Frequency and clinical patterns of stroke in Iran - Systematic and critical review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cerebrovascular disease is the second commonest cause of death, and over a third of stroke deaths occur in developing countries. To fulfil the current gap on data, this systematic review is focused on the frequency of stroke, risk factors, stroke types and mortality in Iran.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirteen relevant articles were identified by keyword searching of PubMed, Iranmedex, Iranian University index Libraries and the official national data on burden of diseases.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The publication dates ranged from 1990 to 2008. The annual stroke incidence of various ages ranged from 23 to 103 per 100,000 population. This is comparable to the figures from Arab Countries, higher than sub-Saharan Africa, but lower than developed countries, India, the Caribbean, Latin America, and China. Similarly to other countries, ischaemic stroke was the commonest subtype. Likewise, the most common related risk factor is hypertension in adults, but cardiac causes in young stroke. The 28-day case fatality rate is reported at 19-31%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Data on the epidemiology of stroke, its pattern and risk factors from Iran is scarce, but the available data highlights relatively low incidence of stroke. This may reflect a similarity towards the neighbouring nations, and a contrast with the West.</p

Prognosis of Carotid Endarterectomy in High Risk Patients

Introduction: Carotid Endarterectomy (CE) can be mentioned as a valuable theraputic method for primary and secondary prevention of stroke, provided it can be performed in vascular surgery centers with a low surgical risk. Thus, the present study aimed to assess prognosis of CE in high risk patients of an Iranian vascular surgery center. Methods: This prospective observational study consisted of 50 high risk CE patients during 2011-14 in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. All the high risk CE were performed by a vascular surgeon and a surgical carotid shunt was placed in each CE. Neurologic evaluation was performed before CE and serial neurologic axamination was done after CE by a neurologist. Surgical complications including stroke, death and lower cranial nerve palsy were recorded for 30 days after operation. Results: The study results revealed that 80% of high risk CE patients had symptomatic carotid stenosis on the operation side and 80% had carotid stenosis contralateral to the operation side. Thirteen high risk CE were performed simultaneously with coronary artery by pass graft and 24 patients were demonstrated to have diabetes. Post surgical death and stroke in the high risk CE patients were reported 2% and 4%, respectively. Lower cranial nerve palsy appeared in 2% of patients. Conclusion: The 6% post operative stroke and death rate in the high risk CE patients are comparable to best vascular surgery centers in Europe and North America