Two autopsy cases with injuries to the stomach following cardiopulmonary resuscitation

We herein report two autopsy cases with gastric injury associated with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Case 1 was a 36–year–old woman who was found in cardiopulmonary arrest possibly caused by a fall from a height of 8 m. She received continuous manual chest compression with artificial ventilation while being transferred to the hospital. Autopsy revealed bruises on her left upper arm with a fracture to the left humerus and advanced pneumohemothorax that was associated with laceration of the left lung due to fracture of the dorsal left costa. Furthermore, complete rupture of the gastric wall (25 cm) was found without hemorrhage. Case 2 was an 85–year–old man found unconscious on the road. He had a history of oral anticoagulant administration, cognitive impairment, and gait disorder. He also received cardiac massage and manual artificial ventilation during CPR. Autopsy revealed severe head injury, possibly caused by a backward fall. His stomach was markedly dilated by air and a fresh intramural hematoma had extended into all layers of the stomach and adjacent omentum; however, injury of the abdominal wall was not evident. Histopathological investigation of the brain revealed advanced Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy pathology, and the damaged neural tissue, which was positive for the amyloid precursor protein. We determined that the gastric injuries in both cases had been caused by CPR. We conclude that careful investigation is required for gastric injury cases to determine the etiology and correlation between gastric injury and cause of death when the victims receive CPR.     

Impact of time to resumption of antithrombotic therapy on outcomes after surgical evacuation of chronic subdural hematoma: A multicenter cohort study

BackgroundThe decision to resume antithrombotic therapy after surgical evacuation of chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) requires judicious weighing of the risk of bleeding against that of thromboembolism. This study aimed to investigate the impact of time to resumption of antithrombotic therapy on outcomes of patients after CSDH drainage.MethodsData were obtained retrospectively from three tertiary hospitals in Singapore from 2010 to 2017. Outcome measures analyzed were CSDH recurrence and any thromboembolic events. Logistic and Cox regression tests were used to identify associations between time to resumption and outcomes.ResultsA total of 621 patients underwent 761 CSDH surgeries. Preoperative antithrombotic therapy was used in 139 patients. 110 (79.1%) were on antiplatelets and 35 (25.2%) were on anticoagulants, with six patients (4.3%) being on both antiplatelet and anticoagulant therapy. Antithrombotic therapy was resumed in 84 patients (60.4%) after the surgery. Median time to resumption was 71 days (IQR 29 – 201). Recurrence requiring reoperation occurred in 15 patients (10.8%), of which 12 had recurrence before and three after resumption. Median time to recurrence was 35 days (IQR 27 – 47, range 4 – 82 days). Recurrence rates were similar between patients that were restarted on antithrombotic therapy before and after 14, 21, 28, 42, 56, 70 and 84 days, respectively. Thromboembolic events occurred in 12 patients (8.6%), of which five had the event prior to restarting antithrombosis.ConclusionsTime to antithrombotic resumption did not significantly affect CSDH recurrence. Early resumption of antithrombotic therapy can be safe for patients with a high thromboembolic risk.     

Drug treatment of chronic subdural hematoma

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) is a common neurosurgical disease, whose incidence has been steadily increasing with our aging population. While not common, CSDH can also occur in children. CSDH is often associated with traumatic head injury, but its underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. The first line treatment for CSDH is surgery. However, surgery is contraindicated in some patients and has a high rate of recurrence. Effective non-surgical treatment is therefore highly desirable.

Areas covered: This review discusses the pathogenesis of CSDH and drugs that have been used to treat CSDH either as monotherapy or an adjuvant to surgery, including controlled clinical trials.

Expert opinion: The pathophysiology of CSDH remains poorly understood. Developing effective drug treatments is therefore challenging. Most drugs discussed in this review are evaluated in small clinical studies without sufficient sample size and controls for confounding variables. More controlled clinical trials are therefore needed to carefully evaluate drugs for the non-surgical treatment of CSDH, especially for drugs targeting specific pathogenic pathways of CSDH.     

高血压性脑出血患者发病24h内血肿扩大的危险因素分析:一项单中心256例回顾性研究

目的研究发病24h内的急性高血压性脑出血(AHCH)患者发生血肿扩大的危险因素。方法回顾性分析2008年3月-2013年3月广东省中医院符合纳入排除标准的AHCH患者256例的病例资料。收集患者的一般情况、既往病史、个人史、临床特点、CT检查结果、实验室检查指标、活血化瘀类中药使用情况。根据血肿扩大与否分为血肿扩大组与非血肿扩大组。首先对各项指标进行单因素分析,然后将经过单因素分析有统计学意义的因素作为自变量,血肿扩大结果作为因变量,采用多因素logistic回归分析法分析脑出血患者早期血肿扩大的独立相关因素。将各危险因素和血肿扩大作为自变量,3个月随访时以m RS(modified Rankin Scale)量表作为因变量,采用logistic回归分析急性期血肿扩大是否影响患者3个月的预后。m RS 0~2级为恢复良好,3~6级为严重致残或死亡。检验水准取α=0.05。结果 256例患者中,有43例发生了血肿扩大,血肿扩大发生率为16.80%。单因素分析结果显示,男性、入院GCS评分、入院NIHSS评分、病程、天冬氨酸转氨酶(AST)是导致血肿扩大的危险因素,而多因素分析则显示,仅男性、病程是导致血肿扩大的独立危险因素。此外,logistic回归分析结果显示血肿扩大是影响患者结局的独立危险因素,入院时血肿体积、病程、NIHSS评分也是影响患者3个月随访结局的独立危险因素。结论男性、发病到入院时间较短(2h内)的患者应警惕血肿扩大的风险,而出血量大、血肿再次扩大、高NIHSS评分、发病时间短则提示患者预后不良。     

Spontaneous epidural hematoma due to cervico-thoracic angiolipoma

Epidural angiolipomas are uncommon benign tumors of the spine. Their clinical presentation is usually a progressive spinal cord compression. We report the case of a 22-year-old patient who presented with an acute paraparesis and a spontaneous epidural hematoma, which revealed a epidural angiolipoma which extended from C7 to T3. The patient underwent a C7–T3 laminectomy, in emergency, with evacuation of the hematoma and extradural complete resection of a fibrous epidural tumor bleeding. The postoperative course was favorable with regression of neurological symptoms. Epidural angiolipomas can be revealed by spontaneous intratumoral hemorrhage without traumatism. The standard treatment is total removal by surgery.     

快速开颅技术在外伤性颅内血肿合并脑疝抢救治疗中的效果

目的分析快速开颅技术在外伤性颅内血肿合并脑疝抢救治疗中的临床价值。方法随机选取2012-10—2013-10我院诊治的外伤性颅内血肿合并脑疝患者72例,按照完全抽样法1︰1分成2组,对照组患者行常规血肿清除术,研究组患者行快速开颅血肿清除术,比较2组治疗后近期疗效、血生化指标与生存质量情况。结果研究组患者骨窗完成时间(12.87±5.24)min,较对照组的(27.94±3.78)min短,随访良好率52.78%,对照组30.56%,研究组病死率11.11%,对照组33.33%,2组比较差异均有统计学意义(P0.01);研究组患者手术后的颅内压、手术第14天与第28天S-100B水平与NDS评分均显著低于对照组(P0.01),研究组手术第7、14与28天NSE水平均较对照组低(P0.05)。结论外伤性颅内出血合并脑疝患者开颅清除术前行快速减压法,可缩短完成骨窗时间,减轻神经功能缺损严重程度,改善术后生存质量。     

标准大骨瓣开颅手术对重型创伤性颅脑损伤所致颅内血肿的临床疗效研究

目的：探讨标准大骨瓣开颅手术对重型创伤性颅脑损伤所致颅内血肿（sTBI）患者的神经元特异性烯醇化酶（NSE）和炎症因子的影响。方法将64例 sTBI 患者按照奇偶数字法随机分为常规手术组（常规组）与标准大骨瓣开颅手术组（标准组）,各32例。比较两组术后格拉斯哥预后评分（GOS）、手术前后血清各炎性因子（IL-8、IL-6、TNF-α、ICAM-1、IL-10）及神经元特异性烯醇化酶（NSE）水平变化情况、术后并发症发生率。结果标准组 GOS 评分情况显著优于常规组（P ＜0．05）;常规组治疗后 IL-6、TNF-α、ICAM-1及 NSE 水平较治疗前均显著降低（P ＜0．05）,标准组治疗后 IL-8、IL-6、TNF-α、ICAM-1及 NSE 水平较治疗前均显著降低（P ＜0．05,P ＜0．01）,IL-10水平较治疗前显著升高（P ＜0．05）;常规组术后出现3例脑脊液漏、4例切口疝,标准组术后出现2例脑脊液漏、3例切口疝,二者术后并发症发生率比较差异无统计学意义（P ＞0．05）。结论各炎症因子与 NSE 在急性创伤性颅脑损伤过程中均扮演着重要的角色,标准大骨瓣开颅手术可对上述指标进行有效控制,以减小患者病情严重程度。     

Acute Limited Intimal Tears of the Thoracic Aorta

Background

Limited intimal tears (LITs) of the aorta (Class 3 dissection variant) are the least common form of aortic pathology in patients presenting with acute aortic syndrome (AAS). LITs are difficult to detect on imaging and may be underappreciated.