Effect of extracranial lesion severity on outcome of endovascular thrombectomy in patients with anterior circulation tandem occlusion: analysis of the TITAN registry

Introduction Endovascular treatment (EVT) for tandem occlusion (TO) of the anterior circulation is complex but effective. The effect of extracranial internal carotid artery (EICA) lesion severity on the outcomes of EVT is unknown. In this study we investigated the effect of EICA lesion severity on the outcomes of tandem occlusion EVT. Methods A multicenter retrospective TITAN (Thrombectomy In TANdem lesions) study that included 18 international endovascular capable centers was performed. Patients who received EVT for atherosclerotic TO with or without EICA lesion intervention were included. Patients were divided into two groups based on the EICA lesion severity (high-grade stenosis (>= 90% North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial) vs complete occlusion). Outcome measures included the 90-day clinical outcome (modified Rankin Scale score (mRS)), angiographic reperfusion (modified Thrombolysis In Cerebral Ischemia (mTICI) at the end of the procedure), procedural complications, and intracranial hemorrhage at 24 hours follow-up. Results A total of 305 patients were included in the study, of whom 135 had complete EICA occlusion and 170 had severe EICA stenosis. The EICA occlusion group had shorter mean onset-to-groin time (259 +/- 120 min vs 305 +/- 202 min;p=0.037), more patients with diabetes, and fewer with hyperlipidemia. With respect to the outcome, mTICI 2b-3 reperfusion was lower in the EICA occlusion group (70% vs 81%;p=0.03). The favorable outcome (90-day mRS 0-2), intracerebral hemorrhage and procedural complications were similar in both groups. Conclusion Atherosclerotic occlusion of the EICA in acute tandem strokes was associated with a lower rate of mTICI 2b-3 reperfusion but similar functional and safety outcomes when compared with high-grade EICA stenosis

Assessment of therapies targeting vasospasm management following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage

La médecine fondée sur des preuves s’est particulièrement imposée ces dernières décennies tout particulièrement dans les pays anglosaxons. Mais de nombreuses pratiques médicales courantes restent à ce jour non validées. Malgré une limitation croissante de ces pratiques, il existe dans certains domaines une grande liberté de pratique, pour le meilleur et pour le pire. L’exigence de preuve ne devrait-elle pas laisser place à l’exigence d’évaluation ? Ces considérations ont guidé ce travail de recherche sur l’angioplastie du vasospasme, thérapie non validée à ce jour mais réalisée en pratique courante dans de nombreux centres. Notre travail a consisté en premier lieu à faire une revue de la littérature sur le vasospasme, l’ischémie cérébrale retardée et l’angioplastie du vasospasme au décours des hémorragies sous arachnoïdiennes par rupture d’anévrysme. Nous avons participé également à la réalisation d’une méta-analyse sur le traitement de cette pathologie (Boulouis et al. 2016). Cette première étape a mis en évidence des contradictions dans les conclusions sur le lien entre le vasospasme et de l’ischémie cérébrale retardée pouvant être attribuées à des méthodologies biaisées ou utilisant des tests de faible sensibilité. Cette analyse a également permis d’affirmer qu’il n’existait à ce jour aucune preuve de l’efficacité du vasospasme. Nous avons cherché dans un second temps à redéterminer le lien entre l’ischémie cérébrale retardée et le vasospasme en utilisant une méthodologie plus robuste qu’employée jusqu’à présent (Brami et al. 2020 ; Simonato et al. Soumission 2021). Ce travail a permis de conforter l’association entre le vasospasme et l’ischémie cérébrale retardée. En outre, il a permis de mieux déterminer la topographie du vasospasme et de montrer de manière originale que le vasospasme épargne les vaisseaux entre 150 et 900 microns, et prédomine au niveau des segments moyens des artères cérébrales dans près de 40%. Enfin, nous avons cherché à définir quelque technique d’angioplastie était la plus efficace. Nous avons pour cela réalisé une comparaison de cohorte historique montrant une supériorité de la vasodilatation mécanique distale + IV par rapport à la vasodilatation mécanique proximale + IA en stratégie de première intention. Cette évaluation a également permis de souligner des limites importantes du processus de sélection des patients pour la vasodilatation dont bon nombre était traité trop tardivement. Nous avons également réalisé une comparaison inter centre de 2 stratégies opposées de traitement du vasospasme qui n’a pas permis de montrer de supériorité de la vasodilatation mécanique distale + IV par rapport à une attitude conservatrice sans vasodilatation. En conclusion, notre travail permet de définir les prochaines étapes de validation de l’angioplastie de vasospasme en suggérant notamment l’intérêt d’une randomisation explicative comparant la vasodilatation mécanique distale + traitement médical standard vs. traitement médical standard seul.Evidence-based medicine has gained importance in recent decades, particularly in Anglo-Saxon countries. But many common medical practices remain unvalidated to this day. In spite of an increasing limitation of these practices, there are some areas of practice with no recommendation, for better or for worse. Shouldn't the requirement for evidence to be the requirement for evaluation? These considerations guided this research on vasospasm angioplasty, a therapy that is not yet validated but is performed in routine practice in many centers. Our work consisted first of all of a review of the literature on vasospasm, delayed cerebral ischemia, and vasospasm angioplasty after subarachnoid hemorrhage due to aneurysm rupture. We also participated in the completion of a meta-analysis on the treatment of this condition (Boulouis et al. 2016). This first step highlighted contradictions in the findings on the association between vasospasm and delayed cerebral ischemia that could be attributed to biased methodologies or using tests with low sensitivity. This review also stated that there was no evidence to date for the efficacy of vasospasm. We sought in a second step to determine the link between delayed cerebral ischemia and vasospasm using a more robust methodology than employed to date (Brami et al. 2020; Simonato et al. Submission 2021). This work supported the association between vasospasm and delayed cerebral ischemia. In addition, it has allowed us to better determine the topography of vasospasm and to show in an original way that vasospasm spares vessels between 150 and 900 microns, and predominates at the level of the middle segments of cerebral arteries in almost 40%. Finally, we sought to define which angioplasty technique was the most effective. To this end, we performed a historical cohort comparison showing superiority of distal mechanical vasodilation + intravenous vasodilation (IV) over proximal mechanical vasodilation + intraarterial vasodilation as a first-line strategy. This evaluation also highlighted important limitations of the patient selection process for vasodilation, many of whom were treated too late. We also performed an inter-center comparison of 2 opposing vasospasm treatment strategies that did not show superiority of distal mechanical vasodilation + IV over a conservative attitude without vasodilation. In conclusion, our work helps define the next steps in the validation of vasospasm angioplasty by suggesting, in particular, the interest of an explanatory randomization comparing distal mechanical vasodilation + standard medical treatment vs. standard medical treatment alone

Conjunctival lymphangiectasia as a biomarker of severe systemic disease in Ser77Tyr hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis

International audienceAims To investigate the relationship between the ophthalmic and systemic phenotypes in patients with hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis with the S77Y mutation (ATTRS77Y). Methods In this cross-sectional study, patients with genetically confirmed ATTRS77Y amyloidosis were enrolled. All patients underwent complete neurological examination, including staging with the Neuropathy Impairment Score (NIS), Polyneuropathy Disability (PND) score; complete cardiological evaluation, including echocardiography, cardiac MRI and/or cardiac scintigraphy and complete ophthalmic evaluation, including slit lamp examination and fundus examination. Ocular ancillary tests (fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography, and anterior segment optical coherence tomography) were performed in cases with abnormal findings. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used for quantitative outcomes and Fisher's exact test for qualitative outcomes. Statistical significance was indicated by p<0.05 (two tailed). Results The study sample was composed of 24 ATTRS77Y patients. The mean patient age was 58.4 +/- 12.4 years. None of the patients presented with amyloid deposits in the anterior chamber, secondary glaucoma or vitreous amyloidosis. Retinal angiopathy was observed in four patients, complicated with retinal ischaemia in one patient. Conjunctival lymphangiectasia (CL) was detected in 13 patients (54%), associated with perilymphatic amyloid deposits. The presence of CL was statistically associated with more severe neurological disease (NIS=43.3 +/- 31.9 vs 18.9 +/- 20.4; PND=2.6 +/- 1.0 vs 1.4 +/- 0.7 in patients with and without CL, respectively; both p<0.05) and amyloid cardiomyopathy (p=0.002). Conclusion In ATTRS77Y patients, CL is common and could serve as a potential biomarker for severe systemic disease. There were neither anterior chamber deposits, secondary glaucoma nor vitreous deposits in ATTRS77Y patients

High angular resolution in 2010-2020: a comparison between possible post-VLT/VLTI instruments

International audienc

High angular resolution in 2010-2020: a comparison between possible post-VLT/VLTI instruments

International audienc

High angular resolution in 2010-2020: a comparison between possible post-VLT/VLTI instruments

International audienc

Reasoning by analogy requires the left frontal pole: lesion-deficit mapping and clinical implications

International audienceAnalogical reasoning is at the core of the generalization and abstraction processes that enable concept formation and creativity. The impact of neurological diseases on analogical reasoning is poorly known, despite its importance in everyday life and in society. Neuroimaging studies of healthy subjects and the few studies that have been performed on patients have highlighted the importance of the prefrontal cortex in analogical reasoning. However, the critical cerebral bases for analogical reasoning deficits remain elusive. In the current study, we examined analogical reasoning abilities in 27 patients with focal damage in the frontal lobes and performed voxel-based lesion-behaviour mapping and tractography analyses to investigate the structures critical for analogical reasoning. The findings revealed that damage to the left rostrolateral prefrontal region (or some of its long-range connections) specifically impaired the ability to reason by analogies. A short version of the analogy task predicted the existence of a left rostrolateral prefrontal lesion with good accuracy. Experimental manipulations of the analogy tasks suggested that this region plays a role in relational matching or integration. The current lesion approach demonstrated that the left rostrolateral prefrontal region is a critical node in the analogy network. Our results also suggested that analogy tasks should be translated to clinical practice to refine the neuropsychological assessment of patients with frontal lobe lesions