Dong Pan

BACKGROUND: Randomized trials have demonstrated the benefit of endovascular treatment (EVT) in moderate-to-severe acute basilar artery occlusion (BAO), but its benefit in acute mild BAO remains uncertain. This multicenter, retrospective cohort study aimed to explore the efficacy of EVT in acute BAO with a low National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale. METHODS: Patients with acute BAO and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale P P =0.80). However, EVT was associated with a higher risk of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (8.2% versus 3.9%; adjusted odds ratio, 3.86 [95% CI, 1.18–12.61]; P =0.03). CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort of patients with acute mild BAO, EVT was associated with an improved 90-day functional outcome compared with standard medical treatment alone, although the risk of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage was increased.

Rationale: Radial artery spasm (RAS) is a common complication during transradial cerebral angiography (TRA), but currently, the optimal prevention strategy is not well established. Papaverine has anti-vasospasm, sedative and analgesic effects. However, the efficacy of papaverine in preventing RAS during TRA remains unknown. Aims: To assess the efficacy of papaverine in preventing RAS during TRA. Sample size estimates: 240 participants will provide 80% power at a two-tailed significance level of 0.05 to test the superiority hypothesis with the assumption that the incidence of RAS is 4% and 14.62% in the intervention and control groups, respectively, allowing for a 5% drop-out rate. Methods and design: The Efficacy of Papaverine to Prevent Radial Artery Spasm During Transradial Cerebral Angiography is a multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. Eligible participants scheduled for TRA are 1:1 randomised to the intervention group and the control group. The intervention group will be slowly injected with 10 mL of papaverine hydrochloride solution through the successfully implanted radial artery sheath and continuously dripped papaverine hydrochloride solution through the artery sheath during the procedure, and the control group will be given normal saline in the same manner. Study outcome: The primary outcome is the incidence of RAS during the procedure. The operator assessed RAS based on a questionnaire addressing the following five signs: persistent forearm pain, pain response on catheter manipulation, pain response to introducer withdrawal and difficult catheter manipulation after being ‘trapped’ by the radial artery with considerable resistance on withdrawal of the introducer. RAS was indicated by the presence of at least two of these five signs or by the presence of just one when the operator considered it necessary to administer other spasmolytic agents. Trial registration number: NCT05861765 .

Purpose: Cognitive decline is a major concern for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) survivors after radiotherapy (RT). We assessed whether the rates of cognitive decline in NPC survivors differed depending on the presence of epilepsy. Methods: Based on an ongoing prospective cohort study (NCT03908502), we included consecutive NPC patients with a history of radiotherapy who underwent a baseline and follow-up cognition assessment between January 2005 and December 2023. Patients who had a confirmed diagnosis of epilepsy before radiotherapy, had intracranial brain metastasis during follow-up, lacked baseline major clinical data, or lacked follow-up cognitive assessment of longer than six months were excluded. The outcome was cognitive function assessed by the Chinese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), with assessments being performed every 6 months through face-to-face interviews. Linear mixed-effect models were used to analyze the progression rate of MoCA scores by epilepsy status (incident, prevalent, or no epilepsy). Results: A total of 521 patients with a median follow-up period of 3.96 years were included in our study. The rate of decline in MoCA was significantly faster in patients with prevalent epilepsy compared with no epilepsy after adjusting for demographics, health behaviors, tumor-related history, complications, anti-seizure medication, and inflammatory blood index (estimate: −1.407; 95%CI: −2.419, −0.412; p = 0.007). However, the cognitive decline rate was similar in the incident epilepsy group compared with that in the non-epilepsy group (p = 0.126). Subgroup analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the effect of epilepsy status on cognitive deterioration among subgroups stratified by the pre-planned covariates. Conclusions: Global cognitive function declined more rapidly in NPC patients with prevalent epilepsy. The control of seizure attacks may be valuable to mitigate cognitive decline.

Immunity and inflammation may be essential to the pathogenesis of dementia. However, the association of immune-mediated diseases with the risk of incident dementia has not been well characterised. We aimed to investigate the prospective association of 27 immune-mediated diseases and incident dementia risk and to explore the underlying mechanisms driven by brain structures. We included 487 459 UK Biobank participants aged 37–73 years without dementia at enrolment. Immune-mediated diseases and dementia cases were ascertained according to the International Classification of Diseases codes. Time-varying Cox proportional hazards regression and general linear regression models were used to examine the association of immune-mediated disease with incident dementia risk and brain morphometric measures, respectively. Over a median follow-up of 12.3 years, 1654 cases of incident dementia were documented in 86 243 patients with immune-mediated diseases. Overall, immune-mediated diseases were associated with a higher all-cause dementia risk (hazard ratio [HR], 1.24; 95% confidence interval, 1.17–1.32). Five out of 27 immune-mediated diseases were associated with an increased risk of dementia individually. Comorbidity of multiple immune-mediated diseases further increased the risk. Moreover, the immune-mediated disease was associated with smaller total surface areas of both left (β, −286.51; SE, 102.58; P = .014) and right hemispheres (β, −298.56; SE, 103.96; P = .016), greater white matter hyperintensities volume (β, 1.02; SE, 0.13; P < .001) and less healthy white matter microstructures. Immune-mediated diseases were associated with an increased risk of incident dementia, and the association of those diseases with brain structural abnormalities might provide clues to the underlying mechanisms.

Introduction: Successful reperfusion does not always lead to good neurological outcomes and impaired microcirculation can be one of the underlying causes. Intra-arterial alteplase after mechanical thrombectomy (MT) may improve microcirculation contributing to neurological recovery, but prospective randomised studies are still needed to validate its efficacy and safety. We aim to assess the efficacy and safety of intra-arterial alteplase after MT for acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) with large-vessel occlusion (LVO). Methods and analysis: The Intra-arterial Alteplase for Acute Ischaemic Stroke After Mechanical Thrombectomy (PEARL) study is a multicentre, prospective, open-label, blinded-endpoint, randomised controlled trial. We consecutively screen AIS patients with anterior circulation LVO and National Institute of Health Stroke Scale of 6–25, who reach stable expanded Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction scores of 2b50-3 on angiography after MT. Eligible participants are 1:1 randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group. Participants in the experimental group will receive intra-arterial alteplase (0.225 mg/kg and a maximum dose of 20 mg) after MT and standard medical treatment, while those in the control group will receive standard medical treatment alone after the procedure. The primary outcome is the proportion of patients with a 90-day modified Rankin scale of 0–1. A total of 324 participants are required to test the superiority hypothesis with 80% power at a two-tailed significance level of 0.05. Ethics and dissemination: This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSKY-2023-390-02) and will be conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical approvals have been obtained separately for all centres participating in the study. Study results will be published in peer-reviewed academic journals. Trial registration number: NCT05856851 .

Malnutrition is related to worsened prognosis, but the association between nutritional risk status and overall survival in radiation-induced brain necrosis (RN) has never been studied. We included consecutive patients who had received radiotherapy for head and neck cancer (HNC) and subsequently developed RN from 8 January 2005 through to 19 January 2020. The primary outcome was overall survival. We utilized three commonly-used nutritional assessments: the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), and the COntrolling NUTritional Status (CONUT) measure, to quantify the baseline nutritional risk. A total of 398 eligible patients were included. During a median follow-up of 2.3 years, 42 (10.6%) patients died of any cause. Malnutrition at admission was associated with an increased risk of future death, as assessed by the GNRI (per 1-point decreased, HR 1.05, 95%CI 1.02–1.09, p = 0.001), the PNI (per 1-point decreased, HR 1.07, 95%CI 1.03–1.12, p = 0.002), and the CONUT (per 1-point increased, HR 1.22, 95%CI 1.08–1.37, p = 0.001). There were no nonlinear correlations between all three indices and post-RN survival. Among HNC survivors with RN, the assessment of nutritional risk by composite indices upon admission could help identify patients who might be at high risk of future death and deliver better nutritional management.

Background: Previous studies found that antihypertensive medications (AHMs) acting on the renin-angiotensin system had the potential to reduce the progression from mild cognitive impairment to dementia. However, it remains unclear whether this association differs between ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers. methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative among 403 participants with hypertension and mild cognitive impairment at baseline. Information on AHMs received during the follow-up period, including angiotensin receptor blockers, ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, and diuretics, were self-reported. Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for potential confounders were used in the time to event analysis with progression to dementia as outcome. Results: Of the 403 participants, the mean (SD) age was 74.0 (7.3) years, 152 (37.7%) were female, 158 (39.2%) progressed to dementia over a median follow-up time of 3.0 years. Angiotensin receptor blockers were associated with a lower risk of progression to dementia as compared to ACE inhibitors (adjusted hazard ratio=0.45 [95% CI, 0.25–0.81]; P =0.023), other classes of AHMs (beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, diuretics; adjusted hazard ratio, 0.49 [95% CI, 0.27–0.89]; P =0.037), and none of AHMs (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.31 [95% CI, 0.16–0.58]; P =0.001). Conclusions: In patients with hypertension and mild cognitive impairment, angiotensin receptor blockers were associated with a lower risk of progression to dementia compared with ACE inhibitors and other classes of AHMs. Our findings may have important implications for clinical practice but still warrant further investigations in larger prospective cohorts or clinical trials.

Introduction. Radiotherapy for patients with head and neck cancers raises their risk of aspiration pneumonia-related death. We aimed to develop and validate a model to predict radiation-associated aspiration pneumonia (RAP) among patients with dysphagia after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Materials and Methods. A total of 453 dysphagic patients with NPC were retrospectively recruited from Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital from January 2012 to January 2018. Patients were randomly divided into training cohort ( ) and internal validation cohort ( ) at a ratio of 2 : 1. The concordance index (C-index) and calibration curve were used to evaluate the accuracy and discriminative ability of this model. Moreover, decision curve analysis was performed to evaluate the net clinical benefit. The results were externally validated in 203 dysphagic patients from the First People’s Hospital of Foshan. Results. Derived from multivariable analysis of the training cohort, four independent factors were introduced to predict RAP, including Kubota water drinking test grades, the maximum radiation dose of lymph node gross tumor volume (Dmax of the GTVnd), neutrophil count, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). The nomogram showed favorable calibration and discrimination regarding the training cohort, with a C-index of 0.749 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.681 to 0.817), which was confirmed by the internal validation cohort (C-index 0.743; 95% CI, 0.669 to 0.818) and the external validation cohort (C-index 0.722; 95% CI, 0.606 to 0.838). Conclusions. Our study established and validated a simple nomogram for RAP among patients with dysphagia after radiotherapy for NPC.