Temporal Arteritis Presenting as an Isolated Bilateral Abducens Nerve Palsy: A Rare Case of a 65-Year-Old Male

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) or temporal arteritis (TA) is a granulomatous inflammation of medium to large-sized arteries. It may have a diverse presentation. The most common presenting symptoms of GCA are fever, malaise, unilateral headache, jaw claudication, polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and ophthalmoplegia. Most severe sequelae of GCA could be blindness. We report a case of a 65-year-old Caucasian male who presented for the third time with recurrent episodes of diplopia. Neurologic exam showed bilateral cranial nerve (CN) VI palsy, slightly worse on the right than the left side. Other focal neurological deficits were absent. GCA was considered and biopsy of the temporal artery was performed which showed necrotizing pan-arteritis, consistent with GCA. The patient was empirically treated with intravenous (IV) methylprednisolone while awaiting the biopsy results which resulted in the resolution of the symptoms. As far as we know, this is the second case in the literature about the bilateral sixth CN involvement in the background of GCA

Pineal Gland Tumor but not Pinealoma: A Case Report

The pineal gland is a small pinecone-shaped and functionally endocrine structure located in the epithalamus region. Developmentally, the pineal gland is considered as a part of the epithalamus. It plays a role in the entrainment of the circadian rhythms of an organism by producing melatonin, a functionally important hormone. Lesions of the pineal region are rare compared to other parts of the brain. A lesion may be tumorous or non-tumorous in nature. The most common lesions are tumors that are pineal parenchymal tumors (PPT) in origin. Gliomas are the second most common tumors in the pineal region. We report a case of a high-grade oligodendroglioma, not commonly seen in the pineal region, in a 45-year-old male. The patient was suspected to have a mass in the pineal region on a computed tomography (CT) scan and histology confirmed the diagnosis of oligodendroglioma. This is a unique case because only five such cases have been reported so far

Burden of Arrhythmias in Epilepsy Patients: A Nationwide Inpatient Analysis of 1.4 Million Hospitalizations in the United States

Arrhythmias have been one of the common complications in epilepsy patients and have also been the reason for death. However, limited data exist about the burden and outcomes of arrhythmias by subtypes in epilepsy. Our study aims at evaluating the burden and differences in outcomes of various subtypes of arrhythmias in epilepsy patient population. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from 2014 was examined for epilepsy and arrhythmias related discharges using appropriate International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes. The frequency of arrhythmias, gender differences in arrhythmia by subtypes, in-hospital outcomes and mortality predictors was analyzed. A total of 1,424,320 weighted epilepsy patients was determined and included in this study. Around 23.9% (n = 277,230) patients had cardiac arrhythmias. The most frequent arrhythmias in the descending frequency were: atrial fibrillation (AFib) 9.7%, other unspecified causes 7.3%, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) 1.4%, bundle branch block (BBB) 1.2%, ventricular tachycardia (VT) 1%. Males were more predisposed to cardiac arrhythmias compared to females (OR [odds ratio]: 1.1, p \u3c 0.001). The prevalence of most subtypes arrhythmias was higher in males. Arrhythmias were present in nearly a quarter of patients with epilepsy. Life threatening arrhythmias were more common in male patients. The length of stay (LOS) and mortality were significantly higher in epilepsy patients with arrhythmia. It is imperative to develop early diagnosis and prompt therapeutic measures to reduce this burden and poor outcomes due to concomitant arrhythmias in epilepsy patients

Impact of Cocaine Use on Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients: Insights from Nationwide Inpatient Sample in the United States

Cocaine is the third most common substance of abuse after cannabis and alcohol. The use of cocaine as an illicit substance is implicated as a causative factor for multisystem derangements ranging from an acute crisis to chronic complications. Vasospasm is the proposed mechanism behind adverse events resulting from cocaine abuse, acute ischemic strokes (AIS) being one of the few. Our study looked into in-hospital outcomes owing to cocaine use in the large population based study of AIS patients. Using the national inpatient sample (NIS) database from 2014 of United States of America, we identified AIS patients with cocaine use using International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes. We compared demographics, mortality, in-hospital outcomes and comorbidities between AIS with cocaine use cohort versus AIS without cocaine use cohort. Acute ischemic strokes (AIS) with cocaine group consisted of higher number of older patients (\u3e 85 years) (25.6% versus 18.7%, p \u3c 0.001) and females (52.4% versus 51.0%, p \u3c 0.001). Cocaine cohort had higher incidence of valvular disorders (13.2% versus 9.7%, p \u3c 0.001), venous thromboembolism (3.5% versus 2.6%, p \u3c 0.03), vasculitis (0.9% versus 0.4%, p \u3c 0.003), sudden cardiac death (0.4% versus 0.2%, p \u3c 0.02), epilepsy (10.1% versus 7.4%, p \u3c 0.001) and major depression (13.2% versus 10.7%, p \u3c 0.007). The multivariate logistic regression analysis found cocaine use to be the major risk factor for hospitalization in AIS cohort. In-hospital mortality (odds ratio (OR)= 1.4, 95% confidence interval= 1.1-1.9, p \u3c 0.003) and the disposition to short-term hospitals (odds ratio (OR)= 2.6, 95% confidence interval = 2.1-3.3, p \u3c 0.001) were also higher in cocaine cohort. Venous thromboembolism was observed to be linked with cocaine use (OR= 1.5, 95% confidence interval= 1.0-2.1, p \u3c 0.01) but less severely than vasculitis (OR= 3.0, 95% confidence interval= 1.6-5.8, p \u3c 0.001). Further prospective research is warranted in this direction to improve the outcomes for AIS and lessen the financial burden on the healthcare system of the United States

Incidence and impact of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke after left ventricular assist device implantation: A nationwide study

BACKGROUND: Despite noteworthy advancements in the design of the left ventricular assist device (LVAD), stroke remains one of the most significant adverse events. This study aims to analyze the incidence and short-term outcomes associated with stroke (ischemic and hemorrhagic) after implantation of LVAD. METHODS: Study cohorts were identified from the National Inpatient Sample database from January 2009 to September 2015 using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes. The primary outcome was an incidence of stroke, and secondary outcomes were the associated mortality, length of stay, and cost of hospitalization. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze adjusted in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: Use of LVADs increased significantly from 2009 to 2014 (2278 in 2009 to 3730 in 2014 [P \u3c 0.001]). From a total of 20,656 admissions who underwent LVAD implantation, 1518 (7.4%) developed stroke, among whom 1177 (5.7%) had an ischemic stroke and 426 (2.1%) had a hemorrhagic stroke. Adjusted in-hospital mortality was highest with hemorrhagic stroke. Incidence of stroke was associated with significantly longer length of stay and cost of hospitalization. CONCLUSION: The incidence of stroke was ~7% after LVAD placement, and it was associated with significantly higher in-hospital mortality and resource utilization

Abstract 1122‐000229: Simultaneous Transarterial‐Transvenous Contrast Injection to Reveal Connection Point for Treatment of Carotid Cavernous Fistula

Introduction: Cavernous sinus (CS) via inferior petrosal sinus (IPS) access can present a challenge in the treatment of carotid‐cavernous fistulas (CCF) due to anatomical variations, tortuosity, and/or difficult visualization of IPS given high retrograde flow through the fistulous connection. Methods: A 58‐year‐old male was referred to our academic medical center for three weeks of right eye pain, now complicated by redness, diplopia and blurry vision. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) brain at the outside hospital revealed hemorrhagic lesion in right parietotemporal region. Computerized tomography‐angiogram (CTA) of the head revealed filling of cavernous sinus during an arterial phase suspicious for CCF. Under general anesthesia, after accessing right common femoral artery, 4 French (F) cook catheter (Cook Medical LLC, Bloomington, IN) was advanced over 0.035 angled glide wire to the proximal right internal carotid artery. Contrast injected through the ICA showed the CS but not the IPS (Fig. 1A). Through the left common femoral vein, access was obtained using an Infinity guide catheter (Stryker Neurovascular, Fremont, CA) and Catalyst 5 (Stryker Neurovascular, Fremont, CA) distal access catheter. A Synchro 2 soft microwire (Stryker Neurovascular, Fremont, CA) was advanced through Echelon 10 (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN) microcatheter. The venous guide catheter was advanced into right internal jugular vein (IJV) and the distal access catheter was placed into sigmoid jugular junction. Injection of contrast revealed the IPS, but not the CS (Fig. 1B). A subsequent simultaneous hand injection with the microcatheter within the IPS and the diagnostic catheter in the left ICA elucidated the venous‐venous connection (Fig. 1C,) allowing for subsequent navigation and complete treatment of the fistula through IPS using target coils (Fig. 1D). Results: Given the arterial system is a high‐pressure system and the usual direction of flow of contrast would be from the high‐pressure ICA to the low‐pressure CS, injecting a simultaneous contrast bolus from the venous end would oppose the arterial contrast flow. As a result, the fistulous connection that was previously obscured became visible allowing roadmap imaging guiding navigation into the CS. Conclusions: Use of simultaneous trans‐arterial/trans‐venous contrast injection is relatively simple compared to other reported techniques to reveal an obscure connection point. It also shortens the duration of endovascular tools in the bloodstream and thus, reduces the potential complication rate. Further use of this technique on larger study samples is important to validate its general use

Inflammatory-associated proteomic predictors of cognitive outcome in subjects with ELVO treated by mechanical thrombectomy

Abstract Background Emergent Large Vessel Occlusion (ELVO) stroke causes devastating vascular events which can lead to significant cognitive decline and dementia. In the subset of ELVO subjects treated with mechanical thrombectomy (MT) at our institution, we aimed to identify systemic and intracranial proteins predictive of cognitive function at time of discharge and at 90-days. These proteomic biomarkers may serve as prognostic indicators of recovery, as well as potential targets for novel/existing therapeutics to be delivered during the subacute stage of stroke recovery. Methods At the University of Kentucky Center for Advanced Translational Stroke Sciences, the BACTRAC tissue registry (clinicaltrials.gov; NCT 03153683) of human biospecimens acquired during ELVO stroke by MT is utilized for research. Clinical data are collected on each enrolled subject who meets inclusion criteria. Blood samples obtained during thrombectomy were sent to Olink Proteomics for proteomic expression values. Montreal Cognitive Assessments (MoCA) were evaluated with categorical variables using ANOVA and t-tests, and continuous variables using Pearson correlations. Results There were n = 52 subjects with discharge MoCA scores and n = 28 subjects with 90-day MoCA scores. Several systemic and intracranial proteins were identified as having significant correlations to discharge MoCA scores as well as 90-day MoCA scores. Highlighted proteins included s-DPP4, CCL11, IGFBP3, DNER, NRP1, MCP1, and COMP. Conclusion We set out to identify proteomic predictors and potential therapeutic targets related to cognitive outcomes in ELVO subjects undergoing MT. Here, we identify several proteins which predicted MoCA after MT, which may serve as therapeutic targets to lessen post-stroke cognitive decline