Author: Medical News Today

People at high risk of stroke due to blocked blood vessels in the brain benefit from successful stent placement, according to a study published in the February 6, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“Before now it’s been unclear whether people with severe artery blockage, an important cause of stroke, had a higher subsequent stroke risk after angioplasty and stent placement than people with moderate blockage,” said study author Wei-Jian Jiang, MD, with the Beijing Tiantan Hospital at the Capital University of Medical Sciences in Beijing, China. “This study shows people with severe blockage do not have a higher subsequent stroke risk after stent placement.”

For the study, researchers in Beijing evaluated 213 people who had received a stent, which is an expandable wire form used to open up a narrowing or totally obstructed blood vessel. Stents are inserted in the blood vessels through an artery-opening procedure called angioplasty. Of the group, 121 people had severe artery blockage of more than 70 percent, while 92 people had moderate blockage of 50 to 69 percent. Their ages ranged from 20 to 79.

The study found the risk of stroke for people with severe blockage was 7.2 percent at one year after stent placement and 8.2 percent at two years after placement. That compares to the moderate blockage group, which had a 5.3-percent risk of stroke at one year after stent placement and 8.3 percent at two years after placement.

“There was no significant difference in the risk of stroke between the two groups after stent placement,” said Jiang. “These similar results suggest while patients with severe blockage benefit from stents, patients with moderate blockage may not, since our study shows the degree of artery blockage isn’t a predictor of stroke risk after stent placement.”

Jiang says a clinical trial is needed to determine the benefits of stents in people with severe artery blockage before it can be used as a routine procedure.

The study was supported by The Ministry of Health of The People’s Republic of China.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 20,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.

For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit www.aan.com .

American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
1080 Montreal Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55116
United States
www.journal of the American Academy of Neurology.org .

Article URL: www.medicalnewstoday.com.

Author: Barbara Weinbaum

Lingraphica Awarded Three-year CARF Accreditation
Princeton, New Jersey — January 22, 2009 — CARF International announced that Lingraphica has been accredited for a three-year period to supply speech-generating devices for persons with aphasia.

This accreditation, the first for Lingraphica, is the highest that can be awarded to an organization and shows Lingraphica’s conformance to CARF standards. To receive a three-year accreditation, an organization goes through a rigorous peer review process and demonstrates to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit that its programs and services are measurable, accountable, and of the highest quality.

Lingraphica, maker of the Lingraphica speech-generating device and SmallTalk apps for the iPhone and iPod touch, is a for-profit organization with offices in Princeton, New Jersey. It has been providing speech-generating devices nationally since 1991.

CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served. Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and now known as CARF, the accrediting body establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services.

For additional information, contact Lingraphica.com or at 888-APHASIA, 888-274-2742

Author: Prevention.com

If you or someone you’re with develops any of these stroke symptoms, call 911 immediately:

Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body

Sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or trouble understanding speech

Sudden trouble seeing with one or both eyes

Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, or loss of balance or coordination

Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

“Call for emergency help even if the symptoms seem to fade away,” says David Wiebers, MD, of the Mayo Clinic. “Ministrokes, or TIAs, fool a lot of people. You might lose vision in one eye for 5 to 10 minutes, then it returns. There’s no pain, so you have a false sense of security. But you should still be evaluated.”

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Author: Stroke Connection Magazine

The Stroke Treatment and Ongoing Prevention Act (STOP Stroke, H.R. 477) took a major step toward becoming law when it was passed by the full House of Representatives by voice vote on March 27. The STOP Stroke Act, which was introduced by Reps. Lois Capps (D-CA) and Chip Pickering (R-MS) in January, would help ensure that stroke is more widely recognized by the public and treated more effectively by healthcare providers.

“The House vote brings us closer to closing gaps in the awareness and treatment of a deadly disease that afflicts about 700,000 Americans each year and threatens quality of life.” Said Larry Goldstein, M.D., chair of the American Stroke Association Stroke Council. “In recognizing the severity of this disease and the need to improve care, the House has taken a bold step in addressing this issue head-on. Now it’s up to the Senate to act quickly and pass the STOP Stroke Act during this session.”

In the Senate, the STOP Stroke Act was re-introduced by Senators Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) on March 27. The STOP Stroke Act will provide states with the resources needed to implement coordinated stroke systems of care. It also authorizes a national public awareness campaign, a grant program to train medical professionals in newly developed tools and therapies, and a national clearinghouse to collect stroke data and share best practices.

To take action and urge your Senator to co-sponsor the STOP Stroke Act, join the “You’re the Cure” network today. Visit: “The Cure” .

Author: Jason Mosheim

While the underlying causes of aphasia and dementia are distinctly different, the two conditions have a number of similarities. Clinicians may use the same therapy techniques for both patient populations, but the treatment goals will vary.
The root deficit of aphasia is a problem with access to the language system. Patients also may present with some cognitive deficits.

“This is a population with brain damage,” said Scott Rubin, PhD, CCC-SLP, an associate professor in the Department of Communication Disorders at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. “It affects language as well as some of the things that might go along with brain damage, like attention and memory problems.”

Rather than having trouble with words, patients with dementia may primarily have difficulty understanding and defining concepts. Primarily an intellectual disorder, dementia is rooted in cognitive deficits.

“We need to think about what we’re treating,” Dr. Rubin told ADVANCE. Clinicians cannot concentrate only on language and neglect subtle conceptual issues.
Both patient populations may use circumlocution to search for words or concepts. However, this self-cueing technique reveals differences between the two conditions. Patients with aphasia eventually may reach their target, while those with dementia frequently end up much further away from it.

“The person with aphasia can maintain the conceptual underpinning for the target, activate the related lexical memory, and then access the word,” said Dr. Rubin. “People with dementia diverge from their original conceptual idea to different thoughts and intentions, so it may be harder to get at the root of what they’re trying to convey.”

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Author: American Stroke Association

Ms. Fairchild, star of film, theater and television, was caregiver for her mother, who suffered a series of strokes, each more debilitating than the last, until her death in 1999. Ms. Fairchild has joined the Stroke Collaborative in encouraging the public to learn the symptoms of stroke. “Stroke is a killer, but for too many people it doesn’t need to be. If you know the warning signs and get medical help right away, you have an excellent chance of making a good recovery. Women especially need to know the warning signs, as they account for over 60 percent of deaths from stroke.” Read More and See Video .

Author: Stephanie Clipper

The NINDS Human Genetics Resource Center at the Coriell Institute is a growing bank for human cells, DNA samples, clinical data, and information sources, to accelerate research on genetics of disorders of the nervous system. Its mission is to provide genetics support for scientists investigating pathogenesis in the central and peripheral nervous networks and information support for patients, families, and advocates. Current diseases being collected are Parkinson’s, Epilepsy, Stroke, and Motor Neuron Diseases, including ALS, Primary Lateral Sclerosis, and SMA. The repository is gearing up to accept samples with accompanying clinical data, so we would appreciate your assistance in getting the word out about this important resource to your community, especially clinician investigators and scientists.

The NINDS Neurogenetics Cluster offers a webpage devoted to the repository online Click Here to Read More.

Thank you.

Stephanie Clipper
Public Liaison Officer
NIH Neurology Institute (NINDS-NIH-DHHS)
31 Center Drive
Room 8A07, MSC 2540
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-2540
phone: (301) 496-5751
fax: (301) 402-2186
sc59t@nih.gov

Higher levels of calcium in the blood are associated with less severe stroke and better outcome, according to research that has been presented at the American Academy of Neurology 58th Annual Meeting in San Diego California April 2006.

Calcium and magnesium are intricately involved in the pathways of cell death in models of stroke, and high dietary intake of these minerals has been associated with a reduced risk of experiencing a stroke according to lead scientist Bruce Ovbiagele, MD, of the Stroke Center and Department of Neurology at the university of California, Los Angeles. This association led Ovbiagele to ask whether levels of serum calcium and magnesium might predict the severity and outcome in patients presenting with a stroke.
American Academy of Neurology

Author: Richard Steele , Ph.D.

Because music engages and integrates contributions from many different cerebral areas, it may hold untapped promise in the rehabilitation of aphasia. Music activates regions in both hemispheres of the brain that are associated with attention, memory, focus, motor planning, action sequencing, auditory processing, pattern recognition, emotional affect and expression, and — when lyrics are involved — underlying competencies and performance of speech and language. Because the focal lesions following stroke are unlikely to compromise entirely this widely distributed bilateral network of cerebral areas , they may be recruited, with the help of music, to help replace the functions of affected regions.

Consider Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT), which uses music in aphasia rehabilitation. MIT was developed in the early 1970s by Martin Albert and colleagues at the Boston Veterans Administration’s Aphasia Research Center. When successful, MIT improves verbal expression, quantitatively and qualitatively, in persons with left-hemisphere brain damage resulting in Broca’s aphasia. Albert and others observed that persons with Broca’s aphasia often could sing lyrics not otherwise available to them as spoken words for conversation. The technique involves practicing phrases initially as song fragments, then diminishing the prominence of melody and musical rhythm, and moving towards more conversational delivery. Some patients — though not all — have benefited markedly from MIT.

At least two mechanisms appear to be at work when MIT is effective. The first is “intersystem reorganization,” a process by which a spared ability, like song, fosters and supports performance improvements in an impaired ability. In this case, phrases supported by melody and rhythm are exploited to support and foster the eventual production of more normal speech. As practice improves fluency and self-confidence, and as melody and rhythm yield ground over time to more conversational intonations and cadences, the capacity for volitional speech expands.

A second mechanism appears to be the improved regulation of right hemisphere interactions. As Oliver Sacks describes in Musicophilia, areas in the right hemisphere that correspond to the damaged left-hemisphere language areas often become hyperactive when persons with Broca’s aphasia attempt to speak. This hyperactivity — essentially, unregulated and overpowering “noise” — can spill over and interfere with the desired left-hemisphere cerebral activity, hindering competent speech and language performance and producing frustration. Brain scans indicate that MIT quells this contralateral hyperactivity by giving the right hemisphere other, non-interfering tasks to occupy its energies and regulate its activities. The right hemisphere becomes otherwise engaged and hence non-disruptive. The resulting diminution of noise opens a space for the left hemisphere to operate without right-hemisphere interference, promoting improved speech-language performance.

To read more articles from Lingraphica, click on the above link and hit the “Our Research” tab.

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For further reading: Oliver Sacks. “Speech and song: aphasia and music therapy.” Chap. 16 in Musicophilia. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. 2007.

Author: National Aphasia Association

The National Aphasia Association announces that Congress has yet AGAIN passed a resolution in the House and Senate to declare June as National Aphasia Awareness Month! The NAA is indebted to Senator Tim Johnson (SD) and Congressman Edward J Markey (MA) for their sponsorship and efforts. A special thanks also goes to NAA Board member, Dr. Paul Rao, for spearheading the project. Read more about it in the National Aphasia Association Newsletter! .