Gary W. Duncan

The Harvard Cooperative Stroke Registry A prospective registry

Data from 694 patients hospitalized with stroke were entered in a prospective, computer-based registry. Three hundred and sixty-four patients (53 percent) were diagnosed as having thrombosis, 215 (31 percent) as having cerebral embolism, 70 (10 percent) as having intracerebral hematoma, and 45 (6 percent) as having subarachnoid hemorrhage from aneurysm or arteriovenous malformations. The 364 patients diagnosed as having thrombosis were divided into 233 (34 percent of all 694 patients) whose thrombosis was thought to involve a large artery and 131 (19 percent) with lacunar infarction. Many of the findings in this study were comparable to those in previous registries based on postmortem data. New observations include the high incidence of lacunes and cerebral emboli, the absence of an identifiable cardiac origin in 37 percent of all emboli, a nonsudden onset in 21 percent of emboli, and the occurrence of vomiting at onset in 51 percent and the absence of headache at onset in 67 percent of hematomas.

Broca aphasia Pathologic and clinical

The speech disturbance resulting from infarction limited to the Broca area has been delineated; it differs from the speech disorder called Broca aphasia, which results from damage extending far outside the Broca area. Nor does Broca area infarction cause Broca aphasia. The lesions in 20 cases observed since 1972 were documented by autopsy, computerized tomography, or arteriogram; the autopsy records from the Massachusetts General hospital for the past 20 years and the published cases since 1820 were also reviewed. The findings suggest that infarction affecting the Broca area and its immediate environs, even deep into the brain, causes a mutism that is replaced by a rapidly improving dyspraxic and effortful articulation, but that no significant disturbance in language function persists. The more complex syndrome traditionally referred to as Broca aphasia, including Brocas original case, is characterized by protracted mutism, verbal stereotypes, and agrammatism. It is associated with a considerably larger infarct which encompasses the operculum, including the Broca area, insula, and adjacent cerebrum, in the territory supplied by the upper division of the left middle cerebral artery.

Clinical and Angiographic Features of Carotid Transient Ischemic Attacks

To determine the prevalence of radiologically evident carotid stenosis in patients with transient cerebral ischemic attacks, we analyzed 95 consecutive hospitalized patients who during a two-year period had appropriate symptoms and also underwent angiography. Pure transient hemisphere symptoms affected 52 patients, pure monocular blindness occurred in 33, and 10 experienced each type of attack separately. Tight stenosis (less than or equal to 2 mm) or occlusion was present in 49 patients (52 per cent). Thirteen patients showed intracranial-branch occlusion, nine of whom had no notable stenosis. Only two clinical transient ischemic attack features correlated with angiographic findings: in transient hemisphere attacks lasting for one hour or longer, the carotid arteries revealed no notable stenosis (0.05 less than P less than 0.1); and separate hemisphere and ocular attacks in the same patient correlated with tight carotid stenosis. On the basis of the angiographic findings, the study indicates there are several distinct groups of patients with carotid transient ischemic attacks.

An evaluation of baclofen treatment for certain symptoms in patients with spinal cord lesions A double‐blind, cross‐over study

Baclofen (a gamma aminobutyric acid derivative) and a placebo were compared for their efficacy in relieving certain symptoms in patients with long-standing spinal cord lesions and “spinal spasticity.” In a double-blind, cross-over clinical investigation, 22 patients with chronic spinal cord disease were studied. Baclofen regularly alleviated involuntary flexor or extensor spasms and increased resistance to passive movement of the legs but did not alter strength, gait, stretch reflexes, or clonus. Side effects were mild and transient. This study demonstrates that (1) baclofen is useful for the treatment of flexor spasms and (2) in evaluating a new mode of therapy, one must consider selectively the response of individual components of such global syndromes as “spasticity.”

Sturge-Weber Disease With Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

A healthy adult with a nevus flammeus presented with a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Cerebral arteriography demonstrated vascular anomalies typical of encephalofacial angiomatosis (Sturge-Weber disease). A review of the literature failed to disclose a welldocumented case of subarachnoid hemorrhage in this condition.

Angiographic appearance of carotid occlusion in acute stroke.

The angiographic appearance of the proximal end of internal carotid artery occlusion is reported in 41 patients with acute stroke in the areas of the brain supplied by the carotid artery. All patients had angiography within 6 days of stroke onset, the majority within 24–48 hours. Three angiographic configurations of internal carotid occlusion were found, in descending order of frequency: a sharp, pointed stump; virtual absence of the artery; and a rounded, blunt stump. The results suggest that the angiographic appearance of the proximal occlusion alone may not accurately predict the age of the occlusion within the first 6 days from stroke onset.