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All right. Hi guys. Welcome back.
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This is Casey and Salia, and we are so
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thankful that you are tuning back into
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Insights, which is a podcast based on
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content from OnCall, which is a
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continually updated text book from the
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Neuro Critical Care Society, which is
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available online. We are so thankful
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for our sponsors, Sarah Bell and Biogen,
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and now a word from our sponsor.
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specialized immunology, and rare
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diseases, and remains acutely focused
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on its purpose of serving humanity
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through science while advancing a
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healthier, more sustainable, and
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medication, but stroke is the result of
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reduced blood flow to brain tissues.
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And although mortality is not as high as
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intracranial hemorrhage in our country,
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the mortality can range from 10 to 20.
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Casey, could you please help us with
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the diagnosis and walk us through how
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you would diagnose someone who comes to
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the ED with possible signs and symptoms
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of skimmick stroke? Yeah, absolutely.
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So I think stroke could be tricky
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because so many presentations and almost
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any acute onset of neurologic deficit
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could be attributable to an ischemic
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event. However, time is really really,
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brain here and that many, many millions
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of neurons can die with each minute of
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the leg and there are two forms of
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treatment from the lysis and mechanical
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thrombectomy. And so I think it's
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really important to think about who
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qualifies for those and how you can
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identify those patients because
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unfortunately a lot of our patients
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present outside of the window for
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treatment or don't have a large vessel.
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and therefore don't qualify for
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thrombectomy. So let's talk about first,
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those patients that do present with a
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large vessel of fusion, because I think
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those are the isemic syndromes. So it's
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critical to recognize these. So large
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vessels include the ICA's, meaning the
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internal fraud at arteries, the MCA's,
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the middle cerebral arteries, and the
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vascular artery. The first two, the
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ICA and the MCA, are part of the
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anterior circulation. And that's where
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we actually really have the best data
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for thrombectomy The bass are still a
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large vessel, and we are pushing more
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and more for these patients to get
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thrombectomy. But the trial data is
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most robust for those anterior
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circulations occlusion. So fortunately,
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these ICA and MCA occlusions have a
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signature, right? So these are the
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patients who typically come in with a
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gaze deviation, which is going to be to
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the side of the ischemia, as well as
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contralateral weakness, and either
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aphasia, if it's a dominant MCA
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syndrome, if it's a non-dominant MCA
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syndrome. And so that's the syndrome
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that I think all providers should really
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have grilled into their head about like,
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that's the patient that's probably gonna
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qualify for thrombectomy and that's the
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patient we really need imaging as soon
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as possible. Now, balsar thrombosis is
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really challenging. I think there is a
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clinical delay in recognizing this
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patient and it really requires a very
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heightened level of suspicion. So I
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think of these with patients who have
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gaze perisis or any change in alteration
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of consciousness that happens pretty
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acutely. Yourself, could this be a
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balsar thrombosis? And to really
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examine that patient for either
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asymmetric weakness or maybe a gaze
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deviation or with any sort of changes in
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their pupillary findings, this can be
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subtle, but I think those are the
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patients that we really need to be most
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attuned to finding 'cause those are the
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patients that are gonna have the highest
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mortality and morbidity and those are
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the patients that can be helped,
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treatment.
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Great, interesting. Now given all
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these challenges and unknowns, can
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imaging help us here? Absolutely. So
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imaging is crucial in the work of
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perin-acute stroke. So again, I think
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the two things that every patient really
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with an acute stroke syndrome needs to
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have done are to figure out, one, when
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was the time that they were lasting
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wealth, right? That's going to
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determine, does this patient with no,
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with neurologic symptoms, they qualify
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for thrombectomy, and then they need to
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get to the scanner, right? To qualify
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for any treatment for a sphemic stroke,
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you have to, one, have no blood in
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your head, and two, if you're going to
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be a candidate for thrombectomy, you
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have to have one of those large vessel
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officials. There are two imaging
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sequences that patients that have acute
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sphemic changes really need. One is the
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noncon head CT, that's just to rule out
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blood in the head, and then patients
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need vessel imaging, Right, and that's
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gonna be with the CT angiogram.
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we want both the head and the neck,
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because the neck can give us a lot of
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information about A, if there's an
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internal parotid occlusion, or B, if
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there is some sort of like critical
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pathology, you know, like a dissection
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or very unstable atherosclerosis in the
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neck. Like that will help us identify
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like, what was the etiology of stroke?
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So to summarize, for any patient who's
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presenting to the emergency department
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with acute onset, a focal or
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lateralizing neurologic deficits, that
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patient deserves a CT and a CTA head and
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neck upfront. For the sake of time,
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we're gonna skip over kind of the CT
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perfusion and how that plays into the
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neurologic evaluation for a mechanical
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thrombectomy. What I will say for all
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trainees and for emergency providers is
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talk upfront with your stroke team when
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you're getting this imaging. Hey, do
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you guys want the CT perfusion if that's
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available at your center.
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It's really important to make that
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decision before you get the CTA
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for mechanical thrombectomy and who's
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going to qualify for thrombolysis. And
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so maybe walk us through, Salia, a
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little bit about the mechanism of action
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for thrombolytics and sort of the
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inclusion, exclusion, and some of
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those pertinent must know for that sort
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of treatment. Sure. So as you
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mentioned, you know, a lot of these
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patients are screened and monitored to
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see if they qualify to get a
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thrombolytic or not. I'm going to start
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off by saying what these agents are,
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what they do, and then we'll walk
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through, okay, like who can get it,
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who shouldn't get it and all that. So I
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think the agent that most of us are more
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familiar with is AltiPlays. I'm not
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going to use TPA anymore just because we
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have ConnectiPlays now, and it's going
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to be really confusing, and I encourage
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everyone to just say AltiPlays or
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ConnectiPlays to make it very clear for
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everyone who's working with you and your
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team. So both of these agents, what
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they do is that they are local
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thrombolytic agents, invertebrate
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plasmid, and plasmid really converse
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that. breaks down that clot or fibrin
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that is, you know, associated with the
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clot. Now we do talk about, you know,
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these patients need to have a blood
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pressure that can tolerate that
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thrombolytic agent because if the blood
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pressure is very high, they can convert
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that to a hemorrhagic stroke. So the
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threshold that we consider safe for
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these patients is systolic of less than
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185 and diastolic of 110 before giving
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it. The other thing that we obviously
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look at and think about is that what is
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their blood sugar, right? Because we
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know that low blood sugar and high blood
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sugar can look like stroke. So that's
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really one lab that the guidelines are
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recommending. We check before giving
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out a place or tenecta plays and we'll
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talk about tenecta plays a little bit
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later Other labs that we look at, I
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know that a lot of people really
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emphasize on platelet count and INR and
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things like that. I do want to
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highlight that. You really don't need
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to send for those labs unless you are
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concerned for coagulopathy. So in a
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normal, healthy individual waiting for
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PTT or INR or a planet count to come
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back is really a waste of time. As far
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as, you know, 10-inch the place,
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but we are now seeing a lot of interest
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for using 10-inch the place for acute
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scheme stroke to give you a little bit
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of background. There are some initial
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historic studies that looked at 10-inch
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the place in patients who had large
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visual occlusion and need a thermbectomy.
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And those studies, actually, all those
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smaller studies, they showed better
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functional outcomes than out of place,
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which was really interesting to see.
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More recently, the ACT trial, which is
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a multi-center, much larger study was
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published. And they actually found that
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even in the majority of those patients
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that didn't go for thermbectomy, the
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functional outcomes and the safety
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outcomes were pretty similar to out of
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place.
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connect the place has a shorter half
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life. So it's just an IV push as
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opposed to a push and a continuous
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infusion. So we love that for that.
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It's just the one shot you give it.
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It's an IV push. So it's easy, less
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resource, intensive. The other thing
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is that because it's more fiber and
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specific hypothetically, it has lower
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risk of bleeding. Although studies that
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are published, they're talking about
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similar risks of bleed as of now. The
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common dose that we see for schematic
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stroke is 025 mk, maxing it at 25
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milligrams. Remember that the vials are
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50 milligram vials, so you always have
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some waste
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I was switching to this because of the
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ease of
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dosing,
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the quicker administration kind of
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one-shot and done. The one thing that I
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saw one time, and I think it's just
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worth noting, is that because it's a
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one-and-done shot, you actually really
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need to have a good caliber IV. This is
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not something that you want to be
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pushing through like a 22 in the hand
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that sort of get infiltrated because
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this is your one shot So, yeah, I also
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wanted to ask you because I think this
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is coming up more and more clinically.
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So many more patients are using DOX now.
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And so, what should I do if I have
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patients who's reportedly on DOX a now
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presents with signs of an acute ischemic
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stroke?
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Yeah, a very good question. As you
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said, a lot of people in the community
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are on
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Epixaban, River Oxaban Not so much on
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Dabikitran anymore, but just speaking
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of DOX as a class, I think the first
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question that you should ask yourself is.
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When was the last time that they took
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the medication? And the second question
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you can ask and hopefully you have more
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information on that, what is the renal
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function? Obviously, if the renal
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function is poor, then that 48-hour
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could possibly be extended to 72 hours
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and patients who are getting the bigger
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trend because of how extensively it's
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cleared renal-y. That could be also
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extended to sometimes four or five days,
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which obviously could be a problem.
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Gosh, so it's really like checking in
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with the family, trying to find one
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with their last doses and confirming,
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obviously, if they're reliably taking
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it, this is not a patient that
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qualifies for thrombolytics. Correct.
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So then what if someone is on aspirin or
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if they're on DVT prophylaxis? What
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about that? Sometimes we get questions
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about oatous patients on aspirin.
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Aspirin's okay. This patient's on
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subcue heparin per prophylaxis. That is
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okay. If someone's on prophylactic use
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of lobonox, again, on the floor,
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that's all okay. It does get, again,
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a problem someone's on therapeutic doses
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of how.
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or Lovonox, but prophylactic doses of
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these agents that we commonly see on the
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floor for, you know, DBT prophylaxis
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or aspirin. Those are very, those are
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okay to, you know, go ahead. If they
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meet other criteria for altepletes
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administration or technically is
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administration. That's okay. And you
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can go ahead and do that that. But to.
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Okay so you determined like based on you
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know the patient walks in you have no
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reason to think that they have a quite
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dilapathy so run in the middle patient
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you check a finger stick blood sugar and
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it's you know 135 and so you're going to
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go ahead and give them from the littics.
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Great! So what are some of the side
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effects that we need to watch for after
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we've given these? Sure, two things I
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think I'm going to start with the
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bleeding risk obviously it is very
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thoughtful and reasonable to think about
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bleeding. If your patient is
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complaining of a headache or you see
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worsening of the exam as you're giving
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your thrombolytic, whether it's
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alteplase or tinexoplase, as far as you
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know what you do if they bleed. Let's
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say they complain of a headache and you
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stop the alteplase in fusion or it's
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already, the tinex is already given.
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You go for a head CT. If they have a
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hemorrhagic conversion now obviously
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what What you want to do is try to
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provide them with the. vibranogen
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because, you know, these people are
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going to be deficient in vibranogen.
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Cryoprecipitate is the agent of choice
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to treat these patients with and to
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setting up this hemorrhagic conversion.
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Usually we talk about 10 units. People
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do talk about in the guidelines, also
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talk about you could send for vibranogen
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levels in these patients. If it's less
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than 150, you could give them
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additional doses for that. So that's
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really what we think about when people
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bleed on thermobilitic agents A lot of
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what I think of it as being like sort of
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in an Iotrogenic DIC picture for almost
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that first 24 hours. I mean even though
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the the half-life of these drugs is very
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short, the actual effect on the
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vibranogen levels can last a long time.
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Not practice is to tell people, you
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know, the second you see that that ICH
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get the 10 units of cryoprecipotent,
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but also send that vibranogen level so
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that it's cookie. Don't wait for it to
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come back go ahead and give them that
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kind of prior precipitate. and they can
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always give more base on the level.
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Correct, now that's a very good point.
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And you know, that's when we talk about
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pharmacokinetic versus pharmacodynamic
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half-life, that the drug itself will be
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out of the system, but the impact of
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the drug on the platelets and the
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coagulation cascade will still be there.
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Now, with the angiodema, I think,
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again, there are certain patients that
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are at higher risk, I think,
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African-Americans, you know, patients
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who have had angiodema with ACE
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inhibitors are typically the patients to
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think about when you're giving this drug
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and you see those signs of angiodema.
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In terms of what to give in this case,
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you know, thinking about hypersensitive
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reactions, right? So, in the American
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Heart Association, Gotland, as they
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talk about giving methyl pride 125 grams,
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they talk about giving Benadryl 50
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milligrams, all IV formulation, just
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because of the quick onset, um,
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renitidine or some sort of H to the
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blocker, just to, you know, block the
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histamine release. Now, if things get
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worse, obviously, and they are
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progressing, um, that's, I think,
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when we think about intubating, giving
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up and a friend, kind of like how we're
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treating anaphylactic, um, you know,
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um, episodes and, um, uh, reactions.
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So, those are some of the clinical pros
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to kind of think about when we're going
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through and judym of these patients.
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And the other thing is if they're in an
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ACE inhibitor, obviously you wanna make
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sure that you hold that and you're not
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introducing ACE inhibitor for these
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patients. Yeah, absolutely. It's not
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one of those things that you commonly
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encounter, but man, when it does
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happen, it can progress quickly.
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Fortunately, I've seen kind of over the
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next couple of days, it does sort of
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reside on its own.
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So, so many pearls and so much to think
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about, this is a really common
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and a diagnosis that I think that we can
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really do a lot of good by just acting
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expediently and as a team and trying to
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get patients in the center as quickly as
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possible, so the couple pearls to leave
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you with in the clinical side are really
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establishing that last thing well.
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'Cause that's gonna be really crucial in
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dictating what kind of therapy the
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patient eligible for. The other thing
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is look for an LBO syndrome, like look
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for that gaze deviation, contralateral
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weakness, neglect gonna are clue you in
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Those. aphasia or
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that this patient might qualify for
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mechanical from. to me and needs to be
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expedited through their imaging and to a
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thrombectomy capable center. Time is so
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critical, you know. Establishing if
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the patient is TBA eligible, don't
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think about it in terms of like, oh,
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well, they are within four and a half
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hours, we have time. No, you don't
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have time. So don't delay to get
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information that you don't ever really
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need and never ever delay a CTA for
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renal clearance. Salia from the
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pharmacokinetic and all the pharmacology
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furls Thanks to leave. Sure. I think I
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wanted to reemphasize that time is brain.
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So I think that's maybe the beauty of
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connect to plays that it's a one shot,
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it's faster. You don't have
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to get a pump. You don't have to go
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through, oh, like 10 bolus, 90
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infusion. And that is the key here, I
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think. Just making sure, checking
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blood glucose before giving out to plays
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or making that diagnosis and making sure
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that we're familiar with,
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what to do when they bleed, what to do
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if they have enduodema. And
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also, you know, making sure that as
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much as we care about, you know,
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giving this agent, we want to make sure
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that we provide the right care after
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they get that. So, blood pressure
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monitoring after you give out the place
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or connect the place is as important.
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We talk about for these patients, you
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know, keeping the blood pressure less
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than systolic of 180 over diastolic of
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105 for the first 24 hours Absolutely.
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All right, guys, well, that is all
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for today. And we look forward to
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seeing you on the next episode. Thank
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you again for tuning in and make sure
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you check out the on-call chapter,
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which you can visit by going to
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neurocriticalcareorg, checking out the
-
education tab, and you can find it
-
within the on-demand resources. All
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right, thank you again.