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• Similar recanalization rate is achieved in patients with and without cancer. • Active cancer is associated with higher mortality in stroke patients. • Independency is possible in patients with cancer with successful thrombectomy. • Patients with stroke and previous cancer or without cancer have similar outcome. Cancer-related coagulopathy is a known cause of stroke and can lead to formation of thrombi with a unique composition. The effectiveness of mechanical thrombectomy in cancer patients is still unknown. The aim of the study was to evaluate the rate of successful reperfusion and the clinical outcome in cancer patients with stroke treated with endovascular therapies, compared to patients without cancer. We performed a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients with ischemic stroke treated with endovascular therapies at our hospital between January 2008 and January 2016. A sub-group analysis was performed including only patients with cryptogenic stroke. We included in the final analysis 14 patients with active cancer and 267 patients without cancer. Successful reperfusion was achieved in 79% of patients without cancer, and 71% of patients with active cancer (P = 0.68). Patients with cryptogenic stroke and active cancer had a lower reperfusion rate compared to patients with cryptogenic stroke without active cancer, although not significantly so (2/4 cancer patients, 50% vs 37/50, 74%, p: 0.31). Mortality rate was higher among cancer patients. Hemorrhagic transformation occurred in similar proportions in the two groups. Endovascular treatment in cancer patients seems, thus, effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several studies have reported cognitive impairment in the Parkinsonian (MSA-P) and cerebellar (MSA-C) variants of Multiple System Atrophy, particularly in executive functions. This is attributed to a dysfunction of the cognitive loop linking the prefrontal cortex to basal ganglia. Since a few studies have investigated attentional functions in MSA patients, we assessed cognitive dysfunction and different aspect of attention in patients with MSA-C and MSA-P. Methods: Seventeen MSA patients underwent a cognitive assessment of verbal/visual memory, language, visuo-spatial abilities and executive functions. The patients and 32 matched controls were presented with an experimental attentional task designed on Posner’s original Attention Network Test. The task provided three cue conditions (no-cue, temporal-cue, spatial-cue), two target conditions (congruent/incongruent) and two cue validity manipulations (valid/invalid-cue). Comparing reaction times in different experimental conditions allowed assessing the efficiency of the three different attentional components: Alerting, Orienting and Executive Control. Results: Patients with MSA-P were impaired in executive functions, verbal memory and visuo-spatial abilities; MSAC patients in space and object perception tasks. MSA patients performed significantly worse than controls in attentional tasks with MSA-C patients showing more errors and longer RTs in incongruent target conditions. Conclusions: MSA patients show specific cognitive impairments. MSA-C patients, in particular, are impaired in the attentional tasks. The greater impairment of Executive Control in these patients may be attributed to the widespread degeneration of cerebellum and cerebello-ponto-thalamo fibres projecting to medial areas of prefrontal cortex. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]