Functional impairment, disability, and quality of life outcome after decompressive hemicraniectomy in malignant middle cerebral artery infarction

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Abstract
Object. Whether decompressive hemicraniectomy is an appropriate treatment for space-occupying middle cerebral artery (MCA) infarction is still a controversial issue. Previous studies are in agreement on a reduction of the mortality rate, but the reported functional outcome was highly variable. The authors sought to determine functional impairment, disability, and health-related quality of life (QOL) outcome in long-term survivors who had undergone this procedure, and tried to identify factors related to functional outcome. Methods. The study included 36 consecutive patients (mean age 58.8 ± 12.7 years, 20 men and 16 women) who underwent decompressive hemicraniectomy for treatment of malignant MCA infarction (29 on the right and seven on the left side; mean time to surgery 37.8 ± 20 hours). The survival rate was determined at 6 months: 13.7 ± 6.7 months after the stroke, a cross-sectional personal investigation of survivors was performed to assess functional impairment, disability, and health-related QOL. ...