Stroke is the second leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Initiatives to decrease the burden of stroke have largely focused on prevention and acute care strategies. Despite considerable resources and attention, the focus on prevention and acute care has not been successful in changing the clinical trajectory for the majority of stroke patients. While efforts to prevent strokes will continue to have an impact, the total burden of stroke will increase due to the aging population and decreased mortality rates. There is strong evidence for the effectiveness of rehabilitation in better managing stroke and its related disabilities. The time has come to shift the attention in stroke care and research from prevention and cure to a greater focus and investment in the rehabilitation and quality of life of stroke survivors. The rebalancing of stroke care and research initiatives requires a reinvestment in rehabilitation and community reintegration of stroke survivors.

A lack of knowledgeable and interested adult practitioners has repeatedly been identified as a challenge in transition planning for young adults with cerebral palsy (the vast majority of whom survive into adulthood). Physiatrists are ideally suited to manage adults with cerebral palsy, yet in this survey-based study, a majority of Canadian Physiatrists report caring for less than five adults with cerebral palsy on a regular basis. Barriers to further physiatric involvement in this population were reported to include lack of accessible resources and lack of referrals.

Anthracyclines, including doxorubicin, are an important class of chemotherapeutic agents. Their efficacy, however, is limited by cardiotoxicity. Risk factors for anthracycline-associated cardiotoxicity include dose, treatment-specific risk factors including adjunctive radiotherapy, patient-specific modifiable cardiac risk factors including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, tobacco use and obesity, and patient-specific non-modifiable risk factors such as age. The reduction of treatment-specific factors is not always possible, but treatment and reduction of modifiable risk factors should always be an important aspect of the management plan and may reduce the risk of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity. We present the case of a 65-year-old male with multiple modifiable cardiovascular risk factors who developed cardiogenic shock shortly after the administration of combination therapy with anthracyclines for the treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.