Levetiracetam (LEV) is a new antiepileptic drug with a promising preclinical profile involving both anticonvulsant and antiepileptogenic effects in kindling models. The latter stimulated the present study to compare its neuroprotective properties with the potent and selective, non-competitive NMDA antagonist, MK-801, in the rat middle cerebral artery occlusion model. Twenty-four hours after a t...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE This study examines whether lesion shape documented on magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging during acute stroke improves the prediction of the final infarct volume compared with lesion volume only. METHODS Diffusion-weighted imaging data and clinical information were retrospectively reviewed in 110 consecutive patients who underwent (n=67) or not (n=43) thrombo...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) is used clinically to attenuate neutropenia after chemotherapy. G-CSF acts as a growth factor in the central nervous system, counteracts apoptosis, and is neuroprotective in rodent transient ischemia models. METHODS We assessed the effect of G-CSF on ischemic lesion evolution in a rat permanent-suture occlusion model with di...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The goal of this study was to evaluate the utility of perfusion-weighted CT (PWCT) in predicting final infarct volume and clinical outcome in patients with acute middle cerebral artery (MCA) stroke. METHODS Twenty-two consecutive patients with MCA stem occlusion who underwent intra-arterial thrombolysis within 6 hours of stroke onset had noncontrast CT and CT angiograph...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Limited data exist on the relationship between acute infarct volume and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measures after ischemic stroke. We evaluated whether acute infarct volume predicts domain-specific Neuro-Quality of Life scores at 3 months after stroke. METHODS Between 2012 and 2014, we prospectively enrolled consecutive patients with ischemic stroke and calc...