Abstract TP237: Can We Improve Clinical Detection of Right Hemisphere Large Vessel Occlusion?

Stroke ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sana Somani ◽  
Melissa Gazi ◽  
Michael Minor ◽  
Joe Acker ◽  
Abimbola Fadairo ◽  
...  

Introduction: The Emergency Medical Stroke Assessment (EMSA) is a six point stroke severity scale with one point each for gaze preference, facial droop, arm drift, leg drift, abnormal naming, and abnormal repetition that was developed to help emergency medical services (EMS) providers identify acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO). We hypothesized that the EMSA would detect left hemisphere LVO with a higher sensitivity than right hemisphere LVO. Methods: We trained 24 trauma system-based emergency communication center (ECC) paramedics in the EMSA. ECC-guided EMS in performance of the EMSA on patients with suspected stroke. We compared the sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve (AUC), and 95% confidence interval (CI) of ECC-guided prehospital EMSA for right versus left hemisphere ICA or M1 occlusion. Results: We enrolled 569 patients from September 2016 through February 2018, out of which 236 had a discharge diagnosis of stroke and 173 had a diagnosis of AIS. We excluded patients with bilateral (n=21) and brainstem (n=21) AIS. There were 64 patients with left hemisphere AIS including 19 with LVO. There were 67 patients with right hemisphere AIS including 22 with LVO. A score of ≥ 4 points yielded a sensitivity of 84.2 (95% CI = 60.4-96.6) and specificity of 66.7 (51.1-80.0) for left hemisphere LVO compared to a sensitivity of 68.2 (45.1-86.1) and specificity of 73.9 (58.9-85.7) for right hemisphere LVO. For predicting a left hemisphere LVO, the AUC was 0.77 (0.65-0.90) compared to 0.66 (0.50-0.82) for right-sided LVO. Assigning 2 points for abnormal gaze yielded an AUC of 0.78 (0.66-0.91) versus 0.67 (0.52-0.83) for left and right hemisphere LVO, respectively. Conclusions: The EMSA, like the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) upon which it is based, is more sensitive to left compared to right hemisphere LVO. More heavily weighting abnormal gaze did not improve the sensitivity of the EMSA for right hemisphere LVO. There is no comparable data on the right versus left hemisphere performance of other prehospital scales. There is a need to develop sensitive tests of right hemisphere dysfunction that are suitable for use in the field.

Stroke ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmi L Lutsep ◽  
Raul G Nogueira ◽  
Rishi Gupta ◽  
Tudor G Jovin ◽  
Gregory W Albers ◽  
...  

Introduction.: The Trevo Retriever showed higher recanalization rates and better outcomes than the Merci Retriever in patients with ischemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion (LVO) in TREVO 2. Hypothesis.: We assessed the hypothesis that except for device-related variables, predictors of good outcome would be similar in TREVO 2 and single arm Merci Retriever studies. Methods.: The study evaluated predictors of good outcome, modified Rankin Scale (mRS) 0-2 at 90 days, in TREVO 2 including those with ischemic stroke due to LVO aged 18-85 years with a National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale Score (NIHSS) 8-29 and a first device treatment pass within 8 hours of symptom onset. A secondary analysis investigated mortality predictors. Variables included baseline characteristics of age, sex, NIHSS, IV tPA use, occlusion side, most proximal occlusion site, stroke etiology, body mass index, systolic blood pressure (BP), diastolic BP, glucose; history including hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, smoking, congestive heart failure (CHF), atrial fibrillation, previous coronary or cerebral ischemia; and procedural characteristics of time from symptom onset to arterial puncture, time to TICI ≥2 or end of procedure, device allocation, intubation status, rescue therapy usage and post device revascularization success TICI ≥ 2 per core lab. Variables were assessed with univariate analysis for association with mRS 0-2 and mortality and those with a p-value of <0.15 were eligible for the multivariate model. Results.: TREVO 2 data were available for 168 patients. Variables significant on multivariate analysis for an association with good outcome were baseline NIHSS (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.67, 0.86), post device revascularization success per core lab (OR 117.6, 95% CI 8.40, 1645), diabetes (OR 0.12, 95% CI 0.03, 0.41), intubation (OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.03, 0.41) and left hemisphere involvement (OR 5.11, 95% CI 1.77, 14.71). Predictors of mortality included baseline NIHSS and left hemisphere involvement but also age and CHF. Conclusions.: While age did not appear as a predictor of good outcome and diabetes was negatively associated with it for the first time in a Merci analysis, predictors of favorable outcome in TREVO 2 were similar to those previously reported for the Merci Retriever.


BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. e016893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Christoph Purrucker ◽  
Florian Härtig ◽  
Hardy Richter ◽  
Andreas Engelbrecht ◽  
Johannes Hartmann ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo develop an NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS)-compatible, all-in-one scale for rapid and comprehensive prehospital stroke assessment including stroke recognition, severity grading and progression monitoring as well as prediction of large vessel occlusion (LVO).MethodsEmergency medical services (EMS) personnel and stroke physicians (n=326) rated each item of the NIHSS regarding suitability for prehospital use; best rated items were included. Stroke recognition was evaluated retrospectively in 689 consecutive patients with acute stroke or stroke mimics, prediction of LVO in 741 consecutive patients with ischaemic stroke with acute vessel imaging independent of admission NIHSS score.ResultsNine of the NIHSS items were rated as ‘suitable for prehospital use.’ After excluding two items in order to increase specificity, the final scale (termed shortened NIHSS for EMS, sNIHSS-EMS) consists of ‘level of consciousness’, ‘facial palsy’, ‘motor arm/leg’, ‘sensory’, ‘language’ and ‘dysarthria’. Sensitivity for stroke recognition of the sNIHSS-EMS is 91% (95% CI 86 to 94), specificity 52% (95% CI 47 to 56). Receiver operating curve analysis revealed an optimal cut-off point for LVO prediction of ≥6 (sensitivity 70% (95% CI 65 to 76), specificity 81% (95% CI 76 to 84), positive predictive value 70 (95% CI 65 to 75), area under the curve 0.81 (95% CI 0.78 to 0.84)). Test characteristics were non-inferior to non-comprehensive scales.ConclusionsThe sNIHSS-EMS may overcome the sequential use of multiple emergency stroke scales by permitting parallel stroke recognition, severity grading and LVO prediction. Full NIHSS-item compatibility allows for evaluation of stroke progression starting at the prehospital phase.


2021 ◽  
pp. neurintsurg-2020-017155
Author(s):  
Alexander M Kollikowski ◽  
Franziska Cattus ◽  
Julia Haag ◽  
Jörn Feick ◽  
Alexander G März ◽  
...  

BackgroundEvidence of the consequences of different prehospital pathways before mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in large vessel occlusion stroke is inconclusive. The aim of this study was to investigate the infarct extent and progression before and after MT in directly admitted (mothership) versus transferred (drip and ship) patients using the Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS).MethodsASPECTS of 535 consecutive large vessel occlusion stroke patients eligible for MT between 2015 to 2019 were retrospectively analyzed for differences in the extent of baseline, post-referral, and post-recanalization infarction between the mothership and drip and ship pathways. Time intervals and transport distances of both pathways were analyzed. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the association between infarct progression (baseline to post-recanalization ASPECTS decline), patient characteristics, and logistic key figures.ResultsASPECTS declined during transfer (9 (8–10) vs 7 (6-9), p<0.0001), resulting in lower ASPECTS at stroke center presentation (mothership 9 (7–10) vs drip and ship 7 (6–9), p<0.0001) and on follow-up imaging (mothership 7 (4–8) vs drip and ship 6 (3–7), p=0.001) compared with mothership patients. Infarct progression was significantly higher in transferred patients (points lost, mothership 2 (0–3) vs drip and ship 3 (2–6), p<0.0001). After multivariable adjustment, only interfacility transfer, preinterventional clinical stroke severity, the degree of angiographic recanalization, and the duration of the thrombectomy procedure remained predictors of infarct progression (R2=0.209, p<0.0001).ConclusionsInfarct progression and postinterventional infarct extent, as assessed by ASPECTS, varied between the drip and ship and mothership pathway, leading to more pronounced infarction in transferred patients. ASPECTS may serve as a radiological measure to monitor the benefit or harm of different prehospital pathways for MT.


Author(s):  
Pauli E. T. Vuorinen ◽  
Jyrki P. J. Ollikainen ◽  
Pasi A. Ketola ◽  
Riikka-Liisa K. Vuorinen ◽  
Piritta A. Setälä ◽  
...  

Abstract Background In acute ischemic stroke, conjugated eye deviation (CED) is an evident sign of cortical ischemia and large vessel occlusion (LVO). We aimed to determine if an emergency dispatcher can recognise LVO stroke during an emergency call by asking the caller a binary question regarding whether the patient’s head or gaze is away from the side of the hemiparesis or not. Further, we investigated if the paramedics can confirm this sign at the scene. In the group of positive CED answers to the emergency dispatcher, we investigated what diagnoses these patients received at the emergency department (ED). Among all patients brought to ED and subsequently treated with mechanical thrombectomy (MT) we tracked the proportion of patients with a positive CED answer during the emergency call. Methods We collected data on all stroke dispatches in the city of Tampere, Finland, from 13 February 2019 to 31 October 2020. We then reviewed all patient records from cases where the dispatcher had marked ‘yes’ to the question regarding patient CED in the computer-aided emergency response system. We also viewed all emergency department admissions to see how many patients in total were treated with MT during the period studied. Results Out of 1913 dispatches, we found 81 cases (4%) in which the caller had verified CED during the emergency call. Twenty-four of these patients were diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke. Paramedics confirmed CED in only 9 (11%) of these 81 patients. Two patients with positive CED answers during the emergency call and 19 other patients brought to the emergency department were treated with MT. Conclusion A small minority of stroke dispatches include a positive answer to the CED question but paramedics rarely confirm the emergency medical dispatcher’s suspicion of CED as a sign of LVO. Few patients in need of MT can be found this way. Stroke dispatch protocol with a CED question needs intensive implementation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 196-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kessarin Panichpisal ◽  
Kenneth Nugent ◽  
Maharaj Singh ◽  
Richard Rovin ◽  
Reji Babygirija ◽  
...  

Background: Early identification of patients with acute ischemic strokes due to large vessel occlusions (LVO) is critical. We propose a simple risk score model to predict LVO. Method: The proposed scale (Pomona Scale) ranges from 0 to 3 and includes 3 items: gaze deviation, expressive aphasia, and neglect. We reviewed a cohort of all acute stroke activation patients between February 2014 and January 2016. The predictive performance of the Pomona Scale was determined and compared with several National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) cutoffs (≥4, ≥6, ≥8, and ≥10), the Los Angeles Motor Scale (LAMS), the Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Severity (CPSS) scale, the Vision Aphasia and Neglect Scale (VAN), and the Prehospital Acute Stroke Severity Scale (PASS). Results: LVO was detected in 94 of 776 acute stroke activations (12%). A Pomona Scale ≥2 had comparable accuracy to predict LVO as the VAN and CPSS scales and higher accuracy than Pomona Scale ≥1, LAMS, PASS, and NIHSS. A Pomona Scale ≥2 had an accuracy (area under the curve) of 0.79, a sensitivity of 0.86, a specificity of 0.70, a positive predictive value of 0.71, and a negative predictive value of 0.97 for the detection of LVO. We also found that the presence of either neglect or gaze deviation alone had comparable accuracy of 0.79 as Pomona Scale ≥2 to detect LVO. Conclusion: The Pomona Scale is a simple and accurate scale to predict LVO. In addition, the presence of either gaze deviation or neglect also suggests the possibility of LVO.


Stroke ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Esteban Cheng-Ching ◽  
Russell Cerejo ◽  
Ken Uchino ◽  
Muhammad S Hussain ◽  
Gabor Toth

Background and purpose Large vessel occlusion (LVO) in acute ischemic stroke has been reported to be an independent predictor of unfavorable clinical outcome. However, the prognosis and optimal treatment of patients with only mild neurologic deficits due to LVO are not known. Methods We performed a retrospective chart review from a database of stroke patients admitted to our large academic medical center between July 1, 2010 and June 30 , 2011. Inclusion criteria were acute stroke or TIA, presentation within 9 hours from symptom onset, large vessel occlusion as a culprit of ischemic symptoms, and mild stroke severity with initial NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score <8. Results We identified 59 patients with mild ischemic stroke or TIA, who were evaluated within 9 hours from onset. Of these, 13 (22%) had culprit large vessel occlusions. Five were female, 1 had diabetes, 12 had hypertension, 7 had hyperlipidemia, 2 had atrial fibrillation and 7 were smokers. The median NIHSS score was 5. The location of arterial occlusions were 5 in M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery (MCA), 6 in M2 segment of MCA, 1 each in posterior cerebral and vertebral arteries. Two patients received acute therapy, 1 with intravenous thrombolysis and 1 with endovascular therapy. Reasons for withholding thrombolytic therapy were time window in 8, mild stroke severity in 2, and atypical presentations in 2. Reasons for withholding acute endovascular therapy were mild stroke severity in 7, imaging finding in 2, technical considerations in 2, and lack of consent in 1. From hospital admission to discharge, 10 (77%) patients had symptom improvement, 2 had worsening, and one was unchanged. At 30 days, 5 (38%) had good outcome with a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) of 0-1. Three (23%) had mRS of 2, one (8%) patient had mRS of 3. Outcomes for 4 patients were unknown. Conclusions A significant proportion of patients presenting with mild ischemic symptoms has large vessel occlusion. Acute treatment in this population is frequently withheld due to mild severity or thrombolytic time window. Despite mild symptoms at presentation, some patients are left with moderate disability. Optimal treatment options for this population should be further evaluated in a larger group of patients.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan A McTaggart ◽  
Sameer A Ansari ◽  
Mayank Goyal ◽  
Todd A Abruzzo ◽  
Barb Albani ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo summarize the current literature regarding the initial hospital management of patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) secondary to emergent large vessel occlusion (ELVO), and to offer recommendations designed to decrease the time to endovascular treatment (EVT) for appropriately selected patients with stroke.MethodsUsing guidelines for evidenced-based medicine proposed by the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association, a critical review of all available medical literature supporting best initial medical management of patients with AIS secondary to ELVO was performed. The purpose was to identify processes of care that most expeditiously determine the eligibility of a patient with an acute stroke for interventions including intravenous fibrinolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA) and EVT using mechanical embolectomy.ResultsThis review identifies four elements that are required to achieve timely revascularization in ELVO. (1) In addition to non-contrast CT (NCCT) brain scan, CT angiography should be performed in all patients who meet an institutional threshold for clinical stroke severity. The use of any advanced imaging beyond NCCT should not delay the administration of IV tPA in eligible patients. (2) Activation of the neurointerventional team should occur as soon as possible, based on either confirmation of large vessel occlusion or a prespecified clinical severity threshold. (3) Additional imaging techniques, particularly those intended to physiologically select patients for EVT (CT perfusion and diffusion–perfusion mismatch imaging), may provide additional value, but should not delay EVT. (4) Routine use of general anesthesia during EVT procedures, should be avoided if possible. These workflow recommendations apply to both primary and comprehensive stroke centers and should be tailored to meet the needs of individual institutions.ConclusionsPatients with ELVO are at risk for severe neurologic morbidity and mortality. To achieve the best possible clinical outcomes stroke centers must optimize their triage strategies. Strategies that provide patients with ELVO with the fastest access to reperfusion depend upon detail-oriented process improvement.


Author(s):  
Toby I. Gropen ◽  
Amelia Boehme ◽  
Sheryl Martin-Schild ◽  
Karen Albright ◽  
Alyana Samai ◽  
...  

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