The Role of Suboptimal Home-Measured Blood Pressure Control for Cognitive Decline

Aim: We aim to analyze if there is any correlation between suboptimal home-/self-measured blood pressure values and the results from neuropsychological screening tests for early cognitive impairment. Methods: We studied 325 patients with treated hypertension. Mean age was 66.12 (±10.1) years. There were 119 (36.6%) male and 206 (63.4%) female patients, among them 52 (16%) with atrial fibrillation. Neuropsychological tests performed were the Mini-Mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, and Hachinski Ischemic Score; additionally, home-measured blood pressure was used. Results: There is a nonlinear age- and risk factor-dependent correlation between early stages of cognitive impairment and suboptimal home-measured blood pressure. Conclusion: The use of specific and sensitive neuropsychological tests for early cognitive impairment in patients with suboptimal home-measured blood pressure is effective in the everyday practice

The role of periprocedural hemodynamic variables during carotid stenting for the mid-term general mortality in advanced age patients

Introduction: Carotid stenting may produce significant bradycardia and/or hypotension. This may have negative short- and long-term effects for the elderly high-risk patients. Their cerebral hemodynamics is with exhausted adaptive capacity because of the multiple cardiovascular risk factors, advanced age, and significant stenosis. Aim: This was a retrospective study aimed at finding whether periprocedural hypoperfusion or hypotension at the time of carotid stenting had any significance for the acute neurological outcome and mid-term general mortality in advanced-age patients who were at high risk for surgical endarterectomy. Materials and methods: We studied 138 consecutive patients with significant carotid stenosis from January 2015 to July 2019. The mean (SD) age was 67.41 (10.70) years. The mean follow-up period was 31 months (922 days). The patients were hemodynamically monitored periprocedurally according to a local protocol. Vasopressors were added if a prolonged hypotension was measured. Statistical data were analyzed using SPSS IBM v. 19 (p=0.05, CI 95%). Results: The male patients were 94 (68%). The number of patients with hypotension periprocedurally or in the first 6 hours post-procedure was 55 (42%). The mean blood pressures were 135/83 mmHg before, 116/76 mmHg during, and 121/73 mmHg after the procedure. Kaplan-Maier analysis showed no significant differences in the mid-term general mortality rate between patients with and patients without transitory hypotension. There wasn’t any difference in the postprocedural neurological outcome either. Conclusions: The presence of hypotension during carotid stenting was not linked to a negative neurological outcome. It also did not increase mid-term all-cause mortality in elderly patients (mean age, 67 years). The finding could be attributed to the relatively brief period of hypotension, the prompt administration of vasopressors, or the prevention of brain edema and hyper-reperfusion during carotid stenting in terms of elevated blood pressure; however, this remains to be determined

Functional Assessment of Intermediate Vascular Disease

Interventional treatment in various vascular beds has advanced tremendously. However, there are several problems to be considered. We searched the literature and tried to analyze major parts of it. One is safety and applicability of coronary proven methods in other vascular beds. An unresolved problem is the functional assessment of intermediate lesions, as far as various target organs have quite different circulation from the coronary one and the functional tests should be modified in order to be applicable and meaningful. In the majority of the acute vascular syndromes, the culprit lesion is of intermediate size on visual assessment. On the other hand, a procedurally successfully managed high-degree stenosis is not always followed by clinical and prognostic benefit. In vascular beds, where collateral network naturally exists, the readings from the functional assessment are complicated and thus the decision for interventional treatment is even more difficult. Here come into help the functional assessment and imaging with IVUS, OCT, high-resolution MRI, and contrast enhanced CT or SPECT. The focus of the current review is on the functional assessment of intermediate stenosis in other vascular beds, unlike the coronary arteries

Comparison of Central, Ambulatory, Home and Office Blood Pressure Measurement as Risk Markers for Mild Cognitive Impairment in Hypertensive Patients

Aims: We compared the role of central blood pressure (BP), ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM), home-measured BP (HMBP) and office BP measurement as risk markers for the development of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: 70 hypertensive patients on combination medical therapy were studied. Their mean age was 64.97 ± 8.88 years. Eighteen (25.71%) were males and 52 (74.28%) females. All of the patients underwent full physical examination, laboratory screening, echocardiography, and office, ambulatory, home and central BP measurement. The neuropsychological tests used were: Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). SPSS 19 was used for the statistical analysis with a level of significance of 0.05. Results: The mean central pulse pressure values of patients with MCI were significantly (p = 0.016) higher than those of the patients without MCI. There was a weak negative correlation between central pulse pressure and the results from the MoCA and MMSE (r = –0.283, p = 0.017 and r = –0.241, p = 0.044, respectively). There was a correlation between ABPM and MCI as well as between HMBP and MCI. Conclusions: The correlation of central BP with target organ damage (MCI) is as good as for the other types of measurements of BP (home and ambulatory). Office BP seems to be the poorest marker for the assessment of target organ damage

Clinical effect of carotid stenting on cognitive abilities – possible evaluation using candidates for biomarkers

Micro- and macrovascular consequences of atherosclerosis, arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, and smoking can affect neurotransmission and markers for neuronal activity. The potential direction and specifics are under study. It is also known that optimal control of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia in midlife may positively affect cognitive functioning later in life. However, the role of hemodynamically significant carotid stenoses in neuronal activity markers and cognitive functioning is still being debated. With the increased use of interventional treatment for extracranial carotid disease, the question of whether it might affect neuronal activity indicators and whether we can stop or even reverse the path of cognitive deterioration in patients with hemodynamically severe carotid stenoses naturally emerges. The existing state of knowledge provides us with ambiguous answers. We sought the literature for possible markers of neuronal activity that can explain any potential difference in cognitive outcomes and guide us in the assessment of patients throughout carotid stenting. The combination of biochemical markers for neuronal activity with neuropsychological assessment and neuroimaging may be important from practical point of view and may provide the answer to the question for the consequences of carotid stenting for long-term cognitive prognosis