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Howard Yonas

Publications and source records attributed to Howard Yonas.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Influence of delaying treatment after symptoms develop from subarachnoid hemorrhage: a preliminary analysis.

Patients experiencing subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) symptoms may delay seeking medical attention, not realizing the severity of these symptoms. The purposes of this study were to determine (a) the length of time between the development of SAH symptoms in patients and when treatment was initially sought and (b) whether the delay in hospital admission had an effect on patient outcomes. Inclusion criteria were age (18-75 years) and diagnosis of severe SAH. Consent was obtained on 90 eligible patients admitted to the neurovascular intensive care unit. Outcomes were assessed at 3 months using the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) and Modified Rankin Scale (MRS). Initial time delay, calculated by subtracting the time of initial symptom development from the time of admission to the emergency department (ED), ranged from 0.08 to 103 hours. There was no relationship between the initial time delay and GOS or MRS scores. There was a significant difference between the time to initial ED admission to a trauma ED and to a community ED; patients were admitted within 2.7 hours to a trauma ED admission, compared to 7 hours for a community ED admission. There was a significant relationship between the Hunt and Hess Scale and GOS and between the Hunt and Hess and MRS. There was a significant relationship between the Fisher Grade and GOS and between the Fisher Grade and MRS. This study shows that patients may delay treatment for nearly 7 hours after initial symptoms develop. This suggests that laypersons are not aware of SAH symptoms, thereby delaying ED admission and care. The study also suggests that more severe symptoms upon admission to the ED were related to poorer outcomes. Initial clinical presentation is a useful predictor for SAH outcomes. This study supports the idea that the general public needs to be educated on the symptoms of SAH.

Adult↗

Symptomatic cavernous sinus aneurysms: management and outcome after carotid occlusion and selective cerebral revascularization.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Therapeutic internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusion for symptomatic intracavernous artery aneurysms can result in ischemic infarction despite normal clinical balloon test occlusion (BTO). We evaluated outcomes in patients with symptomatic cavernous sinus aneurysms in whom clinical BTO was normal, who underwent carotid occlusion with selective bypass surgery guided by physiologic BTO using quantitative cerebral blood flow (CBF) analysis by means of stable xenon-enhanced CT. METHODS: After a normal clinical BTO, 26 consecutive patients with symptomatic cavernous sinus aneurysms underwent a baseline xenon-enhanced CT CBF analysis followed by a second CBF analysis, during which repeat BTO was performed. Patients with a decrease in cortical CBF to below 30 mL/100 g/min were considered moderate risk and those with greater than 30 mL/100 g/min were low risk for developing postocclusion ischemic infarction. Moderate-risk patients underwent cerebral revascularization followed by proximal carotid occlusion. Low-risk patients underwent carotid occlusion alone. Patients were clinically followed up for at least 3 months after carotid occlusion. All patients underwent head CT at least 1 month after carotid occlusion. RESULTS: Eight patients were moderate risk and 18 low risk. Mean follow-up was 15.3 months. Mean CT follow-up was 10.2 months. No low-risk patient developed a postocclusion ischemic deficit by examination or infarct by CT. One patient in the moderate-risk group developed right hemiparesis and a left posterior middle cerebral artery infarction by CT 2 months after carotid occlusion. CONCLUSION: In this series, BTO combined with quantitative CBF analysis was a safe and reliable technique for identification of patients at risk for ischemic infarction after carotid occlusion, despite a normal clinical BTO.

Balloon Occlusion↗