Background and purpose: It has been reported by some researchers that the recurrence or progression of the stroke were observed more often in the hemorrhaged or embolic patients than thrombotic patients. But we found that the severity of stroke on admission significantly affected the incidence of the recurrence or progression (Part 1). The purpose of this study, as Part 2, is to examine what kind of diagnosis or region are in the high-risk group of recurrence or progression after being stratified by severity.
Subjects: We selected 384 consecutive stroke patients, including TIA and RIND, who were admitted to a community hospital within 7 days after the onset and were discharged between 1985 and 1986. The average age was 69.7 years.
Results: (1) Within 2 weeks after the admission, 32 patients (38.1%) had worsened out of 84 hemorrhaged patients compared to 59 patients (20.1%) among the whole of ischemic 294 patients. (2) The breakdown of the ischemic patients was as follows; 9/13 (69.2%) in embolism, 19/110 (17.3%) in thrombosis, and 31/171 (18.1%) in unknown. (3) The rates of deterioration were 35.4% (28/79) in cortical/subcortical region, 18.9% (25/132) in basal ganglia region, and 19.5% (16/82) in infratentorial region. (4) Aphasic patients showed deterioration in 11/29 (37.9%), left hemi-neglect patients in 15/36 (41.7%). (5) On CT findings, patients who showed remarkable mass effects exacerbated in 25/31 (80.6%), patients who had slight/moderate mass effects exacerbated in 25/58 (43.1%), patients without mass effects exacerbated 47/295 (15.9%). Of 84 hemorrhagic patients, 19 (52.8%) patients of 36 patients with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) worsened in comparison to 13 (27.1%) patients deteriorated of 48 patients without IVH. Despite these differences in the rate of recurrence or progression, after patients were classified by the severity on admission according to a consciousness level (Japan Coma Scale) and a hemiplegic level (Brunnstrom stage), most of these differences disappeared. The reason was that higher rate groups contained more severe patients than lower rate groups.
Conclusion: These results suggest that recurrence or progression mostly does not occur according to the difference between diagnosis, region, or other clinical features, but occurs according to the severity of the stroke on admission.

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We conducted a study to predict the discharge Barthel index score from the characteristics assessed at rehabilitation commencement in 124 first stroke patients. Seven characteristics were selected by a stepwise multiple regression analysis and explained 69% of the variance in the discharge Barthel index score: age, Brunnstrom finger recovery stage, lack of motivation, bowel incontinence, urinary tract infection, epilepsy and square root of the initial Barthel index score.

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The main purpose of this study was to investigate the usefulness of platelet derived wound healing formula (PDWHF) in experimentally induced spinal cord injuries in cats. The injury model in 10 adult cats consisted of the placement of three 22 gauge teflon catheter sheaths into the spinal cord at the L2 level. Administration of PDWHF was achieved by coating theses sheaths with PDWHF in Hydron. Three animals were used as controls. In the 7 remaining cats, administration of PDWHF was double blinded. Cats were sacrificed at 3 weeks after injury and injured spinal cord segments were excised for histologic evaluation. Electrophysiologic and clinical motor function were evaluated throughout the period of observation. Evoked potentials in both groups indicated incomplete spinal cord lesions due to insertion of the needles. There appeared to be improvement of the evoked response and clinical function as a result of administration of PDWHF at 3 weeks after injury, though there was no significance. The histologic findings in the PDWHF group showed significant new vessel formation as well as dilation around the injured site. This neovascularization, both qualitative and quantitative, was noted in the PDWHF group. This information with a limited injury and simple delivery system for growth factor would suggest that there is neovascularization occurring as a result of PDWHF administration.

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The aim of this investigation is to explore the usefulness of F wave in detecting radiculopathies in patients with lumbosacral intervertebral disc herniation. In order to obtain an accurate sensitivity of F wave, the subjects were limited to those under sixty years old and the sites of their nerve root compression were confirmed by surgical operation (in some patients, by myelography). Ninety patients were included in this study. Among them, single lesion of L₅ root was found in 33 patients (group A), S₁ root in 42 (group B), double lesion of L₅ and S₁ roots in 9 (group C) respectively and no definite root compression in 6 patients (group D).
Evaluating F wave by using four different parameters such as minimal latency (Fmin), maximal latency (Fmax), chronodispersion (Fdif) and duration (Fdur), we examined the sensitivity of F wave in detecting radicular compression and relationship between the F wave abnormality and clinical findings (pain, muscle weakness, sensory impairment, deep tendon reflexes, straight leg raising test). In some patients, longitudinal F wave analysis was conducted after operation. Normal values of F wave parameters used in this study had been reported in detail elsewhere.
The results obtained were as follows: (1) F wave abnormalities were found in 69% of group A, 67% of group B, 100% of group C and 72% of subjects with L₅ and/or S₁ root lesion (group A-C). All parameters, however, remained to be within normal limits in group D. (2) In cases of L₅ root lesion, F wave abnormalities were found in peroneal nerves while in S₁ radiculopathies, in peroneal nerves and/or tibial nerves. (3) Among different parameters, Fmax, Fdif and Fdur were more sensitive than Fmin in detecting the pathological conditions of lumbosacral roots. (4) F wave abnormalities did not show significant relationship with either clinical or needle electromyographic findings. (5) After operation, those abnormalities tended to improve and return to normal values. And the statistically significant (p<0.05) associations were found between improvement of F wave parameters and muscle weakness.
These results suggested that F wave analysis including serial examination was useful in evaluating lumbosacral radiculopathies.

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