outcomes for patients with MF receiving an unrelated donor graft compared with those receiving a related donor graft. To identify patient- and HSCT-specific variables influencing outcomes, we conducted a retrospective analysis of 42 patients with chronic and advanced-phase MF who underwent HSCT at our institution. For this cohort, at a median follow-up of 43 months, progression-free survival (PFS) was 15 months and OS was 25 months. In multivariable analysis, the sole clinical variable that negatively influenced outcome was the use of an unrelated donor, with a median PFS and OS both of 11 months versus not yet reached in patients receiving a related donor graft. At 2 years, OS was 38% (95% confidence interval [CI], 20%-56%) and nonrelapse mortality (NRM) was 53% (95% CI, 36%-78%) in the unrelated donor graft group, compared with 75% (95% CI, 46%-90%) and 21% (95% CI, 9%-47%) in the related donor graft group. There was no difference in the rates of grade III-IV acute graft-versus-host disease between the unrelated and related donor groups (38% versus 38%). Despite a more aggressive disease state, 2-year PFS and OS were both 42% (95% CI, 15%-67%) in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasm-blast phase undergoing HSCT. Graft failure rate was higher in patients receiving a mismatched donor graft compared with those receiving a matched donor graft (60% versus 13%; P = .0398). Retransplantation of patients with graft failure resulted in long-term survival. Baseline splenomegaly did not affect transplantation outcomes. Given the particularly poor outcomes seen in the unrelated donor cohort here and elsewhere, a formal exploration of alternative hematopoietic stem cell sources is warranted.