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Introduction: Mirror illusion consist in the fact that, standing in front of a mirror put in a sagittal plane, with our head on one side and one arm stretched forward, we can see one side of our body reflected as if it were the other side, by mirror visual feedback. The aim of this study was to monitor blood flow changes in medial cerebral artery (MCA) by means of Transcranial Doppler (TCD) in individuals during motor tasks as well as tasks using mirror visual feedback. Subjects and methods: Eight young healthy volunteers (four male and four female) participated in this study. TCD recording of MCA was done during each task consisting of various motor and visuo-motor activities using mirror illusion. Both MCA mean blow flow velocity (MBFV) were measured while individuals seated in a comfortable chair. The obtained MCA MBFV are presented as baseline values Results: During the illusion of motoric hand activation, when the subject is making right hand flexions and watching its reflexion in the mirror, while the left hand is immobile, increase of mean blood flow velocity of contralateral MCA was observed (task 3 + 4.5% than in baseline values, P = 0.017). Furthermore, when the subject made left hand flexions while watching the reflection of the immobile right hand in the mirror, there was increase of MBFV in right MCA (+5.6% than in baseline values P = 0.044), more pronounced than during the illusion of motoric hand activation (task3) and less than during direct vision of hand flexion (task 2 + 6.3%than in baseline values P = 0.005). Conclusion: Our data showed that visual illusion of action, as well as direct action observation can increase mean blood flow value in MCA, which brings forward the possible usage of mirror illusion as a tool for motoric neurorehabilitation. Once considered rare, dissection of the internal carotid artery or vertebral artery is an increasingly recognized entity. Craniocervical arterial dissection is an uncommon cause of stroke in the general population, but is relatively common in patients below the age of 40. The early clinical manifestations are often subtle, however, permanent neurologic disability and death can result if the diagnosis is delayed. The present report describes eight patients (four men and four women) with dissection of the craniocervical arteries. Patient history was taken and clinical neurologic examinations were performed immediately upon admission. Diagnostic procedures included ultrasound (CDFI and TCD) and radiologic (computed tomography and digital subtraction angiography) examinations. The leading symptoms were focal neurologic deficits, and headache and neck ache. Ultrasound findings (CDFI) were positive for vessel dissection in seven (87.5%) patients, and DSA was consistent with dissection in five (62.5%) patients and negative in one patient, whereas in two patients this examination was not performed due to the known allergy to contrast medium. Five (62.5%) patients were treated with anticoagulants, one with platelet aggregation suppressants, and two patients w...

A decade ago, stroke was the first leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Croatia. Nowadays, we record reduction in stroke incidence, as well as stroke consequences-invalidity and mortality. These are due to long-term planned actions in the field of public health as well as actions performed by professional organizations. Today, we can be satisfied with improvement in that field, but there are still things we can improve, at the first place improvement of the emergency medicine network due to Croatian-specific topographical characteristics to reduce onset-to-door time. In this paper, we evaluated results from 11 Croatian hospitals in the period 11/2005-11/2012. To find out about the past and present state in applying thrombolytic therapy in Croatia and to plan further actions in light of new studies and efforts in Europe and in the world, all with the aim of improvement in stroke prevention and acute treatment resulting in reduction of stroke morbidity, mortality and symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage as well as better functional outcome. Our results have shown that we improved stroke treatment in the last decade, but further actions should be performed to raise public stroke awareness and to improve emergency medicine network as well as in hospital protocols.