by Viktoria Papp
Each month the EANpages editorial team reviews the scientific press for recently published papers of outstanding interest to neurologists. Below we present our selection for March 2023 (for our Paper of the Month, see here).
1. Trial of Endovascular Therapy for Acute Ischemic Stroke with Large Infarct
A prospective, open-label, randomised trial in China, involving patients with acute large-vessel occlusion showed a shift in the distribution of the modified Rankin scale scores at 90 days toward better outcomes in the endovascular therapy group compared to medical management alone (OR:1.37; 95% CI:1.11-1.69) though with a slightly higher risk for intracranial haemorrhage.
2. Trial of Endovascular Thrombectomy for Large Ischemic Strokes
A prospective, randomised, open-label, international trial including patients with stroke due to large-vessel occlusion revealed a shift in the distribution of modified Rankin scale scores toward better outcomes in favor of thrombectomy (OR:1.51; 95% CI:1.20-1.89). A total of 20% of the patients in the thrombectomy group and 7% in the medical-care group regained functional independence (RR: 2.97; 95% CI:1.60-5.51).
3. Prospective Long-term Follow-up of Focused Ultrasound Unilateral Subthalamotomy for Parkinson Disease
This prospective, open-label study indicates that unilateral magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound subthalamotomy in Parkinson’s disease has a sustained long-lasting benefit on the motor features on the treated side of the body after 36 months. Only mild side-effects were reported in the first six months and non-disabling over the long-term evolution.
4. Obesity-Associated Neurodegeneration Pattern Mimics Alzheimer’s Disease in an Observational Cohort Study
This observational study compared MRI mapping patterns of brain atrophy and amyloid-/tau protein accumulation in obesity and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by evaluating a sample of over 1,300 individuals. The patterns of cortical thinning related to obesity were highly correlated with AD maps but not with amyloid-/tau protein maps. Thereby, grey matter atrophy associated with obesity resembles that of AD.
