Abstract 78: Pre-hospital Rapid Neurological Improvement in Acute Stroke Syndromes: Frequency and Clinical Outcomes
Introduction: There are no systematic data evaluating frequency and clinical outcome of patients with acute stroke syndromes presenting with rapid neurological improvement (RNI) in the pre-hospital setting. Our objectives were to determine frequency, magnitude, and clinical outcomes of RNI vs no-RNI. Hypothesis: Pre-hospital RNI predicts favorable clinical outcome as compared to no-RNI in acute stroke syndromes. Methods: Post-hoc analysis of The Field Administration of Stroke Therapy-Magnesium (FAST-MAG), a phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Any-RNI was defined as a decrease of 2 or more points from the pre-hospital Los Angeles Motor Scale (PH-LAMS) to the hospital LAMS (H-LAMS), while dramatic-RNI was defined as a decrease of at least 4 points. Outcomes were: excellent recovery at 90 days (0-1 mRS), discharge disposition (home vs. not home), and death. Results: In the overall cohort of 1,700 subjects in FAST-MAG, frequency of any-RNI was 326 (19%), dramatic-RNI 98 (6%) and no-RNI 1,276 (75%). Mean age 71.4 (+/-13.2 SD), 67.1 (+/-13.3) and 69.1 (+/-13.6) for any-RNI, dramatic-RNI and no-RNI, respectively (p= 0.004). There was no gender difference across the 3 groups (p= 0.204). Hypertension (p=0.008) and diabetes (p= 0.014) were significantly less frequent among any-RNI and dramatic-RNI vs no-RNI. PH-LAMS medians: any-RNI: 3 (IQR 3-5), dramatic-RNI: 5 (4-5) and no-RNI: 4 (3-5), (p<.0001). Median hospital NIHSS was: any-RNI 3 (1-6), dramatic-RNI 0 (0-2) vs no-RNI 12 (6-20) (p<.0001). Any-RNI and dramatic-RNI were more likely to be discharged home (53% and 64%, respectively) vs no-RNI (25%) (p<.0001). Any-RNI (61%) was more likely to have excellent outcome vs no-RNI (28%) (p<0.0001) and after adjusting for covariates, the OR was 1.33 (95%CI 1.00-1.76, p=0.046). Conclusions: Frequency of pre-hospital any-RNI in the FAST-MAG cohort was almost 1 in 5 subjects, with 6% having dramatic recovery. While clinical outcomes were overall more favorable for acute stroke syndromes presenting with RNI, 47% (any-RNI) and 36% (dramatic-RNI) were not discharged home. Our data suggest that RNI in the pre-hospital setting does not always translate to favorable outcome. Factors affecting outcome in RNI need to be further explored.