International Journal of Stroke: Podcast Series International Journal of Stroke

Stroke and COVID with Dr James Seigler

Idarucizumab is a monoclonal antibody fragment with high affinity for dabigatran reversing its anticoagulant effects within minutes. Patients with acute ischemic stroke on dabigatran treatment may become eligible for thrombolysis with rt-PA. In patients on dabigatran with intracerebral hemorrhage idarucizumab could prevent lesion growth. Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins, Managing Editor of the International Journal of Stroke spoke to Dr Pawel Kermer from Krankenhaus Sanderbusch; Neurology, Sande Germany. 
Read the article link here
 
 

Mobile stroke units, otherwise known as MSUs have recently been introduced in the care of patients suspected of having an acute stroke, leading to shortening in the time to thrombolytics, but how does the clinical effectiveness in terms of functional outcome and survival among patients treated in MSU and/or conventional care compare? 
Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins; Managing Editor of the International Journal of Stroke spoke to the very impressive Dr Nida Fatima from the Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA who was the corresponding author for the Mobile Stroke Unit versus Standard Medical Care in the Management of patients with Acute Stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis. 
 

Anecdotal reports and clinical observations have recently emerged suggesting a relationship between COVID-19 disease and stroke; highlighting the possibility that infected individuals may be more susceptible to cerebrovascular events
Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins, Managing Editor of the International Journal of Stroke (IJS) spoke to Kieron South and Craig Smith from the University of Manchester, two authors of the article Preceding Infection and Risk of Stroke: An Old Concept Revived by the COVID-19 Pandemic published in IJS.   
 
Unfortunately, at the time of recording there was some difficulty with the internet, another COVID-19 affect, and so some of the discussion with Craig Smith is a little hard to hear. Please be patient with us. It can be difficult to get good internet working from home. 
If you enjoy our podcast series with stroke practitioners and researchers from around the world, please do write a review, as we have it on good advice this helps others to find us. 
IJS is the flagship publication of the World Stroke Organisation (WSO). The WSO is doing every thing we can to support our professional membership at this difficult time. Please stay tuned for our upcoming conference details in November. Also, we produce weekly webinars and educational content for our stroke community, please consider becoming a member. 

Clinical assessment scores in acute ischemic stroke are only moderately correlated with lesion volume since lesion location is an important confounding factor. Many studies have investigated grey matter indicators of stroke severity but the understanding of white matter tract involvement is limited in the early phase after stroke. Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins, Managing Editor for the International Journal of Stroke spoke to Dr Deepthi Rajashekar from the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program, Department of Radiology, University of Calgary and Professor Michael Hill Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary and Foothills Medical Centre. Both are authors of the manuscript Structural integrity of white matter tracts as a predictor of acute ischemic stroke outcome published recently in IJS. This study aimed to measure and model the involvement of WM tracts with respect to 24-hours post-stroke National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and have found that white matter tract integrity and lesion load are important predictors for clinical outcomes after acute ischemic stroke as measured by the NIHSS and should be integrated for predictive modelling.
 
Access the article here

In health research we often hear, and pay lip service to the term ‘patient centred‘. Many of us would probably be hard pressed to devise entirely patient centred studies. "Take Charge’ is an impressive, novel, community-based self-directed rehabilitation intervention that helps a person with stroke to take charge of their own recovery. 
In a previous randomised controlled trial, a single Take Charge session improved independence and health-related quality of life 12 months following stroke in Māori and Pacific New Zealanders. 
This current study confirms that Take Charge; a low cost, person-centred, self-directed rehabilitation intervention after stroke – improved health-related quality of life and independence.
Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins Managing Editor of the International Journal of Stroke and spoke to Dr Harry McNaughton who conducted the study from the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand in the Stroke/Rehabilitation Research Department at Wellington Hospital.
Dr McNaughton and team tested the same intervention in three doses (zero, one or two sessions) in a larger study and in a broader non-Māori and non-Pacific population with stroke. We spoke to him about how this trial came about and how these really astounding results could change the way we look at some rehabilitation interventions. 
This podcast is sponsored by the World Stroke Organisation