Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposes to use 30-day hospital readmissions after ischemic stroke as part of the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program for payment determination beginning in 2016. The proportion of poststroke readmissions that is potentially preventable is unknown. ⋯ On the basis of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Prevention Quality Indicators, we found that a small proportion of readmissions after ischemic stroke were classified as preventable. Although other causes of readmissions not reflected in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality measures could also be avoidable, hospital-level programs intended to reduce all-cause readmissions and costs should target high-risk patients.
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The Combined Lysis of Thrombus in Brain Ischemia With Transcranial Ultrasound and Systemic T-PA-Hands-Free (CLOTBUST-HF) study is a first-in-human, National Institutes of Health-sponsored, multicenter, open-label, pilot safety trial of tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) plus a novel operator-independent ultrasound device in patients with ischemic stroke caused by proximal intracranial occlusion. ⋯ http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: CLOTBUST-HF NCT01240356.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
THRIVE score predicts outcomes with a third-generation endovascular stroke treatment device in the TREVO-2 trial.
Several outcome prediction scores have been tested in patients receiving acute stroke treatment with previous generations of endovascular stroke treatment devices. The TREVO-2 trial was a randomized controlled trial comparing a novel endovascular stroke treatment device (the Trevo device) to a previous-generation endovascular stroke treatment device (the Merci device). ⋯ The THRIVE score strongly predicts clinical outcome and mortality in the TREVO-2 trial. Taken together with THRIVE validation data from patients receiving intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator or no acute treatment, the THRIVE score has broad predictive power in patients with acute ischemic stroke, which is likely because THRIVE reflects a set of strong nonmodifiable predictors of stroke outcome. A free Web calculator for the THRIVE score is available at http://www.thrivescore.org.
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In previous studies, the Totaled Health Risks in Vascular Events (THRIVE) score has shown broad utility, allowing prediction of clinical outcome, death, and risk of hemorrhage after tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) treatment, irrespective of the type of acute stroke therapy applied to the patient. ⋯ The THRIVE score is a simple-to-use tool to predict clinical outcome, mortality, and risk of hemorrhage after thrombolysis in patients with ischemic stroke. Despite its simplicity, the THRIVE score performs better than several other outcome prediction tools. A free Web calculator for the THRIVE score is available at http://www.thrivescore.org.
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The goal of the Stroke Treatment Academic Industry Roundtable (STAIR) meetings is to advance the development of stroke therapies. At STAIR VIII, consensus recommendations were developed for clinical trial strategies to demonstrate the benefit of endovascular reperfusion therapies for acute ischemic stroke. ⋯ Endovascular research priorities in acute ischemic stroke are to perform trials testing new, highly effective neuro thrombectomy devices rapidly deployed in patients confirmed to have target vessel occlusions.