Myelin basic protein and ischemia modified albumin levels in acute ischemic stroke cases

OBJECTIVE To investigate early diagnostic effects of serum myelin basic protein (MBP) and ischemic modified albumin (IMA) levels in patients with ischemic stroke. METHODS Fifty patients who presented to an emergency service with acute ischemic stroke between June 2013 to March 2014 were evaluated with the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Thirty four healthy cases were included as control group. All patients' serum IMA and MBP level were assessed. RESULTS Mean IMA value was 0.52±0.25 cases with acute ischemic stroke and serum IMA levels were significantly higher than the control group (p<0.01). No statistical significance was observed between acute ischemic stroke group and control group related to the MBP serum levels (P>0.05). Statistically significant correlation was detected between the volumes of diffusion restriction on MRI and NIHSS score (P=0.002, r=0.43) and IMA (P=0.015, r=0.344) levels. CONCLUSIONS We have found that serum IMA levels are elevated in acute ischemic stroke cases and these levels are correlated with the ischemic tissue volume. MBP levels do not increase in early period of stroke cases.