• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.82-89
• /
• 2010

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine distribution patterns of TOAST subtypes of ischemic stroke patients admitted to oriental hospitals and to get a better understanding of present conditions in oriental medicine by comparing with the Korea stroke registry (KSR), the largest and representative data. Methods: Clinical data were collected from acute ischemic stoke patients. MRI studies including vascular images were performed in all cases. TOAST criteria were used to determine subtypes of ischemic stroke patients. According to the duration from disease onset to hospital admission time, patients were assigned to 3 groups (Group I0 to 3 d, Group II4 to 7 d, Group III8 to 28 d) and the distribution of TOAST subtypes were compared among these three groups. Results: We collected 514 sets of clinical data from 10 oriental hospitals between May 2007 and September 2009. Small vessel occlusion (SVO) subtype was the most common (57.62%), followed by large artery atherosclerosis (LAA, 29.98%). Compared with TOAST distribution of KSR, the proportion of ischemic stroke patients with SVO subtype was higher than that of KSR. On the other hand the proportion of patients with stroke of undetermined etiology (SUE) was lower. Distributions of SVO, LAA and cardioembolism (CE) in group were I 66.4%, 23.8% and 8.9%, respectively; those in group IIIwere 51.03%, 34.71% and 11.57%, respectively. Conclusions: In oriental hospitals, the proportion of ischemic stroke patients diagnosed as SVO type was higher than that of KSR. At early stage (from onset to 2 d) proportion of SVO was very high, however after 7 days from onset it decreased with concomitant increases in proportions of LAA and CE. These phenomena may be due to the facts that 1) at early stage emergency treatments are limited in oriental hospitals, 2) after early stage many patients prefer oriental treatments, including rehabilitation.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.47-67
• /
• 2007

Objectives : This study was aimed to investigated the warning signs and its relationship with the other characteristics in acute stroke patients. Methods : 225 acute stroke patients were recruited at the Department of Cardiovascular and Neurologic Diseases (Stroke Center) of Kyung Hee University Oriental Hospital from October 2005 to September 2006. We evaluated their stroke type with brain MRI, their warning signs, and general characteristics such as age, sex, past history, risk factors, etc. Results : 225 subjects were included in the final analysis. In the subjects' general characteristics, the most common etiology of stroke was small vessel occlusion. In the assessment of the subjects' warning signs, the frequency of tension felt at the cervical area was highest followed by blepharospasm, sensory dysfunction (one side of numbness, tingling sensation, dead sensation), one side paralysis or weakness, etc. After analyzing etiology, cerebral hemorrhage had more facial spasm sign and hypertension than cerebral infarction. On the other hand, cerebral infarction had more diabetes and sensory dysfunction (one side of numbness, tingling sensation, dead sensation) than cerebral hemorrhage. Among stroke locations, subjects with their brain lesion in the cortex had more warning sings of motor dysfunction such as one side paralysis, or weakness. Multiple lesions showed a close relationship with smoking habit and were more common in males than in females. The under 65 years old group were more commonly associated with alcohol consumption, accidental mental stress and blepharospam than the over 65 years old group. In the group of under 65 years old, males more commonly had lesions in occipital lobe, alcohol consumption and smoking habit than females. Otherwise, females more commonly had vision dysfunction and blepharospasm than males. In the group of over 65 years old, males more commonly had cortex lesion than females. On the other hand, Females more commonly had accidental mental stress than males. Conclusions : We observed various warning signs and their distribution in acute stroke patients. The subjects' brainlesions and their etiology seemed to affect the features of the warning signs. Hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia were also related to etiology of stroke and some habitual problems such as smoking and drinking seemed to reduce the age of stroke ictus. Although a concrete conclusion can hardly be drawn from this study, it reminds physicians of the importance of warning signs which appear among their patients.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.40-48
• /
• 2024

Understanding the effectiveness of statin treatment is essential for developing tailored stroke prevention strategies. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of statin treatment in preventing recurrent stroke among patients with various ischemic stroke subtypes. Using data from the Clinical Research Collaboration for Stroke-Korea-National Institute for Health (CRCS-K-NIH) registry, we included patients with acute ischemic stroke admitted between January 2011 and July 2020. To evaluate the differential effects of statin treatment based on the ischemic stroke subtype, we analyzed patients with large artery atherosclerosis (LAA), cardio-embolism (CE), and small vessel occlusion (SVO). The primary outcomes were recurrent ischemic stroke and recurrent stroke events. The hazard ratio for outcomes between statin users and nonusers was compared using a Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for covariates. A total of 46,630 patients who met the inclusion criteria were analyzed. Statins were prescribed to 92%, 93%, and 78% of patients with LAA, SVO, and CE subtypes, respectively. The hazards of recurrent ischemic stroke and recurrent stroke in statin users were reduced to 0.79 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.63-0.99) and 0.77 (95% CI, 0.62-0.95) in the LAA subtype and 0.63 (95% CI, 0.52-0.76) and 0.63 (95% CI, 0.53-0.75) in CE subtype compared to nonusers. However, the hazards of these outcomes did not significantly decrease in the SVO subtype. The effectiveness of statin treatment in reducing the risk of recurrent stroke in patients with LAA and CE subtypes has been suggested. Nonetheless, no significant effect was observed in the SVO subtype, suggesting a differential effect of statins on different stroke subtypes.