Background and PurposeMiddle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) has a high mortality rate and pandemic potential. However, the neurological manifestations of MERS have rarely been reported since it first emerged in 2012.MethodsWe evaluated four patients with laboratory-confirmed MERS coronavirus (CoV) infections who showed neurological complications during MERS treatment. These 4 patients were from a cohort of 23 patients who were treated at a single designated hospital during the 2015 outbreak in the Republic of Korea. The clinical presentations, laboratory findings, and prognoses are described.ResultsFour of the 23 admitted MERS patients reported neurological symptoms during or after MERS-CoV treatment. The potential diagnoses in these four cases included Bickerstaff's encephalitis overlapping with Guillain-Barré syndrome, intensive-care-unit-acquired weakness, or other toxic or infectious neuropathies. Neurological complications did not appear concomitantly with respiratory symptoms, instead being delayed by 2–3 weeks.ConclusionsNeuromuscular complications are not rare during MERS treatment, and they may have previously been underdiagnosed. Understanding the neurological manifestations is important in an infectious disease such as MERS, because these symptoms are rarely evaluated thoroughly during treatment, and they may interfere with the prognosis or require treatment modification.

Characteristics of stroke cases, acute stroke care, and outcomes after stroke differ according to geographical and cultural background. To provide epidemiological and clinical data on stroke care in South Korea, we analyzed a prospective multicenter clinical stroke registry, the Clinical Research Center for Stroke-Fifth Division (CRCS-5). Patients were 58% male with a mean age of 67.2±12.9 years and median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score of 3 [1-8] points. Over the 6 years of operation, temporal trends were documented including increasing utilization of recanalization treatment with shorter onset-to-arrival delay and decremental length of stay. Acute recanalization treatment was performed in 12.7% of cases with endovascular treatment utilized in 36%, but the proportion of endovascular recanalization varied across centers. Door-to-IV alteplase delay had a median of 45 [33-68] min. The rate of symptomatic hemorrhagic transformation (HT) was 7%, and that of any HT was 27% among recanalization-treated cases. Early neurological deterioration occurred in 15% of cases and were associated with longer length of stay and poorer 3-month outcomes. The proportion of mRS scores of 0-1 was 42% on discharge, 50% at 3 months, and 55% at 1 year after the index stroke. Recurrent stroke up to 1 year occurred in 4.5% of patients; the rate was higher among older individuals and those with neurologically severe deficits. The above findings will be compared with other Asian and US registry data in this article.

There are limited data on the utilization of diagnostics and the variation of treatments at the national level in acute stroke care. Clinical Research Center for Stroke--5th division stroke registry aimed to describe stroke statistics and quality of care in Korea and to implement quality indicators. Clinical Research Center for Stroke--5th division registry was established in April 2008 and covers pretreatment demographics, medical and stroke severity measures, diagnostic evaluation, hyperacute revascularization, in-hospital management, discharge disposition, quality indicators, and long-term functional outcomes. Consecutive stroke cases from 12 participating centers are registered to a web-based database. Meticulous data management and auditing policy were applied. A total of 14,792 ischemic stroke cases were enrolled from April 2008 to January 2012. The median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score was 4 at admission, with median delay of onset to arrival of 14 h. Rate of risk factor management before stroke exceeds more than 80% for hypertension and diabetes. Revascularization procedures were performed in 1736 subjects (12%), and 34% were endovascular (n = 598). Substantial variability was noted in the preferred modality of hyperacute revascularization (range of endovascular recanalization = 6-60%), use of computed tomography (30-93%), and perfusion imaging (2-96%). The Clinical Research Center for Stroke--5th division registry documented that the current practice of acute stroke care in South Korea largely met the standard of guidelines, but variability of practice still remains. The registry would provide an opportunity to evaluate the quality of stroke care across South Korea and compare it with that of other countries.

Background and Purpose-The low-dose (0.6 mg/kg) alteplase strategy to treat acute ischemic stroke patients became widespread in East Asian countries, without rigorous testing against standard-dose (0.9 mg/kg) alteplase treatment.Our aim was to investigate the comparative effectiveness and safety of the low-dose versus standard-dose intravenous alteplase strategy. Methods-A total of 1526 acute ischemic stroke patients who qualified for intravenous alteplase and treated within 4.5 hours were identified from a prospective, multicenter, and nationwide stroke registry database. Primary outcomes were a modified Rankin scale score of 0 to 1 at 3 months after stroke and occurrence of symptomatic hemorrhagic transformation. Inverse probability of low-dose alteplase weighting by propensity scores was used to remove baseline imbalances between the 2 groups, and variation among centers were also accounted using generalized linear mixed models with a random intercept. Results-Low-dose intravenous alteplase was given to 450 patients (29.5%) and standard-dose intravenous alteplase to 1076 patients (70.5%). Low-dose alteplase treatment was comparable to standard-dose therapy according to the following adjusted outcomes and odds ratios (95% confidence intervals): modified Rankin scale score 0 to 1 at 3 months and 0.95 (0.68-1.32); modified Rankin scale 0 to 2 at 3 months and 0.84 (0.62-1.15); symptomatic hemorrhagic transformation and 1.05 (0.65-1.70); and 3-month mortality and 0.54 (0.35-0.83). The associations were unchanged when the analysis was limited to those without endovascular recanalization. Conclusions-The low-dose alteplase strategy was comparable to the standard-dose treatment in terms of the effectiveness and safety. Concern for hemorrhagic transformation and potentially higher biological activity of alteplase in Asian populations have led to use of lower-dose intravenous (IV) alteplase in this region.3 A series of single-arm trials conducted in Japan showed that the low-dose alteplase (0.6 mg/kg) was feasible and patients treated with it had similar outcomes to historical controls treated with standard-dose IV tissue-type plasminogen activator (0.9 mg/kg).4-7 The low-dose strategy spread rapidly among Asian countries and is estimated to be used in >40% of acute ischemic stroke thrombolysis cases. 8-12The efficacy of the low-dose alteplase strategy has been challenged, however, based on a lack of concomitant controls and 2 recent publications from Mainland China and Taiwan, suggesting contrary conclusions in relation to the efficacy of low-dose alteplase.13,14 Also, the advent of efficacious and safe endovascular devices and prior use of IV thrombolysis further highlights the need for a safe and effective alteplase strategy. [15][16][17] In the absence of a large-scale clinical trial, observational data from a large clinical registry can be useful for assessing alternative treatment strategies. 18 The aim of the current study is to evaluate the comparative effectiveness and safety of low-dose alteplase treatment fo...

Background and Purpose-We compared baseline characteristics and outcomes at 3 months between patients with minor anterior circulation infarction (ACI) versus minor posterior circulation infarction (PCI), including the influence of large vessel disease on outcomes. Methods-This study is an analysis of a prospective multicenter registry database in South Korea. Eligibility criteria were patients with ischemic stroke admitted within 7 days of stroke onset, lesions in either anterior or posterior circulation, and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score of ≤4 at baseline. Patients were divided into 4 groups for further analysis: minor ACI with and without internal carotid artery/middle cerebral artery large vessel disease and minor PCI with and without vertebrobasilar large vessel disease. Results-A total of 7178 patients (65.2±12.6 years) were analyzed in this study, and 2233 patients (31.1%) had disability (modified Rankin Scale score 2-6) at 3 months. Disability was 32.3% in minor PCI and 30.3% in minor ACI (P=0.07), and death was 1.3% and 1.5%, respectively (P=0.82). In a multivariable logistic regression analysis, minor PCI was significantly associated with disability at 3 months when compared with minor ACI (odds ratio, 1.23; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-1.37; P<0.001). In pairwise comparisons, minor PCI with vertebrobasilar large vessel disease was independently associated with disability at 3 months, compared with the other 3 groups. Conclusions-Our study showed that minor PCI exhibited more frequent disability at 3 months than minor ACI. Especially, the presence of vertebrobasilar large vessel disease in minor PCI had a substantially higher risk of disability. Our results suggest that minor PCI with vertebrobasilar large vessel disease could require more meticulous care and are important targets for further study.