ESOC 2018: Rare Causes of Stroke
The Thursday afternoon session “Rare Causes and Stroke“ provided a very intriguing and fascinating overview of several uncommon causes of stroke. Christian Weimar from Germany presented an interested overview on coagulopathies providing clear indication for treatment. Abi Hietaharju from Finland resumed the most important issues on the diagnosis and treatment of Primary angiitis of CNS, underlyining the importance of lumbar puncture and of cerebral other than vessel neuroimaging. Michelangelo Mancuso, from Italy, resumed the main clinical features and indication for management of mitochondrial disorders and particulalry MELAS, highlighting the importance of lactate peak in diagnosis of MELAS. Karin Klijn from Netherlands reviewed data on Moyamoya European series. For MA although surgery is recognised to reduce stroke risk, therapeutic indications are still not supported by clinical trials. Lastly, Stephanie Debette illustrated updated data on extracranial artery dissection treatment and management. rTPA was shown to be safe and anticoagulants were demonstrated to be not superior to antiaggregants and should discontinued after 6-12 months, depending of degree of artery recanalisation.
The high quality of the talks and the high rate of participation and enthusiasm of the audience made this session an highlight of this year’s ESO conference.
