Subcortical Brain Involvement Is Associated With Impaired Performance on the Psychomotor Vigilance Task After Minor Stroke

What the fuck is the use of this research if there is no creation of stroke protocols for recovery? Or at least tell us where in the stroke strategy this fits so we can see progress in the strategy. Oh I forget; there is NO fucking stroke strategy. No one knows what the hell is going on or needs to be done. Everyone in stroke is just sucking their thumbs waiting for SOMEONE ELSE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.

Oops, I'm hurting the fee-fees of the stroke medical world.

Subcortical Brain Involvement Is Associated With Impaired Performance on the Psychomotor Vigilance Task After Minor Stroke 

Show all authors

Peter R. A. Malik, Ryan T. Muir, MD, Sandra E. Black, MD, ...

First Published October 24, 2018 Research Article

https://doi.org/10.1177/1545968318804415

Article information

Abstract

Objective. Impaired attentional processes have been linked with poor outcomes after stroke, but their radiographical correlates have been infrequently studied. Our objective was to assess the relationship between stroke location and vigilant attention.  
Methods. A total of 39 patients presenting within 2 weeks of a minor stroke were prospectively recruited. Vigilant attention was assessed using the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT), and neuroimaging was used to assess stroke location, white matter hyperintensity (WMH) burden, and ischemic stroke involvement within lateral cholinergic projections. Correlational analyses and linear regression models tested the association between PVT performance and our neuroimaging parameters of interest. Subtractions of lesion overlays were used to identify brain regions of acute stroke patients who performed most poorly on the PVT.  
Results. Subcortical stroke location was a predictor of PVT performance in this cohort of acute stroke patients. Patients who performed most poorly on the PVT had lesions in the corona radiata, internal capsule, globus pallidus, and thalamus. Global WMH burden and cerebrovascular disease in lateral cholinergic pathways were not significant predictors of PVT performance.  
Interpretation. Subcortical stroke location was associated with impaired vigilant attention. The poorest PVT performers had stroke lesions involving the corona radiata, internal capsule, globus pallidus, and thalamus, suggesting that vigilance depends on the integrity of subcortical structures and their connections with cortical brain regions.