RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
  Anorexia Nervosa
  Anxiety
  Bulimia
  CFS
  Child Psychiatry
  Depression
  Forensic Psychiatry
  Learning-Disabilities
  Mood Disorders
  Neuropsychiatry
  Peri-Natal Psychiatry
  Personality Disorders
  Psychology
  Psychoses
  Psychotherapy
  Sleep Disorders
  Substance Abuse
   Alcohol
   Amphetamine
   Cannabis
   Cocaine
   Opiates
   Smoking
  Suicide
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2012 - 10:22:56 PM
Cocaine Channel

subscribe to Cocaine newsletter
Latest Research : Psychiatry : Substance Abuse : Cocaine

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Cocaine use linked to brain hemmorhage in young adults

Feb 19, 2006 - 5:20:00 PM , Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
The good news is that patients under age 50 who experience this vessel rupture inside the brain have better outcomes than older patients.

 
[RxPG] A fifth of young adults whose blood vessels ruptured inside their brain abused drugs and more than 40 percent had malformed blood vessels, according to a study reported Feb. 17 at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2006 in Kissimmee, FL.

The study included 307 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) -- a stroke caused by a blood vessel bursting inside the brain. Of the 75 patients 49-years-old or younger, 20 percent had drugs in their system.

"The dominant drug of abuse was cocaine, long recognized as a risk factor for ICH," said Michael Hoffmann, MD, lead author of the study and director of the stroke program at the University of South Florida-Tampa General Hospital. "Marijuana was another frequently abused drug and is beginning to emerge as a risk factor for stroke. Amphetamines also were commonly abused."

How these drugs make brain blood vessels prone to rupture is not clear, but is being studied, Dr. Hoffmann said.

The study analyzed the causes and outcomes of ICH patients. Twenty-four percent of ICH patients in a registry at Tampa General Hospital were ages 18 to 49. Half were women, about two thirds were Caucasian, 15 percent were black and 12 percent were Hispanic.

ICH is often linked with high blood pressure in people over age 50, and in this study, 57 percent of those age 50 and older had it. Only 33 percent of ICH patients ages 18 to 49 had high blood pressure.

Of the younger patients in the study, 41 percent had malformed blood vessels, known as arteriovenous malformations, aneurysms or other vascular disorders. Cerebral arteriovenous malformation occurs when blood vessels in the brain develop in an abnormal tangle in which the arteries connect directly to the veins without the normal capillaries between them. A cerebral aneurysm is the bulging of the wall of an artery in the brain. Both these conditions weaken blood vessels and increase the risk of a hemorrhagic (bleeding) stroke.

The good news is that patients under age 50 who experience this vessel rupture inside the brain have better outcomes than older patients.

"Surprisingly, our study showed a low mortality rate compared to population studies," said Dr. Hoffmann, professor of neurology at USF.

The 30-day mortality was 14.6 percent for the younger group, significantly lower than for older patients, whose mortality rate was 21 percent, he said. Previously, national population studies have found a high 30-day mortality rate for stroke patients with ICH. Some epidemiological data have suggested a 45 percent to 50 percent mortality rate, Dr. Hoffmann said.

ICH has traditionally been associated with older age groups and higher mortality rates.

Dr. Hoffmann attributes the low mortality rate in younger ICH patients to intensive neurocritical care management at Tampa General. The protocol includes decreasing intracranial pressure and using drains to prevent hydrocephalus, mechanical ventilation, sepsis control, blood pressure control and cooling.

The younger patients came into the emergency room, then were rapidly transferred to a neurocritical care unit within six hours. Typically, patients are hospitalized in the neurocritical care unit for one to eight weeks. Patients were evaluated by MRI, CT and angiography.

"This new way of thinking about how to manage patients with ICH is an important approach, and patients are reaping benefits," Dr. Hoffmann said.

Most of the younger patients were able to live independently three to six months after their ICH, with only mild to moderate cognitive impairment that tends to improve over time, he said.

Dr. Hoffmann said the degree and nature of disability at six months is now the focus of the extension of this study.

"Intensive neurocritical care is the key to successful outcome," Dr. Hoffmann said. "Good medical care can salvage a high quality of life after a stroke."



Publication: American Stroke Association meeting report
On the web: www.hsc.usf.edu 

Advertise in this space for $10 per month. Contact us today.


Related Cocaine News
Scientists design simple dipstick test for cocaine, other drugs
Biochemical signature of cocaine craving revealed
Eliminating the rewarding effect of cocaine by genetic alterations
Prenatal cocaine exposure not linked to bad behavior in kids
Strength of cocaine cravings linked to brain response
Cocaine use linked to brain hemmorhage in young adults
Transcriptional activation is a key molecular mechanism in cocaine addiction
Disrupting reconsolidation of the cocaine-related memory

Subscribe to Cocaine Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 Additional information about the news article
The study was funded by USF Health and the Tampa General Hospital Stroke Registry. Co-author is Ali Malek, MD, USF assistant professor of neurology.

 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)