LOS ANGELES – Stroke patients might seem to improve on their way to the hospital, but it’s hard to know if they really are.
Investigators at State University of New York, Brooklyn, have taken a step toward identifying risk factors for poor outcomes when patients seem to be getting better. In a post hoc analysis of the Field Administration of Stroke Therapy-Magnesium (FAST-MAG) trial, they found that in general, clinical outcomes were better with rapid neurologic improvement on the Los Angeles Motor Scale, but about half who had improved 2 points by the time they reached the hospital – and more than a third who improved 4 points – were not discharged home.
Investigator Dr. Steven Levine, a professor of neurology and emergency medicine at SUNY Brooklyn, is working on the risk factors, and he shared what’s known so far in an interview at the International Stroke Conference, sponsored by the American Heart Association. The work is part of Genentech’s efforts to identify patients who benefit from the company’s tissue plasminogen activator, alteplase, despite arriving with low stroke scale scores. Dr. Levine is an adviser to Genentech.