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Background and Purpose: It has been proposed that the deposition of the β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) in the brain parenchyma and brain blood vessels has deleterious effects. We tested the hypothesis that the levels of plasma Aβ are related to the outcome in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage., Methods: In a multicenter study, we prospectively included patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage within the first 24 hours after onset. At admission, we measured plasma Aβ40 and Aβ42 levels using ELISA techniques. Also, we recorded age, sex, vascular risk factors, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, presence of intraventricular hemorrhage, localization, cause, and volume of the hematoma. We obtained the modified Rankin scale and defined a unfavorable outcome as modified Rankin scale >2 at 3 months. Bivariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed., Results: We studied 160 patients (mean age, 73.8±11.3 years; 59.4% of them were men). A favorable outcome was observed in 64 (40%) of the patients. In the bivariate analyses, unfavorable outcome was associated with high age, female sex, diabetes mellitus, presence of intraventricular hemorrhage, high blood glucose, high National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, high volume, and high plasma levels of Aβ42 and Aβ40. The multivariate analysis showed that increased age (odds ratio, 1.07; 95% confidence interval, 1.035-1.21; P<0.0001), high admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score (odds ratio, 1.29, 95% confidence interval, 1.17-1.42; P<0.0001), presence of diabetes mellitus (odds ratio, 4.15; 95% confidence interval, 1.21-14.1; P=0.02), and Aβ42 levels >9.7 pg/mL (odds ratio, 4.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.65-10.1; P=0.02) were independently associated with an increased likelihood of an unfavorable outcome., Conclusions: High levels of plasma Aβ42 in patients with acute intracerebral hemorrhage are associated with a poor functional prognosis.

Background and Purpose: Right-to-left shunt (RLS) due to patent foramen ovale is a well-established risk factor for cryptogenic stroke and is highly prevalent in cases of migraine, cluster headache, and obstructive apnea. It can be diagnosed by gaseous-contrast transcranial Doppler, yet in a small percentage of cases it cannot be done owing to an insufficient temporal window. The aim of the study was to compare transtemporal with transoccipital approaches for gaseous-contrast transcranial Doppler for RLS diagnosis., Methods: We evaluated 183 subjects with a standard protocol for RLS diagnosis by simultaneously monitoring the right middle cerebral and vertebrobasilar circulations., Results: Vertebrobasilar recording reached high specificity (100%) and good sensitivity (83.72%) for the diagnosis of RLS after the Valsalva maneuver. For only medium and large shunts, both sensitivity and specificity reached 100%. Time to bubble appearance after injection was higher in the vertebrobasilar circulation (4.36+/-1.7 vs 6.77+/-2.5 seconds; P<0.001). There was a positive correlation between the number of bubbles in the right middle cerebral and vertebrobasilar circulation (kappa=0.97)., Conclusions: Transcranial Doppler with vertebrobasilar monitoring is highly sensitive and specific in detecting RLS, particularly when medium or large. It can be proposed for subjects with an insufficient temporal bone window.

Lumbar instability often causes clinical symptoms, and spondylolisthesis is a main factor of the low back pain. Segmental lumbar instability generally is due to a degenerative or listhesic process of the lumbar spine and radiological imaging is essential to diagnose it. Lumbar spine segmental mobility has commonly been studied by dyanamic radiographic methods. Dynamic X-rays, with maximal extension and flexion of the lumbar tract, represents the most widely used technique and a valid method to estimate sagittal segmental lumbar motion. Between 1998 and 2002 we treated 75 patients for low-grade spondylolisthesis. All patients underwent a preoperative dynamic X-rays examinination, to evaluate the degree of the lumbar mobility. We report a supine-prone position as new method to clearly estimate the slipping of lumbar vertebrae. The patients had a standard lateral X-rays film in the supine position, and then in the "prone" position. We compared the two methods and we found a higher degree of listhesis in 19 cases (14 I grade, 5 I-II grade), while there was no difference in 56 cases. The higher degree of listhesis was in the prone position. We believe that the supine-prone position is an economic method and should be mandatory performing a dynamic X-rays examination.