A 57-year-old woman presented with a dural arteriovenous fistula (AVF) involving the superior sagittal sinus (SSS) based upon serial radiological examinations. Her chief complaints were headache and vomiting. Cerebral angiography and magnetic resonance (MR) venography revealed the sinus thrombosis involving the SSS, the bilateral transverse sinuses (TSs), and the right sigmoid sinus. Her symptoms disappeared after anticoagulant therapy. Follow-up MR venography revealed almost complete recanalization of the occluded sinuses, followed by restenosis of the SSS and the left TS and occlusion of the right TS without symptoms. She developed transient right hemiparesis 13 months after the initial onset. Cerebral angiography revealed a dural AVF involving the SSS with cortical reflux into the left frontoparietal region. The dural AVF was occluded by transarterial and transvenous embolization. Her symptom disappeared during the follow-up period.

Ruthenium oxide cathodes with low hydrogen overvoltage were manufactured by thermal decomposition method. Catalytic coating was comprised of ruthenium oxide and cerium oxide. Changes of crystalline structure and morphology of catalytic coating by electrolysis were observed. Mechanism of activation and stabilization of ruthenium oxide cathodes was investigated.

Objective: To compare the clinical and angiographic outcomes after implantation of drug-eluting stents (DESs) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) with or without prior cerebral infarction. Materials and Methods: Ninety-eight consecutive patients (130 lesions) who underwent successful coronary DES implantation were prospectively classified into two groups: those with a clinical history of symptomatic cerebral infarction (cerebral infarction group, 49 patients, 69 lesions) and those without a clinical history of symptomatic cerebral infarction (noncerebral infarction group, 49 patients, 61 lesions). The primary endpoint was defined as death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and cerebrovascular events. Results: The Kaplan-Meier method was used to create a primary endpoint curves to determine the time-dependent cumulative primary endpoint-free rate, which were compared using the log-rank test. The incidence of primary endpoints was higher in the cerebral infarction group than in the noncerebral infarction group (p = 0.0075). The Cox proportional hazards regression model for primary endpoint identified prior cerebral infarction (p = 0.0331, hazard ratio = 2.827) and patients with peripheral artery disease (p = 0.0271, hazard ratio = 2.757) as explanatory factors. Conclusion:The results showed that clinical outcomes were poorer in patients with CAD who had prior cerebral infarctions than in those who did not have infarction.

Summary:Although the treatment of SAH has been much improved recently, the prognosis in elderly patients remains poor due to problems related to the aging. In order to consider future strategy to improve treatment results, it is important to know the character of SAH specific to elderly patients.The clinical features in 65 SAH patients aged between 70 and 88 years, treated between 1997 and 2002, were investigated. The results of clipping in the acute stage were analyzed in relation to tolerability to the active treatments in elderly patients.The effect of operation in the acute stage showed remarkable contrast in each group of clinical condition: in the severe group only 16% in their 70s and 0% in their 80s showed good recovery but in the mild group it was 84% in those in their 70s and 83% in those in their 80s, which was comparable to the outcome in younger patients. The clinical condition in patients with poor outcome was characterized by the presentation of disturbance in higher cortical function, indicating the presence of generalized damage in the brain in elderly patients.SAH in elderly patients is characterized clinically by distinction of 2 groups: one in which the effect of SAH easily resulted in generalized brain damage and the other in which patients could withstand the effect of SAH. The latter group can be treated aggressively. For the former group, treatments consisting of palliative measures such as embolization and meticulous general care are essential.

No abstract