Phillip Kucab, a third-year Wayne State University medical student, presented a landmark paper at the recently concluded 67th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Washington, D.C. The academy is the world's largest body of neurologists and its annual meeting attracts more than 15,000 neurologists from around the world.

Mentored by Pratik Bhattacharya, M.D., M.P.H, assistant professor of Neurology and chief of Neurology for Sinai Grace Hospital, Kucab is the first medical student to give a platform presentation in the distinguished category of "Integrated Scientific Sessions" of the American Academy of Neurology.

The paper, "The Changing Epidemiology of Stroke in Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)," examined the incidence of stroke with AIDS and AIDS-related conditions during the last decade.

"Patients with AIDS develop ischemic stroke through distinct mechanisms," Dr. Bhattacharya said. "These include infections such as syphilis, tuberculosis, varicella and other conditions such as cocaine abuse, endocarditis and hypercoagulability. The effect of improved awareness, increased detection and treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, on the incidence and demographics of AIDS patients with stroke is unknown."

The results Kucab presented showed that the proportion of AIDS among incident stroke patients increased significantly in the first half of the decade but leveled off in the latter half. Furthermore, Dr. Bhattacharya added that their results show that death rates from stroke in AIDS patients declined, reflecting the improved survival in the general stroke population. However, stroke patients with AIDS had increased odds of syphilis, varicella, tuberculosis, endocarditis, cocaine abuse and hypercoagulability.

Dr. Bhattacharya said the question of whether HAART can reduce the incidence and improve stroke survival needs to be carefully explored.

Omar Khan, M.D., professor and chair of the WSU Department of Neurology, said this is an important study with outcomes that reflect the trends of stroke in patients with AIDS. It also speaks to the leading patient outcomes-related research being conducted by the Division of Stroke in the Department of Neurology.

"At Wayne State University, in partnership with the Detroit Medical Center, we have an excellent platform to conduct leading translational and outcomes-based research with direct impact on the community we serve," Dr. Khan said.