Irish Journal of Medical Science最新文献

Introduction: Cerebral venous thrombosis as the first manifestation of Behçet's Syndrome (BS) is very rare. We describe a case of BS in which all four major cerebral venous sinuses, including the bilateral sigmoid sinuses, transverse sinuses, and superior sagittal sinuses, exhibited severe cerebral venous thrombosis.

Case report: An 18-year-old man was brought to our hospital with a three-month-old, wide, throbbing headache in both hemispheres and double, blurred vision while looking to the right for the last week. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) showed extensive thrombosis involving the bilateral sigmoid sinuses, transverse sinuses, and superior sagittal sinus. Collagen tissue diseases and systemic thrombophilia were ruled out. The patient, who had a history of erythema nodosum and genital and oral aphthae, was evaluated as 3/6 (+) positive by the pathergy test, leading to the diagnosis of BS. Prednisolone 48 mg/day and azathioprine 2 × 50 mg/day were started, and the prednisolone dosage was lowered to be stopped in three to four months. For nine months, anticoagulant medicine was administered. Partial recanalization was seen on control MRI venography.

Conclusions: It may be life-saving to consider Behçet syndrome as a differential diagnosis in patients with multiple cerebral venous thrombosis.

Background: ESD enables stroke patients to leave hospital earlier and continue receiving nursing and therapy at home over a 6-8-week period. The CNS role within ESD is relatively new, and its involvement in stroke secondary prevention is not well defined.

Aims & objectives: To describe the current role, knowledge, and practice of Stroke Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs) and Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) in secondary prevention and their contribution to early supported discharge (ESD) for stroke patients.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Methods: An online survey was distributed to Stroke CNSs and ANPs working in inpatient stroke services or ESD teams. It explored three domains: (i) secondary prevention at initial hospital contact, (ii) secondary prevention at discharge, (iii) secondary prevention during ESD.

Results: The respondents described the pivotal role of stroke clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) and advanced nurse practitioners (ANPs) in delivering secondary prevention from hospital admission through to discharge. Persistent challenges in patient information retention during acute care were highlighted. Participants identified structured national resources-particularly printed materials over apps-as essential tools for effective secondary prevention.

Conclusion: Despite broad recognition of their value, integration of stroke CNSs into Early Supported Discharge (ESD) teams remains inconsistent, signalling a key area for service development in Ireland. There is a clear need to enhance continuity of nurse-led secondary prevention in community settings, particularly within ESD pathways.

Objective: This study aimed to compare the effects of different kinesiology taping techniques added to a standard treatment regimen.

Methods: Ninety patients with disc herniation were grouped into three groups: physical therapy + star taping (Group 1), physical therapy + I-taping (Group 2), and physical therapy alone (Group 3). Pain intensity, pressure pain threshold (PPT), back extensor muscle strength and endurance, proprioception, lumbar lordosis angle (LLA), lumbar range of motion, functional level, and disability level were assessed. All measurements were recorded before treatment, immediately after treatment, and at the 12-week follow-up.

Results: In Group 3, an improvement was observed in pain intensity, disability, functionality, joint range of motion, and proprioception at 60° and extension. In addition to improvements observed in Group3, Groups1 and 2 showed significant improvements in PPT, extensor muscle strength, LLA, and 45° proprioception (p < 0.05). Group1 exhibited an increase in LLA compared to baseline (p < 0.05). Compared to Group3, disability decreased in Group1, while extensor muscle strength increased in Group2. At the 12-week follow-up, LLA increased in Group1 but decreased in Group2 compared to post-treatment measurements (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The addition of kinesiology taping to standard physical therapy has been shown to provide additional benefits for pressure pain threshold, extensor muscle strength, 45-degree proprioception, and lumbar lordosis angle in patients with LDH. Selecting specific taping techniques based on clinical goals may increase the effectiveness of treatment programs.

Clinical trials registration number: NCT06777095 (retrospectively registered).