Decreasing Stroke Code to CT Time in Patients Presenting with Stroke Symptoms

Use of a Stroke Alert Protocol and Outcomes at a Quaternary Children's Hospital

OBJECTIVE

To assess for improvement in diagnostic efficiency following implementation of an institutional pediatric stroke alert protocol at a quaternary children's hospital, and to compare characteristics of in-hospital (IH) and out-of-hospital (OH) stroke alert activations.

STUDY DESIGN

We retrospectively reviewed data from pediatric stroke alerts called for children between age 1 month and 21 years of age at our quaternary children's hospital between October 2016 and October 2022 after implementation of an institutional stroke alert protocol. Generalized linear models assessed code-to-image (CTI) time over the study period, with and without interaction terms for alert location. Demographic, clinical, and imaging characteristics between IH and OH alerts were compared using Fisher's exact test or Mann-Whitney U test.

RESULTS

Of 206 total stroke activations, 129 (62.6%) occurred IH and 77 (37.4%) occurred OH. Overall mean CTI time decreased by 4.56 minutes per year (P = .007) after adjusting for confounders. The association between year and mean CTI time was significantly stronger for IH alerts (decrease of 8.33 minutes/year) compared with OH alerts (increase of 1.90 minutes/year). Subgroup analyses showed that CTI for computed tomography (CT) ± CT angiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) without sedation improved, although CTI time for MRI with sedation did not change over time. IH/OH divergent trends were consistent for CT ± CTA and nonsedated MRI.

CONCLUSIONS

After implementation of a pediatric stroke alert protocol, we observed a steady and significant improvement in CTI times for IH, but not OH alerts.

Performance of door-to-CT time of code stroke in Indonesian tertiary referral center hospital

Background

This study was aimed to analyze the performance of door-to-CT scan (DTC) time of code stroke at the central referral hospital in Indonesia. Data from 310 patients were obtained in this cross-sectional study. Inclusion criteria were: notified with code stroke within the period between November 2016 and April 2019. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were carried out to find which factors affecting DTC time.

Results

A tendency of decreasing DTC time was reported from November 2016 until April 2019. The median DTC time at study endpoint was 19.5 (1–210) minutes. Chi-square analysis showed that CT scan location was the factor associated with DTC (OR: 12.6, 95% CI 6.8–23.35, p < 0.001). Logistic regressions analysis also showed significant relationship of CT scan location and DTC (OR: 24.27, 95% CI 17.71–30.81, p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Refinement of the code stroke implementation and CT scan placement in the Emergency Department (ED) are effective in reduction of DTC time, and as a result, improving acute stroke management.

Reducing care time after implementing protocols for acute ischemic stroke: a systematic review

Background The treatment of acute ischemic stroke with cerebral reperfusion therapy requires rapid care and recognition of symptoms.

Objective To analyze the effectiveness of implementing protocols for acute ischemic stroke in reducing care time.

Methods Systematic review, which was performed with primary studies in Portuguese, English, and Spanish published between 2011 and 2020. Inclusion criteria: study population should comprise people with acute ischemic stroke and studies should present results on the effectiveness of using urgent care protocols in reducing care time. The bibliographic search was conducted in June 2020 in the LILACS, MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, Academic Search Premier, and SocINDEX databases. The articles were selected, and data were extracted by two independent reviewers; the synthesis of the results was performed narratively. The methodological quality of articles was evaluated through specific instruments proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute.

Results A total of 11,226 publications were found, of which 35 were included in the study. Only one study reported improvement in the symptoms-onset-to-door time after protocol implementation. The effectiveness of the therapeutic approach protocols for ischemic stroke was identified in improving door-to-image, image-to-needle, door-to-needle and symptoms-onset-to-needle times. The main limitation found in the articles concerned the lack of clarity in relation to the study population.

Conclusions Several advances have been identified in in-hospital care with protocol implementation; however, it is necessary to improve the recognition time of stroke symptoms among those who have the first contact with the person affected by the stroke and among the professionals involved with the prehospital care.

A discrete event simulation to evaluate impact of radiology process changes on emergency department computed tomography access

BACKGROUND

Hospitals face the challenge of managing demand for limited computed tomography (CT) resources from multiple patient types while ensuring timely access.

METHODS

A discrete event simulation model was created to evaluate CT access time for emergency department (ED) patients at a large academic medical center with six unique CT machines that serve unscheduled emergency, semi-scheduled inpatient, and scheduled outpatient demand. Three operational interventions were tested: adding additional patient transporters, using an alternative creatinine lab, and adding a registered nurse dedicated to monitoring CT patients in the ED.

RESULTS

All interventions improved access times. Adding one or two transporters improved ED access times by up to 9.8 minutes (Mann-Whitney (MW) CI: [-11.0,-8.7]) and 10.3 minutes (MW CI [-11.5, -9.2]). The alternative creatinine and RN interventions provided 3-minute (MW CI: [-4.0, -2.0]) and 8.5-minute (MW CI: [-9.7, -8.3]) improvements.

CONCLUSIONS

Adding one transporter provided the greatest combination of reduced delay and ability to implement. The projected simulation improvements have been realized in practice.

Study on Model Iterative Reconstruction Algorithm vs. Filter Back Projection Algorithm for Diagnosis of Acute Cerebral Infarction Using CT Images

The aim was to explore the application value of computed tomography (CT) perfusion (CTP) imaging based on the iterative model reconstruction (IMR) in the diagnosis of acute cerebral infarction (ACI). 80 patients with ACI, admitted to hospital, were selected as the research objects and divided randomly into a routine treatment group (group A) and a low-dose group (group B) (each group with 40 patients). Patients in group A were scanned at 80 kV–150 mAs, and the traditional filtered back projection (FBP) algorithm was employed to reconstruct the images; besides, 80 kV–30 mAs was adopted to scan the patients in group B, and the images were reconstructed by IMR1, IMR2, IMR3, iDose4 (a kind of hybrid iterative reconstruction technology), and FBP, respectively. The application values of different algorithms were evaluated by CTP based on the collected CTP images of patients and detecting indicators. The results showed that the gray and white matter CT value, SD value, SNR, CNR, and subjective image scores of patients in group B were basically consistent with those of group A (p > 0.05) after the IMR1 reconstruction, and the CT and SD of gray and white matter in patients from group B reduced steeply (p < 0.05), while SNR and CNR increased dramatically after IMR2 and IMR3 reconstruction in contrast to group A (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the cerebral blood volume (CBV), cerebral blood flow (CBF), mean transit time (MTT) of contrast agent, and time to peak (TTP) of contrast agent in patients from group B after iDose4 and IMR reconstruction were basically the same as those of group A (p > 0.05). Therefore, IMR combined with low-dose CTP could obtain high-quality CTP images of the brain with stable perfusion indicators and low radiation dose, which could be clinically applied in the diagnosis of ACI.

Sex and Race-Ethnic Disparities in Door-to-CT Time in Acute Ischemic Stroke: The Florida Stroke Registry

Background

Less than 40% of acute stroke patients have computed tomography (CT) imaging performed within 25 minutes of hospital arrival. We aimed to examine the race‐ethnic and sex differences in door‐to‐CT (DTCT) ≤25 minutes in the FSR (Florida Stroke Registry).

Methods and Results

Data were collected from 2010 to 2018 for 63 265 patients with acute ischemic stroke from the FSR and secondary analysis was performed on 15 877 patients with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator‐treated ischemic stroke. Generalized estimating equation models were used to determine predictors of DTCT ≤25. DTCT ≤25 was achieved in 56% of cases of suspected acute stroke, improving from 36% in 2010 to 72% in 2018. Women (odds ratio [OR], 0.90; 95% CI, 0.87–0.93) and Black (OR, 0.88; CI, 0.84–0.94) patients who had strokes were less likely, and Hispanic patients more likely (OR, 1.07; CI, 1.01–1.14), to achieve DTCT ≤25. In a secondary analysis among intravenous tissue plasminogen activator‐treated patients, 81% of patients achieved DTCT ≤25. In this subgroup, women were less likely to receive DTCT ≤25 (0.85, 0.77–0.94) whereas no significant differences were observed by race or ethnicity.

Conclusions

In the FSR, there was considerable improvement in acute stroke care metric DTCT ≤25 in 2018 in comparison to 2010. However, sex and race‐ethnic disparities persist and require further efforts to improve performance and reduce these disparities.

Importance of Radiologists in Optimizing Outcomes for Older Americans with Acute Abdomen

BACKGROUND

Patients presenting with acute abdominal pain often undergo a computed tomography (CT) scan as part of their diagnostic workup. We investigated the relationship between availability, timeliness, and interpretation of CT imaging and outcomes for life-threatening intra-abdominal diseases or "acute abdomen," in older Americans.

METHODS

Data from a 2015 national survey of 2811 hospitals regarding emergency general surgery structures and processes (60.1% overall response, n = 1690) were linked to 2015 Medicare inpatient claims data. We identified beneficiaries aged ≥65 admitted emergently with a confirmatory acute abdomen diagnosis code and operative intervention on the same calendar date. Multivariable regression models adjusted for significant covariates determined odds of complications and mortality based on CT resources.

RESULTS

We identified 9125 patients with acute abdomen treated at 1253 hospitals, of which 78% had ≥64-slice CT scanners and 85% had 24/7 CT technicians. Overnight CT reads were provided by in-house radiologists at 14% of hospitals and by teleradiologists at 66%. Patients were predominantly 65-74 y old (43%), white (88%), females (60%), and with ≥3 comorbidities (67%) and 8.6% died. STAT radiology reads by a board-certified radiologist rarely/never available in 2 h was associated with increased odds of systemic complication and mortality (adjusted odds ratio 2.6 [1.3-5.4] and 2.3 [1.1-4.8], respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Delays obtaining results are associated with adverse outcomes in older patients with acute abdomen. This may be due to delays in surgical consultation and time to source control while waiting for imaging results. Processes to ensure timely interpretation of CT scans in patients with abdominal pain may improve outcomes in high-risk patients.