Consensus statements and recommendations from the ESO-Karolinska Stroke Update Conference, Stockholm 11-13 November 2018

The purpose of the European Stroke Organisation-Karolinska Stroke Update Conference is to provide updates on recent stroke therapy research and to give an opportunity for the participants to discuss how these results may be implemented into clinical routine. The meeting started 22 years ago as Karolinska Stroke Update, but since 2014 it is a joint conference with European Stroke Organisation. Importantly, it provides a platform for discussion on the European Stroke Organisation guidelines process and on recommendations to the European Stroke Organisation guidelines committee on specific topics. By this, it adds a direct influence from stroke professionals otherwise not involved in committees and work groups on the guideline procedure. The discussions at the conference may also inspire new guidelines when motivated. The topics raised at the meeting are selected by the scientific programme committee mainly based on recent important scientific publications. This year's European Stroke Organisation-Karolinska Stroke Update Meeting was held in Stockholm on 11-13 November 2018. There were 11 scientific sessions discussed in the meeting including two short sessions. Each session except the short sessions produced a consensus statement (Full version with background, issues, conclusions and references are published as web-material and at and ) and recommendations which were prepared by a writing committee consisting of session chair(s), scientific secretary and speakers. These statements were presented to the 250 participants of the meeting. In the open meeting, general participants commented on the consensus statement and recommendations and the final document were adjusted based on the discussion from the general participants Recommendations (grade of evidence) were graded according to the 1998 Karolinska Stroke Update meeting with regard to the strength of evidence. Grade A Evidence: Strong support from randomised controlled trials and statistical reviews (at least one randomised controlled trial plus one statistical review). Grade B Evidence: Support from randomised controlled trials and statistical reviews (one randomised controlled trial or one statistical review). Grade C Evidence: No reasonable support from randomised controlled trials, recommendations based on small randomised and/or non-randomised controlled trials evidence.Peer reviewe

Elevated plasma homocysteine upon ischemic stroke is associated with increased long-term mortality in women.

Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death worldwide, despite preventive and therapeutic advances during the last twenty years. Blood-borne biomarkers have been studied in association to short- and long-term outcome, in order to investigate possible modifiable predictors of disability and death. Increased homocysteine has been associated with increased vascular risk and unfavorable outcome, but homocysteine lowering treatment has not consistently been successful in risk reduction. The aim of this study was to investigate homocysteine levels upon acute ischemic stroke in association to long-term mortality.Of 622 patients included in our hospital-based registry, 331 survived the first month after admission, and had a diagnosis of ischemic stroke and available homocysteine values. All-cause and vascular mortality were investigated based on the national patient- and cause of death-registries. Survival analysis and Cox proportional hazard models were used to investigate time to death and predictors of outcome.Of 331 patients, 148 (45%) had low homocysteine ( = 13 micromol/L). During 10 years of follow-up (median 5.5 years), 47 patients (32%) with low homocysteine and 94 (51%) with high homocysteine died (p = 13 micromol/L) upon acute ischemic stroke was not independently associated with mortality in our study. In the subgroup of women, high homocysteine was associated with increased five-year risk of death. Our study's retrospective design and the exploratory nature of subgroup analysis, prevent robust conclusions based on that observation. Future studies on homocysteine levels before as well as upon stroke will shed further light on a possible causal association

Modelling of peripheral fluid accumulation after a crystalloid bolus in female volunteers - a mathematical study

Objective. To simultaneously model plasma dilution and urinary output in female volunteers. Methods. Ten healthy female non-pregnant volunteers, aged 21-39 years (mean 29), with a bodyweight of 58-67kg (mean 62.5kg) participated. No oral fluid or food was allowed between midnight and completion of the experiment. The protocol included an infusion of acetated Ringers solution, 25ml/kg over 30min. Blood samples (4ml) were taken every 5min during the first 120min, and thereafter the sampling rate was every 10min until the end of the experiment at 240min. A standard bladder catheter connected to a drip counter to monitor urine excretion continuously was used. The data were analysed by empirical calculations as well as by a mathematical model. Results. Maximum urinary output rate was found to be 19 (13-31) ml/min. The subjects were likely to accumulate three times as much of the infused fluid peripherally as centrally; 1/=2.7 (2.0-5.7). Elimination efficacy, Eeff, was 24 (5-35), and the basal elimination kb was 1.11 (0.28-2.90). The total time delay Ttot of urinary output was estimated as 17 (11-31) min. Conclusion. The experimental results showed a large variability in spite of a homogenous volunteer group. It was possible to compute the infusion amount, plasma dilution and simultaneous urinary output for each consecutive time point and thereby the empirical peripheral fluid accumulation. The variability between individuals may be explained by differences in tissue and hormonal responses to fluid boluses, which needs to be further explored

Baseline characteristics of study participants according to plasma homocysteine levels.

<p>Baseline characteristics of study participants according to plasma homocysteine levels.</p

Kaplan-Meier survival curves for 10-year observation of 1-month survivors by tHcy status.

<p>The analyses were performed for all patients (a), for women (b), and men (c).</p