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Introduction: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services bundled payment for care improvement advanced (BPCI-A) program incentivizes providers to better coordinate care, reduce expenses, and improve quality. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of improving post-acute care coordination after stroke on quality and resource utilization in the BPCI-A program. Methods: Capital Health collaborated with post-acute providers to improve communication, identify criteria for early supported discharge to the community, expedite home health and outpatient services, reduce readmissions, and initiate advanced care planning. The redesigned post-acute care coordination program was implemented at Capital Health’s primary and comprehensive stroke center. Quality outcomes and resource utilization measures for patients enrolled in the BCPI-A program were compared to BPCI-A eligible patients prior to program implementation. Results: Forty-three patients enrolled in the BCPI-A program were compared to 77 patients eligible for enrollment. Clinical and demographic characteristics were similar (p>.05). After program implementation, 21.5% fewer patients were discharged to an inpatient rehabilitation facility (p=.024) and 14% more patients were discharged to inpatient hospice (p.05). Conclusion: The coordination of post-acute services facilitates care transitions after stroke. The identification of patients meeting criteria for early supported discharge to the community or admission to inpatient hospice helped reduce post-acute cost without increasing 90-day readmission or mortality.

Intracranial endovascular interventions provide effective and minimally invasive treatment of a broad spectrum of diseases. This area of expertise has continued to gain both wider application and greater depth as new and better techniques are developed and as landmark clinical studies are performed to guide their use. Some of the greatest advances since the last American Heart Association scientific statement on this topic have been made in the treatment of ischemic stroke from large intracranial vessel occlusion, with more effective devices and large randomized clinical trials showing striking therapeutic benefit. The treatment of cerebral aneurysms has also seen substantial evolution, increasing the number of aneurysms that can be treated successfully with minimally invasive therapy. Endovascular therapies for such other diseases as arteriovenous malformations, dural arteriovenous fistulas, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, venous thrombosis, and neoplasms continue to improve. The purpose of the present document is to review current information on the efficacy and safety of procedures used for intracranial endovascular interventional treatment of cerebrovascular diseases and to summarize key aspects of best practice.

Intravenous thrombolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) is the established treatment for acute ischemic stroke patients presenting within 4.5 h of stroke onset based on the results of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Study Group trial and European Cooperative Acute Stroke Study III. In a significant number of patients, however, intravenous thrombolysis with rt-PA remains ineffective, with lower rates of recanalization, especially for proximal occlusions and a large thrombus burden. Newer thrombolytic agents, such as reteplase, tenecteplase or desmoteplase, offer pharmacokinetic and hemodynamic advantages over rt-PA and have been, or are currently being, tested for safety and efficacy in clinical trials. Agents such as direct fibrinolytics that do not depend on the availability of plasminogen are also being studied in ongoing trials. Endovascular revascularization is an evolving treatment option enabling mechanical clot disruption or extraction in combination with local directed pharmacological thrombolysis. Several new endovascular devices have been successfully tested for safety in acute ischemic stroke patients and are now being tested for efficacy in larger clinical trials. Continued innovation and refinement of endovascular technology and techniques, including combination therapy such as bridging therapy and the use of stent-like devices, is expected to increase technical success and improve overall efficacy and time to recanalization with minimal procedure-related morbidity in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke.

Bei der neurologischen Form des Thoracic-outlet-Syndroms (TOS) treten Reizerscheinungen in Form von Schmerzen oder Parasthesien im Bereich des ulnaren Unterarms und der ulnaren Handpartie sowie atrophisierende Lahmungen der Handmuskulatur auf. Ursachlich ist eine Kompression der unteren Plexusanteile durch ein Halsrippenband. Das Krankheitsbild ist selten. Diagnostisch hilfreich ist neben der klinisch-neurologischen Untersuchung und der bildgebenden Diagnostik die Elektromyographie. Die haufigsten neurologischen Differenzialdiagnosen des TOS sind das Karpaltunnelsyndrom, die untere Plexuslasion anderer Genese und das Wurzelkompressionssyndrom C8. Bei sicherer Diagnose und bestehenden neurologischen Ausfallen sollte eine operative Therapie erwogen werden, um die Progredienz der Paresen zu verhindern.