Objective: Clinically assessing the status of cerebral collaterals is thought to provide invaluable diagnostic and prognostic data in managing acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. In this study we present a report, based on commonly used collateral grading system, assessing the correlation between the collateral status seen on CT angiography and patients’ functional outcome at Day 90 in our institution.Method: Patients presenting to the Emergency Department within 6 hours of onset of stroke from January 2010 until December 2014 were chosen for the study. CT angiography source images were retrospectively reviewed and given a “collateral score” (CS) by a radiologist who was blinded to the patient’s clinical information on presentation, as well as theclinical outcomes at 90 days. Patients’ mRS score at 90 days was obtained retrospectively and compared against the “collateral score”. Results: 87 patients were enrolled into this study, of which 60 (69%) were male and 27 (31%) were female with a mean age of 60.3 years. In this study, 56 (64.4%) patients had a collateral score (CS) ≥ 2 and 31 (35.6%) patients had a CS < 2. Out of 56 patientswho had a CS ≥ 2, 51 of them (91%) had good clinical outcome with a mRS ≤ 2. All the patients who had CS < 2 showed poor clinical outcome with a mRS > 2. The collateral score predicts accurately the clinical outcome with an area under the curve (ROC) of 0.75 (95% CI, 0.675-0.871, P=0.001). There is significant Spearman correlation between CS and the clinical outcome at Day 90, in patients with AIS during CTA analysis.Conclusion: Our data supports the potential use of CS analysis in predicting clinical outcome of patients with AIS. Nevertheless, further study on a larger scale is strongly suggested to verify the reliability and reproducibility of CS assessment in CTA analysis prior to reperfusion in AIS patients.
Background : The clot burden score (CBS) is a scoring system used in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) to predict patient outcome and guide treatment decision. However, CBS is not routinely practiced in many institutions. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of CBS as a relevant predictor of good clinical outcome in AIS cases.Methods: A retrospective data collection and review of AIS patients in a teaching hospital was done from June 2010 until June 2015. Patients were selected following the inclusion and exclusion criteria. These patients were followed up after 90 days of discharge. The Modified Rankin scale (mRS) was used to assess their outcome (functional status). Linear regression Spearman Rank correlation was performed between the CBS and mRS. The quality performance of the correlations was evaluated using Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.Results: A total of 89 patients with AIS were analysed, 67.4% (n=60) male and 32.6% (n=29) female. Twenty-nine (29) patients (33.7%) had a CBS ≥6, 6 patients (6.7%) had CBS
Background & Objectives: The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) provides a valid and quick assessment of stroke severity in hyperacute stroke management. Stroke patients who are eligible for reperfusion therapy require prompt assessment. There is no validated Bahasa Malaysia (BM) version of the NIHSS that allows easier assessment by BM-speaking health professionals. This study aimed to translate and validate a BM version of the NIHSS.
Methods: The English NIHSS was translated to BM, then back translated to ensure linguistic accuracy. We also adapted the language assessment of the NIHSS to be more culturally appropriate. Training and certification videos were downloaded from the NIH website and dubbed into BM. We determined intra-class correlation and unweighted kappa as the best measure of reliability. Median scores were used in the analysis for language items.
Results: One hundred and one raters participated in the test-retest reliability study. Agreement between the original NIHSS and our translated version of the BM-NIHSS was good (ICC = 0.738, 95% CI: 0.611 to 0.823). Fair to moderate agreement was found on item-by-item analysis (unweighted κ=0.20-0.50) despite high observed agreement. Fifty patients participated in the language assessment arm. Scores were better in BM for reading, naming objects and repetition (Mdn = 100, p < 0.001). There was no difference in the median scores for the description component.
Conclusions: The BM-NIHSS is a valid translation of the NIHSS, and may be used in clinical practice by BM-speaking healthcare professionals.