The identification of subjects carrying the HLA-B*1502 allele and the avoidance of carbamazepine therapy in these subjects was strongly associated with a decrease in the incidence of carbamazepine-induced SJS-TEN. (Funded by the National Science Council of Taiwan and the Taiwan Drug Relief Foundation.).

There is a dose-dependent effect of rehabilitation on functional improvement of stroke patients for the first 6 months post-stroke, and earlier delivery of rehabilitation has lasting effects on the functional recovery of stroke patients up to 1 year.

Introduction. Quick thrombolysis after stroke improved clinical outcomes. The study objective was to shorten door-to-needle time for thrombolysis. Methods. After identifying the sources of in-hospital delays, we developed a protocol with a parallel algorithm and recruited nurse practitioners into the acute stroke team. We applied the new protocol on stroke patients from October 2009 to September 2010. Patients from the previous two years were used for comparison. Results. For ischemic stroke patients within 3 hours of onset, the median time from arrival to computed tomography scanning was reduced from 29 to 20 minutes (P < 0.001) and the median time from arrival to neurology evaluation decreased from 61 to 43 minutes (P < 0.001). For those patients who received thrombolysis, the median door-to-needle time was shortened from 68.5 to 58 minutes (P < 0.05). Conclusions. The parallel thrombolysis protocol successfully improved the median door-to-needle time to below the guideline-recommended 60 minutes.

No abstract

No abstract