“Stroke risk for patients treated at TIA clinic not higher than those treated at hospitals”
By Robert Herpen, MA,
Clinics that provide timely care for patients with transient ischemic attacks can be an effective alternative to hospitalization in the prevention of future incidence of stroke, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published in JAMA Network Open.
“There is growing evidence that suggests TIA clinics can be considered an alternative to hospitalization,” Shahjouei and colleagues wrote. “Despite the very different structures of risk stratification and patient selection, referral patterns, and diagnostic and therapeutic protocols in these TIA clinic models, the risk of cerebral ischemia in patients treated at a TIA clinic did not exceed those treated in an inpatient setting.”
Healthwatch 16: COVID-19 and stroke
By Julie Sidoni, WNEP
DANVILLE, Pa. — A Geisinger-led, multinational study on whether there's a connection between COVID-19 and stroke risks has just been published. It's a continuation of a study we first told you about last year, helmed by researcher Dr. Vida Abedi and vascular neurologist Dr. Ramin Zand.
In the end, the study suggests it's important to at least watch for clotting, which is a stroke risk factor but can also cause problems in other parts of the body. And it makes clear, according to Dr. Abedi, the importance of the vaccine."The value of vaccination is beyond just preventing COVID. It's actually preventing an array of conditions, including a stroke in these patients."
“More than half of patients with atrial fibrillation do not receive guideline-based therapy”
By Janel Miller, Healio Primary Care
Diaz and colleagues reported in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences that 52.4% of the 1,015 patients with CHA2DS2-VASc scores of two or higher were undertreated. In addition, the median time from atrial fibrillation diagnosis to index stroke was significantly lower among undertreated patients (1.9 vs. 3.6 years).”
The findings are “consistent with previous observations,” Ramin Zand, MD, a neurologist at Geisinger Health System in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and a study co-author, told Healio Primary Care. He said that a multidisciplinary approach to care would likely improve atrial fibrillation management. “Closing the gap requires a collaboration between different specialties, including pharmacists, cardiologists, neurologists, PCPs, etc.,” Zand told Healio Primary Care. “Patients should also be involved in this process” through shared decision-making.
“What new research tells us about stroke mortality among men and women”
By Michael Walter, Cardiovascular Business News
“Our study results indicate that women may have higher crude mortality after stroke; however, sex is not an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality in the rural communities that Geisinger serves,” co-author Vida Abedi, PhD, a scientist in the department of molecular and functional genomics for the Geisinger Health System, said in a prepared statement. “Ischemic stroke recurrence and the composite outcome of stroke recurrence or death also did not demonstrate evidence of a sex disparity.”
“Geisinger researchers find sex is not an independent risk factor for stroke mortality”
By Ashley Andyshak Hayes
Stroke survival rates for men and women equal among Geisinger patients.
The study is part of a larger effort by the Neuroscience Institute at Geisinger, led by Ramin Zand, M.D., a vascular neurologist and president of the American Heart Association (AHA) Northeast Pennsylvania, with a focus on addressing stroke care disparity and women's health, one of the current missions of AHA. The data analysis was led by Clare Lambert, a student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.
Read the full analysis from Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders.
“Geisinger research identifies genetic risk factor for stroke”
By Ashley Andyshak Hayes,
DANVILLE, Pa. - A team of Geisinger researchers has identified a common genetic variant as a risk factor for stroke, especially in patients older than 65. Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) causes about a quarter of ischemic strokes worldwide and is the most common cause of vascular dementia. SVD is commonly associated with aging and hypertension, but a minority of cases are caused by cysteine altering variants in the NOTCH3 gene.
"This study represents a novel and powerful approach to studying the genetic basis of neurologic disease," said Ramin Zand, M.D., a vascular neurologist and clinician-scientist at Geisinger and co-author of the study.
The study was published in the journal of Stroke.
“Artificial Intelligence Coming to EDs to Improve Stroke Diagnosis”
By ED Legal Letters
Artificial intelligence (AI) is considered a promising tool to improve stroke diagnosis in the ED. “Our team is leading the development of such models to be used in real time in clinical settings,” reports Ramin Zand, MD, an associate professor of medicine and neurology at Geisinger Health System in Danville, PA.
The study was published in the journal of Ther Adv Neurol Disord
“Stroke After TIA: Risk Remains High”
By Sue Hughes, Medscape Medical News
The incidence of stroke following a transient ischemic attack (TIA) has decreased somewhat over the past 50 years but hardly at all during the past decade, a new meta-analysis shows.
"This systematic review and meta-analysis found that transient ischemic attack continues to be associated with a high risk of early stroke. However, the rate of post-TIA stroke might have decreased slightly during the past 2 decades," the authors conclude.
The study results were published in JAMA Neurology.
“Geisinger scientists lead multinational study of COVID-19 and stroke”
By Ashley Andyshak Hayes
PRNewswire/ -- Geisinger scientists led a team of experts from around the world to study the correlation between COVID-19 infection and stroke risk.
The multinational COVID-19 Stroke Study Group included scientists and clinicians from 99 medical centers in 11 countries. The team was led by Ramin Zand, M.D., a vascular neurologist and clinician-scientist at Geisinger, and coordinated by Shima Shahjouei, M.D., a postdoctoral stroke fellow at Geisinger.
The study results were published in EbioMedicine, a publication of The Lancet.
“Artificial Intelligence Transforms the Future of Health Care”
Our article published in the American Journal of Medicine was well received. For more read 1) the piece by by Angela Swartz, entitled “Fiction of the Future?” in The Almanac News as well as in the Mountain View Voice; and 2) the piece by James Richardson published in the HONEST BUSINESSMAN entitled “Transformative AI Technology and its Impacts on the Healthcare Industry”
“How Artificial Intelligence Could Help Hospitals Save Lives”
By Conor Lavelle, The Walrus
A group of researchers at the Geisinger Neuroscience Institute in Scranton, Pennsylvania, led by vascular neurologist Ramin Zand, spent the past two years developing and testing an AI program to help ER doctors identify when a patient is having a stroke. Zand and his team designed an artificial neural network, a type of machine-learning platform, composed of discrete units that share a vast array of connections—the same way that neurons share synapses in the brain.
“Geisinger, IBM develop new predictive algorithm to detect sepsis risk”
By Mike Miliard in Healthcare IT News, a publication of HIMSS Media.
Researchers from Geisinger and IBM collaborate to build an AI model that would ingest clinical data from de-identified sepsis patient EHR data, then used it to predict patient mortality during hospitalization and during the 90 days following discharge.
“Novel Screening Tool for Stroke Using Artificial Neural Network”
Interviewed by José G. Merino, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology, University of Maryland School of Medicine. Published in the June issue of Stroke.
Physicians, including neurologists and neurointensivists, are often overwhelmed by the amount of clinical data. It can be very challenging to monitor, integrate and interpret all of the clinical and demographic data and integrate all the data elements in the real-time treatment decisions. Computers can assist health care providers in monitoring and integrating data. Artificial intelligence can help physicians to provide more individualized care and make more evidence-based medical decisions.
“Text Analytics: Finding Insights in Scientific Publications”
By Ricardo Balduino, published in Medium.
Can you read fast? Really, really fast? As you start reading this blog, consider that a person reads an average page of text in about 2 minutes, so it could take you about 10 minutes to read this whole post, more or less. Now imagine reading 10 to 20 pages of a scientific paper. Next imagine reading hundreds, thousands, or even millions of such papers.
“Artificial intelligence aids research to find best treatment for stroke patients”
By Becky Freemal, Virginia Tech Daily News
Studying human diseases is the equivalent of solving a massive and dynamic jigsaw puzzle with pieces that are constantly changing shape.