Neurohospitalist最新文献

Lacosamide (LCM) is an antiseizure medication used to manage status epilepticus (SE). Previous retrospective analyses have demonstrated safety and efficiency in intravenous push (IVP) administration at 80 mg per minute. Quick administration can be achieved in a high-acuity setting without the additional time required for compounding. However, previous literature only partially represents high doses of IVP LCM, which limits the understanding of the safety profile of these doses. Our study was a single-center, retrospective, single-arm analysis of patients who received IVP LCM 300 mg or 400 mg during admission. The primary outcome was the incidence of infusion site reactions, hypotension, and bradycardia within 2 hours of IVP administration. Secondary outcomes included the incidence of PR prolongation. A total of 113 patients were evaluated for infusion site reactions. Of these, 108 patients had vital signs assessed within 2 hours of IVP LCM and could be evaluated for hypotension and bradycardia. The sample primarily consisted of LCM 400 mg IVP (85.8%). The primary outcome consisted of 7 (6.2%) infusion reactions, 12 (11.1%) hypotensive events, and no reports of bradycardia. Each adverse event was assessed using the Naranjo Adverse Drug Probability Scale. All events scored less than two, suggesting the possibility was likely related to factors other than the medication. In conclusion, LCM 300 mg and 400 mg IVP administration have the potential to facilitate more rapid treatment of seizures without additional risk of infusion site reactions, hypotension, and bradycardia.

Background and purpose: The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) strongly recommend specialty palliative care (PC) for all patients hospitalized with life-threatening or life-altering strokes to provide expert symptom management, improve communication, promote shared decision-making and relieve suffering. We piloted an intervention to remind physicians about high PC needs of their patients admitted with catastrophic stroke.

Methods: We worked with colleagues from medical informatics to create a "Best Practice Advisory" (BPA) to recommend a goals-of-care conversation and PC consultation for patients with a National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score of 20 or more in our electronic medical record (Epic). We evaluated the impact of this BPA, after implementation, on the number and timing of PC consults and reviewed barriers to this system change.

Results: The BPA was operational in Jan 2019. Data analysis showed that it fired for all patients with an entered NIHSS score of ≥20. Though a large portion of the BPAs (more than 90%) were acknowledged without documented reason (after selecting "do not order"), PC consultations per 100 patients with triggered BPA increased from the first year of implementation (11.7 in 2019) to the next 2 years (20.7 in 2020, 15.6 in 2021). Also, the providers learned to manage BPA alerts better resulting in more than 30% reduction in the number of BPA alerts fired for each patient encounter in 2020-2021 compared to 2019.

Cenobamate is an effective new adjunctive antiseizure medication (ASM) for treatment resistant focal epilepsy. It has broad spectrum anticonvulsant activity and may be a useful medication for super refractory status epilepticus (SRSE), but has not yet been studied in generalized seizures or an inpatient setting. Here we describe 2 SRSE cases where cenobamate was added safely to other treatments. It was uptitrated slowly to reduce the risk of hypersensitivity reactions which have been observed previously with rapid increasing dosages. Both patients achieved seizure control and liberation from intensive care. They have remained seizure free with continued treatment and have not experienced any side effects attributable to cenobamate. Cenobamate warrants further examination in patients with refractory status epilepticus.

We sought to explore rates of delirium amongst hospitalized patients with dementia following orders for anticholinergic medications. We hypothesized that patients receiving anticholinergic medications would have higher rates of delirium than similar, unexposed patients. We performed a retrospective chart review of 23 031 hospitalized individuals with Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, or unspecified dementia from 2011-2018. Rates of delirium diagnosis and haloperidol orders following anticholinergic administration were compared to patients with dementia without anticholinergic orders. Significant differences in rates of delirium and orders for haloperidol were observed between exposed and unexposed groups, with delirium having a relative risk of 2.3 and orders for haloperidol having a relative risk of 10.4. The number needed to harm for anticholinergic exposure was 5.45 for delirium and 7.09 for haloperidol. The identified difference suggests that inpatient use of anticholinergic medications may increase the risk of delirium in hospitalized patients with dementia. Despite this risk, our review suggests that anticholinergic administration is common during hospital stays among patients with dementia. Anticholinergic use may be a modifiable risk factor for delirium prevention, which could improve inpatient management of patients with dementia.

Background and purpose: Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and depression are the major causes of disability and decreased quality of life worldwide. Psychiatric disorders are common after stroke, especially post-stroke depression (PSD), which affects one-third of survivors. Although frequent, little is known about the real complexity of the pathophysiology and the factors associated with PSD.

Methods: This research aimed to provide data about risk factors and predictors of PSD 90 days after AIS. A cohort study was conducted in a tertiary stroke center located in southern Brazil. We interviewed 148 patients with AIS who were consecutively hospitalized between January 2020 and January 2021. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was applied during hospitalization and at follow-up 90 days after AIS. Furthermore, sociodemographic, clinical, and radiological variables were investigated. Predictive factors were assessed using univariate and multivariate linear regression. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the data was also evaluated.

Results: The frequency of PSD 90 days after AIS was 33.9%. In-hospital symptoms of depression and anxiety each represented a 2-fold risk for PSD at follow-up. Furthermore, the HADS - anxiety score 90 days after AIS was strongly associated with the HADS - depression value 90 days after stroke (R: .71; B: .56; P < .01).

Conclusions: The present study highlighted a noteworthy frequency of PSD 90 days after AIS. Psychiatric variables during hospitalization and in the follow-up appeared to be the leading associated factors with PSD. These data might support the determination of which patients require more psychiatric management.

Background and purpose: A significant proportion of strokes occur while patients are hospitalized for other reasons. Numerous stroke scales have been developed and validated for use in pre-hospital and emergency department settings, and there is growing interest to adapt these scales for use in the inpatient setting. We aimed to validate existing stroke scales for inpatient stroke codes.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed charts from inpatient stroke code activations at an urban academic medical center from January 2016 through December 2018. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed for each specified stroke scale including NIHSS, FAST, BE-FAST, 2CAN, FABS, TeleStroke Mimic, and LAMS. We also used logistic regression to identify independent predictors of stroke and to derive a novel scale.

Results: Of the 958 stroke code activations reviewed, 151 (15.8%) had a final diagnosis of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. The area under the curve (AUC) of existing scales varied from .465 (FABS score) to .563 (2CAN score). Four risk factors independently predicted stroke: (1) recent cardiovascular procedure, (2) platelet count less than 50 × 10⁹ per liter, (3) gaze deviation, and (4) presence of unilateral leg weakness. Combining these 4 factors into a new score yielded an AUC of .653 (95% confidence interval [CI] .604-.702).

Conclusion: This study suggests that currently available stroke scales may not be sufficient to differentiate strokes from mimics in the inpatient setting. Our data suggest that novel approaches may be required to help with diagnosis in this unique population.

Background and Objectives: In the inpatient academic medical center, increased demand for clinical services often equates to an increased workload for trainees, which could have a positive or negative impact on their educational experience. In 2020, our academic medical center hired Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) to provide continuous additional overnight coverage for our neurology ward teaching service. We hypothesized that adding APPs and reducing overnight clinical workload for residents would have a positive impact on resident education. Methods: We performed a mixed-methods, prospective study that included needs-assessments by residents, semi-structured interviews with both residents and APPs, and surveys to residents and nursing staff. In addition, we collected quantitative data such as hours of sleep, number of admissions, and number of pages to capture the impact of APPs on resident overnight shifts. Results: The addition of APPs overnight increased the median hours of sleep overnight from 1 hour to 3 hours (P < .001) and decreased the median number of pages overnight from 31.5 to 17 (P < .001). The median number of patients the resident was responsible for cross-covering overnight decreased from 24 patients to 14 patients (P < .001). The majority of resident responses (94%) agreed that the addition of APPs benefited their education by reducing workload and increasing time allotted to reading and formulating plans for overnight admissions. 88% of residents agreed that the addition of APPs improved quality of life and reduced risk of burnout. Conclusion: Advanced Practice Providers significantly reduced resident workload, leading residents to report improvements in the educational experience overnight and reduced perceived risk of burnout.