ESC 'Johann Jacob Wepfer Award'

The first day of the ESC and Professor Lou Caplan has received a standing ovation from the audience while being presented with the Johann Jacob Wepfer Award. In a moving tribute to a stroke giant, Heinrich Mattle emoted the audience to a standing ovation. The award itself honours scientists for their outstanding work in the field of cerebrovascular diseases. Professor Caplan was generously mentored throughout his career by C Miller Fisher and has himself mentored many ornaments to the game, including IJS Associate Editor Conrado Estol, who wrote an excellent piece for IJS on the career achievements of Professor Caplan in 2007. Thanks to Robert Ackerman who worked closely with Miller Fisher, IJS will publish an obituary celebrating the life of this eminent neurologist in the coming edition of the journal. In our latest edition we also farewell the much lauded Frank Yatsu.

Article Source: warning signs of a stroke To find out how it's done, please visit http://www.sooperarticles.com/health-fitness-articles/stroke-articles/warning-signs-stroke-1084606.html

http://www.strokestories.scot.nhs.uk/storylibrary/narratives/narratives.htm. The stroke human toll. 

Article Source: warning signs of a stroke To find out how it's done, please visit http://www.sooperarticles.com/health-fitness-articles/stroke-articles/warning-signs-stroke-1084606.html

SAMMPRIS study

The Stenting versus Aggressive Medical Management for Preventing Recurrent Stroke in Intracranial Stenosis (SAMMPRIS) study, is the first stroke prevention trial to compare intracranial stenting with medical therapy and incorporate intensive medical management to the study design. Patients in the study were ages 30 to 80 years old and had experienced a recent transient ischemic attack or another type of non-disabling stroke. All patients participated in a lifestyle modification program focused on quitting smoking, increasing exercise, and controlling diabetes and cholesterol.

The results showed that patients at high risk for a second stroke had a lower risk of stroke and death when treated with aggressive medical therapy than patients who received a brain stent in addition to aggressive medical therapy.  The trial seems to indicate that stents are detrimental to patients at high risk of stroke. It was hypothesized by the trial investigators that those with stents would decrease their risk of death.

Your thoughts?

Article Source: warning signs of a stroke To find out how it's done, please visit http://www.sooperarticles.com/health-fitness-articles/stroke-articles/warning-signs-stroke-1084606.html

Indigenous stroke patients treated worse: National audit

Indigenous stroke patients treated worse: National audit

'Co-author Dr Dominique Cadilhac from the Stroke and Ageing Research Centre at Monash University said the data were controlled for patient clustering within hospitals, and only hospitals that treated at least one Indig- enous patient were included.

“If anything I think it underestimated the discrepancy,” said Dr Cadilhac, who also works at the National Stroke Foundation.'

Article Source: warning signs of a stroke To find out how it's done, please visit http://www.sooperarticles.com/health-fitness-articles/stroke-articles/warning-signs-stroke-1084606.html

Sneak peek - what's coming to print in IJS this year!

“Better wear out sheets than shoes” A Survey of 202 Stroke Professionals´ Early Mobilisation Practices and Concerns

Monica Skarin1, Julie Bernhardt2, Anna Sjo¨ holm1, Michael Nilsson1, and Thomas Linden1

Background Stroke unit care improves the outcome for patients.

One component responsible for this may be that

patients are mobilised earlier and more intensively. An ongoing

randomised controlled trial is investigating the potential

benefits of early mobilisation, but currently there is

limited evidence for the practice. Therefore, current practices

may be driven by historical precedent and/or clinical opinion,

and varying approaches to mobilisation are likely. This study

aims to examine different health professionals’ concerns

regarding early mobilisation in acute stroke. In this study,

early mobilisation was defined as frequent out of bed activities

within the first 24 h after stroke onset.

Methods A nine-item anonymous questionnaire exploring

benefits and harms with early mobilisation after stroke was

used during interviews of stroke care professionals attending

the annual Australasian stroke conference in 2008.

Results The survey was completed by 202 professionals,

representing 38% of all conference attendees. 65% were

females, 50% under 40-years old, 46% worked in acute stroke

and 31% in rehabilitation. Thirty-five percent were nurses,

26% medical doctors, 19% physiotherapists and 12% occupational

therapists. Two-thirds had o10-years experience with

stroke. Sixty percent of the surveyed professionals had concerns

about early mobilisation and there were significantly

more professionals concerned about early mobilisation for

haemorrhagic (59%) than ischaemic (23%) stroke patients.

Conclusion Our study shows that most clinicians had concerns

in relation to early mobilisation of stroke patients and

more clinicians had concerns for haemorrhagic than for

ischaemic stroke. The evidence underlying these concerns is

shallow.

Article Source: warning signs of a stroke To find out how it's done, please visit http://www.sooperarticles.com/health-fitness-articles/stroke-articles/warning-signs-stroke-1084606.html

IJS speaks to Professor Sandy Middleton about the Quality in Acute Stroke Care

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/interview-professor-sandy/id483410287

Professor Sandy Middleton is the Director of the Nursing Research Institute, St Vincent’s & Mater Health Sydney and School of Nursing (NSW & ACT) Australian Catholic University, and Director, National Centre for Clinical Outcomes Research (NaCCOR), Australian Catholic University; Australian Catholic University Priority Research Centre and Chief investigator of the Quality in Acute Stroke Care (QASC) study.

Article Source: warning signs of a stroke To find out how it's done, please visit http://www.sooperarticles.com/health-fitness-articles/stroke-articles/warning-signs-stroke-1084606.html