Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
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Patients with large vessel occlusion strokes (LVOS) may be better served by direct transfer to endovascular capable centers avoiding hazardous delays between primary and comprehensive stroke centers. However, accurate stroke field triage remains challenging. We aimed to develop a simple field scale to identify LVOS. ⋯ FAST-ED is a simple scale that if successfully validated in the field, it may be used by medical emergency professionals to identify LVOS in the prehospital setting enabling rapid triage of patients.
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Understanding physician decision making is increasingly recognized as an important topic of study, especially in stroke care. We sought to characterize the process of acute stroke decision making among neurologists in the United States and Canada from clinical and epistemological perspectives. ⋯ Diagnostic certainty and likelihood of treatment with tissue-type plasminogen activator increase with additional clinical data, with the history being the most important factor for diagnostic and treatment decisions. Respondents had difficulty in interpreting the results of CT perfusion scans although they had little impact on treatment decisions. We did not identify treatment bias based on patient age, race, or sex.
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Specialized computed tomography-equipped stroke ambulances shorten time to intravenous thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke by starting treatment before hospital arrival. Because of longer travel-time-to-scene, time benefits of this concept are expected to diminish with longer distances from base station to scene. ⋯ URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01382862.