chen 5,11 , Hung-Chieh chen 5,6 , chiung-chyi Shen 2,7,9,10* , Shun-Fa Yang 1,8* & Yuang-Seng tsuei 1,2,7* cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (cVSt) is a rare cause of cerebral infarction. once patients survive the acute phase, long-term prognosis is generally satisfactory. CVST patients who harbored risk factors known for poor prognosis (e.g., deterioration of consciousness/neurological functions and seizures) were oftentimes unresponsive to systemic heparin treatment. The advantage of combined endovascular mechanical thrombectomy (eMt) and on-site chemical thrombolysis (oct) plus systemic heparin for CVST over the heparin treatment alone has not been proved. A retrospective study was conducted to analyze consecutive patients with CVST from 2005 to 2015. Patients having clinical improvement or stable disease after heparin treatment were in I/S group; patients having continuous deterioration of consciousness/neurological functions and refractory seizures (despite the use of multiple anti-epileptic drugs) after heparin treatment were in D group. EMT and OCT were indicated for patients in D group. Imaging studies and medical records were reviewed for statistical analysis. Safety issues included new-onset/progression of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhages (ICH) or procedurerelated complications. Total thirty patients were included (I/S group = 16; D group = 14). In D group, the mean time frame from the start of heparin treatment to the endovascular treatment was 3.2 days. Compared with I/S group, all patients in D group had complete stenosis of the sinuses, with higher initial mRS, lower initial GCS, and more seizures (p = 0.006, 0.007, and 0.031, respectively), but no significant differences in the mRS at discharge (p = 0.504). Shorter length of thrombosis and lower initial mRS were associated with better outcomes (p = 0.009 and 0.003, respectively). Thrombosis involving the superior sagittal sinus (SSS) was associated with bad outcomes (p = 0.026). There were two patients (6.7%) with worsening symptomatic ICH, one in each group, managed surgically. The overall mortality of the study was 6.7% (2/30). Combined EMT and OCT after heparin treatment for severe CVST were reasonably safe, which might be considered as a salvage treatment in severe CVST patients who are unresponsive to heparin with heavy clot burden involving SSS in the acute phase. However, further studies are needed to confirm its efficacy and validity. Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a rare disease. The diagnosis could easily be missed if the initial presentation is non-specific headaches. Heparin (unfractionated heparin or low-molecular-weight heparin) is the first-line treatment. Concomitant intracerebral hemorrhage related to CVST is not a contraindication to heparin

No abstract

This video presents a case of new-onset visual blurring, diplopia, and conjunctival injection after head injury. CTA of the brain revealed a direct carotid-cavernous fistula (dCCF) of the right side. Careful evaluation of CTA source images revealed that the fistula point was at the ventromedial aspect of the right cavernous internal carotid artery (ICA), about 3.6 × 3.6 mm2 in size, with 3 main outflow channels (2 intracranial and 1 extracranial) (CTA-guided concept). DSA of the brain also confirmed the diagnosis but was unable to locate the fistula point in a large-sized dCCF. Through a transfemoral artery approach, 3 microcatheters were navigated to each peripheral channel to initiate outflow-targeted embolization. Intracranial refluxes were blocked first to avoid cerebral hemorrhages, followed by the extracranial outflow. During embolization, accidental dislodge of one coil into the sphenoparietal vein occurred, but no attempt of coil retrieval was made. Complete obliteration of the dCCF was achieved, and the patient recovered well without new neurological deficits. 4D MRA at the 3-month follow-up showed no residual dCCF.The video can be found here: https://youtu.be/LH2lNVRZSPk.

Background: A subgroup of patients with acute minor stroke (AMS) or transient ischemic attack (TIA) become disabled due to disease progression (DP) or recurrent stroke within 3 months. The aim of this article is to identify the risk factors for DP in AMS/TIA patients. In the literature, no studies focused on computed tomography perfusion (CTP) in AMS/TIA patients at the acute stage. Methods: This retrospective study included patients with AMS or TIA (onset of symptoms ≤4.5 hours, baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] score of 0-4). DP was defined as a deterioration of NIHSS score of ≥2 points during hospitalization or modified Ranking Scale ≥2 at 3-month follow-up. Clinical data and imaging results were retrieved and measured for statistical analysis. Results: From 2011 to 2017, total 135 patients were eligible for further analysis: 28 patients (20.7%, DP group) and 107 patients (79.3%, non-DP group). The DP group had significantly higher larger penumbra volumes (p = 0.028). In univariate model of the logistic regression, patients with the following risk factors tended to have unfavorable outcome: female gender, higher HbA1c, chronic kidney disease stage ≥3b, intracranial atherosclerosis, and penumbra volume were associated unfavorable outcome, but larger deadcore volume was not. In further multivariate analysis, only penumbra volume >5 cm3 (p = 0.049, odds ratio [OR] = 3.21, 95% CI: 1.00-10.27) had the statistical significance. The cut-point value of the penumbra volume for unfavorable outcome in AMS/TIA patients was 4.73 cm3. Conclusion: One fifth of the AMS/TIA patients had unfavorable outcome at 90 days. In CTP performed within 4.5 hours after the onset of AMS/TIA, the penumbra volume (>5 cm3) was a significant risk factor for DP, and the cut-point value was 4.73 cm3. Further studies could be designed to involve this subgroup of patients for more aggressive treatment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become increasingly worse worldwide since it was discovered in China in late December 2019. Easy contact transmission between people and a low to moderate mortality rate may cause failure in medical health services if there is no proper personal protective equipment for personnel. During the pandemic, patients with acute ischemic stroke with large-vessel occlusion who required immediate treatment through mechanical thrombectomy (MT) were still being sent to the emergency room. Knowing how to maintain effective treatment standards has become our concern. We used a retrospective, single-center study to select COVID-19 (-) patients with acute ischemic stroke undergoing mechanical thrombectomy during the years 2020–2021. Patients with acute ischemic stroke with large-vessel occlusion received mechanical thrombectomy were compared with patients admitted from December 2020 to May 2021 (the pre- COVID-19 group) and those from June 2021 to November 2021 (the during COVID-19 group). Furthermore, the time disparity of mechanical thrombectomy was compared between these two groups. Of patients confirmed with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) with large-vessel occlusion (LVO) during the study period, 62 were included. Compared with the pre-COVID-19 group (34 patients; median age, 70.5 years), the during COVID-19 group (28 patients; median age, 71.5 years) showed no major median time difference in door-to-computed-tomography-angiography (CTA) time (19.0 min vs. 20.0 min, p = 0.398) and no major median time difference in door-to-groin-puncture time (118.0 min vs. 109.0 min, p = 0.281). In our study, with a prepared protocol for the pandemic having been established in the healthcare system, we could see no difference between the pre-pandemic and during-pandemic time periods when using mechanical thrombectomy to treat COVID-19 (-) patients of AIS with LVO. By means of a quick-PCR test during triage, there was no time delay to perform MT or any lowering of safety protocol for workers in the healthcare system.