BACKGROUND In patients with patent foramen ovale (PFO) there is evidence supporting the hypothesis of a change in right-to-left shunt (RLS) over time. Proven, this could have implications for the care of patients with PFO and a history of stroke. The following study addressed this hypothesis in a cohort of patients with stroke and PFO. METHODS The RLS volume assessed during hospitalisation fo...

Paroxysmal symptoms are unusual manifestations of multiple sclerosis (MS). When presented as the first clinical manifestation, paroxysmal symptoms may easily be mistaken for transient ischemic attack (TIA). Previously, several cases of MS that reported with paroxysmal symptoms were misdiagnosed as TIA. Here, we report two additional cases, focusing on the clinical characteristics of paroxysmal ...

Stroke is difficult to treat with few treatment options. Until such time as appropriate therapeutic regimens are established, prevention, both in the primary and in the secondary setting, is of paramount importance. Evaluation of pharmacological agents for the prevention of stroke in conventional clinical studies has the advantage that the outcome parameter is a direct measure of efficacy, and ...

Chagas disease (CD) is an important cause of cardiomyopathy and stroke in Brazil. Brain infarcts and atrophy seem to occur independently of cardiomyopathy severity and cognitive impairment is understudied. Objective Compare the prevalence of brain magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities between patients with or without CD; determine if inflammatory biomarkers are increased in CD; and determi...

Chagas disease (CD) is an important cause of cardiomyopathy and stroke in Brazil. Brain infarcts and atrophy seem to occur independently of cardiomyopathy severity and cognitive impairment is understudied. Objective: Compare the prevalence of brain magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities between patients with or without CD; determine if inflammatory biomarkers are increased in CD; and determin...

BACKGROUND The pathophysiology leading to pulmonary side effects during haemodialysis and haemodiafiltration is not yet fully understood. Chronic microembolization, which can be demonstrated by pulsed Doppler ultrasound, may be one cause. METHODS The study cohort consisted of 24 long-term dialysis patients undergoing haemodialysis (n=21) and online-haemodiafiltration (n=3), respectively. The ...

BACKGROUND The distal-balloon protection system is being evaluated for its efficacy in preventing embolic neurological events during carotid stenting (CAS). We sought to determine the effect of this system on the frequency of Doppler-detected microembolic signals (MES) during CAS. METHODS AND RESULTS Using transcranial Doppler, we compared the frequency of MES during CAS in 2 groups: 39 patie...

BACKGROUND Chronic haemodialysis (HD) may relieve some medical problems of terminal uraemia, but the life expectancy of patients is still significantly shortened, and there is a greatly increased morbidity. This includes pulmonary morbidity and chronic central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities. Previous studies have shown that a considerable amount of air microbubbles emanate within the blood ...

OBJECTIVE To compare the prevalence and grade of right-to-left shunt (RLS) in children with arterial ischaemic stroke (AIS) and in controls. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING Tertiary paediatric referral centre. Patients 30 consecutive children with AIS. INTERVENTION Contrast transcranial Doppler (cTCD) with Valsalva manoeuvre was performed in children with AIS and in controls. MAIN OUT...

PURPOSE To investigate differences between symptomatic and asymptomatic retinal embolism regarding the frequency and source of cerebral microemboli. METHODS Thirty-seven patients with transient monocular blindness or retinal infarction and 27 patients (29 eyes) with asymptomatic retinal embolism were prospectively enrolled. Patients underwent a transcranial Doppler study and noninvasive imagi...