Latest Conference Articles

Dehydrated stroke patients tend to do worse than those who are hydrated, a Johns Hopkins team found. The next question is whether all such ischemic stroke patients should get fluids when they arrive at the hospital, contrary to current recommendations.

Patients who have strokes during their sleep pose a treatment conundrum. Since it is hard to assess when the stroke happened, physicians may not know whether to administer clot-busting tPA. The drug is thought to have a therapeutic window of 3 hours. A Texas study suggests tPA is safe for these patients even if the 3-hr window has closed.

There are many factors to consider when treating a stroke patient during their recovery time. One area which some researchers say requires more attention is overcoming fatigue in patients.

In a new presentation on the game-changing trial of neurological interventions for stroke patients, a MR CLEAN researcher crunched the numbers on time-to-reperfusion and patient outcomes.

While the ESCAPE trial and others like it showed benefits for stroke patient treatment, they also showed the need for specialized doctors to perform the procedure.

Endovascular surgery was one of the focal points of the International Stroke Conference in Nashville and the results of several studies, including the ESCAPE trials showed the benefits it can hold for stroke patients.

It may be common sense that parents of children who have a stroke are likely to be upset and worried, but a new study from Boston Children's Hospital shows that parental stress often rises to the level of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The implication for clinicians is that these parents need treatment too-and that their PTSD anxiety may cause them to avoid having more to do with the medical profession, which could have a negative impact on kids' care.

Even as the Cold War becomes a distant memory patients in Eastern Europe are at greater risk of suffering a stroke than their western neighbors but do not have the same treatment and prevention options available to them.

Many factors contribute to a patient being diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, including obesity. Research is looking at the condition's role in the treatment of stroke patients.

Stroke, particularly in younger people, could be a sign of undetected cancer, a Minnesota research team reports.

Countering the argument that hypertension is being overtreated, a University of Miami-Columbia University study found that changing the definition of high blood pressure would be a bad idea.

Following a stroke patients require a variety of rehabilitation options from physical and occupational therapy to speech therapy among others. A recent study looked at the benefits of aerobic exercise in the recovery process.

It's too soon to say whether Vitamin D is a player or just a bystander in the assault on the brain during a stroke, but low levels of the supplement are associated with greater tissue damage in stroke patients, a University of Massachusetts Medical School team found. Reporting at the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in Nashville, Tenn., Nils Henninger, MD said low vitamin D level predicts more severe strokes and poorer health afterwards.

The treatment a stroke patient gets can sometimes be determined by where they go for their care. The imaging used to determine treatment options however can be almost universal when used correctly.

Surviving a stroke but driving a month afterwards could mean a higher chance of causing a motor vehicle accident, two small Canadian studies have found. In research presented at the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference in Nashville, Tenn, two graduate students reported on serious driving errors patients made post-stroke. They were tested on driving simulators.

With CT scans and MRI doctors can get a clearer picture of a stroke patient's condition and how best to treat them.

There are many treatment options for stroke patients and many advancements in the field recently with some being more aggressive than others. The benefits of each also pose potential problems for patients.

At the International Stroke Conference in Nashville, Marion Buckwalter, MD, PhD, presented the results of a study looking at the link between B Lymphocytes and dementia in mice. The study could help with the treatment of post-stroke human patients in the future.

Quickly removing clots inside the arteries of patients who have suffered ischemic strokes works far better than simply trying to dissolve the obstructions with drugs like tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) a 22-center study of 316 such patients found. The trial was called ESCAPE, which stands for Endovascular treatment for Small Core and Anterior circulation Proximal occlusion with Emphasis on minimizing CT to recanalization time

Interventional neurology is having a good run at the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference. In addition to the favorable results of the trial known as ESCAPE, in which adding clot removal (endovascular thrombectomy) to clot dissolving therapy showed dramatic outcomes, a related study called EXTEND-IA also showed benefits for stroke patients. A third study known as SWIFT PRIME reached similar conclusions.

Kyra Becker, MD, chair of the International Stroke Conference 2015 Program Committee, discusses several key topics of interest to watch for at this year's event.

As part of the American Gastroenterological Association's Winter Postgraduate Course, William D. Chey, MD, AGAF, from the University of Michigan, and Michael Camilleri, MD, AGAF, from the Mayo Clinic, discussed the best treatment course for patients with gastroparesis.

In the past few months patients diagnosed with Hepatitis C have seen what had been terminal conditions be cured. The technology used to find these curative treatments can now be applied to other conditions.

As new rules and regulations are applied in the health care, doctors are having to learn and adapt to make their practice survive and thrive.

Patients with gastrointestinal conditions can benefit from psychological counseling as well. The question is how much it can help and what it will do to help them with their symptoms.

For many gastrointestinal issues testing may not be sufficient to identify potential issues for patients and there may not be necessary treatments to help them get better. Work continues to improve both potential problems.

As part of the American Gastroenterological Association's Winter Postgraduate Course, William D. Chey, MD, AGAF, from the University of Michigan, and Michael Camilleri, MD, AGAF, from the Mayo Clinic, discussed the best treatment course for patients with gastroparesis.

The treatment of gastrointestinal conditions requires not only physical attention, but, in some cases, addressing psychological concerns as well.

"We really have entered this new era of direct acting antivirals, and as of this fall, we've finally laid to rest interferon in the grave that we've all been wanting to put it in, for more than 2 decades," said Jacqueline G. O'Leary, MD, MPH, during her presentation at the 2015 AGA Clinical Congress of Gastroenterology & Hepatology.

"How do you move a glacier?" asked Lawrence Kosinski, MD, MBA, AGAF, FACG, managing partner of Illinois Gastroenterology Group (IGG) at the 2015 AGA Clinical Congress of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.