Background and Purpose: The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) underestimates clinical severity in posterior circulation stroke and patients presenting with low NIHSS may be considered ineligible for reperfusion therapies. This study aimed to develop a modified version of the NIHSS, the Posterior NIHSS (POST-NIHSS), to improve NIHSS prognostic accuracy for posterior circulation stroke patients with mild-moderate symptoms. Methods: Clinical data of consecutive posterior circulation stroke patients with mild-moderate symptoms (NIHSS <10), who were conservatively managed, were retrospectively analyzed from the Basilar Artery Treatment and Management registry. Clinical features were assessed within 24 hours of symptom onset; dysphagia was assessed by a speech therapist within 48 hours of symptom onset. Random forest classification algorithm and constrained optimization were used to develop the POST-NIHSS in the derivation cohort. The POST-NIHSS was then validated in a prospective cohort. Poor outcome was defined as modified Rankin Scale score ≥3 at 3 months. Results: We included 202 patients (mean [SD] age 63 [14] years, median NIHSS 3 [interquartile range, 1–5]) in the derivation cohort and 65 patients (mean [SD] age 63 [16] years, median NIHSS 2 [interquartile range, 1–4]) in the validation cohort. In the derivation cohort, age, NIHSS, abnormal cough, dysphagia and gait/truncal ataxia were ranked as the most important predictors of functional outcome. POST-NIHSS was calculated by adding 5 points for abnormal cough, 4 points for dysphagia, and 3 points for gait/truncal ataxia to the baseline NIHSS. In receiver operating characteristic analysis adjusted for age, POST-NIHSS area under receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.80 (95% CI, 0.73–0.87) versus NIHSS area under receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.73 (95% CI, 0.64–0.83), P =0.03. In the validation cohort, POST-NIHSS area under receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.69–0.94) versus NIHSS area under receiver operating characteristic curve 0.73 (95% CI, 0.58–0.87), P =0.04. Conclusions: POST-NIHSS showed higher prognostic accuracy than NIHSS and may be useful to identify posterior circulation stroke patients with NIHSS <10 at higher risk of poor outcome.

Objective To provide precise estimates of the association between non-contrast CT (NCCT) markers, hematoma expansion (HE) and functional outcome in patients presenting with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods We searched PubMed for English-written observational studies or randomized controlled trials reporting data on NCCT markers of HE and outcome in spontaneous ICH including at least 50 subjects. The outcomes of interest were HE (hematoma growth >33%, >33% and/or >6 mL, >33% and/or >12.5 mL), poor functional outcome (modified Rankin Scale 3–6 or 4–6) at discharge or at 90 days, and mortality. We pooled data in random-effects models and extracted cumulative odds ratio (OR) for each NCCT marker. Results We included 25 eligible studies (n = 10,650). The following markers were associated with increased risk of HE and poor outcome respectively: black hole sign (OR = 3.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.42–9.64 and OR = 5.26, 95% CI = 1.75–15.76), swirl sign (OR = 3.33, 95% CI = 2.42–4.60 and OR = 3.70; 95% CI = 2.47–5.55), heterogeneous density (OR = 2.74; 95% CI = 1.71–4.39 and OR = 2.80; 95% CI = 1.78–4.39), blend sign (OR = 3.49; 95% CI = 2.20–5.55 and OR = 2.21; 95% CI 1.16–4.18), hypodensities (OR = 3.47; 95% CI = 2.18–5.50 and OR = 2.94; 95% CI = 2.28–3.78), irregular shape (OR = 2.01, 95% CI = 1.27–3.19 and OR = 3.43; 95% CI = 2.33–5.03) and island sign (OR = 7.87, 95% CI = 2.17–28.47 and OR = 6.05, 95% CI = 4.44–8.24). Conclusion Our results suggest that multiple NCCT ICH shape and density features, with different effect size, are important markers for HE and clinical outcome, and may provide useful information for future randomized controlled trials.

Background: Previous studies suggested that enlarged perivascular spaces are neuroimaging markers of cerebral small vessel disease. However, it is not clear whether enlarged perivascular spaces are associated with cognitive impairment. We aimed to determine the cross-sectional relationship between enlarged perivascular spaces and small vessel disease, and to investigate the relationship between enlarged perivascular spaces and subsequent cognitive impairment in patients with recent cerebral ischemic event. Methods: Anonymized data were accessed from the virtual international stroke trial archive. We rated number of lacunes, white matter hyperintensities, brain atrophy, and enlarged perivascular spaces with validated scales on magnetic resonance brain images after the index stroke. We defined cognitive impairment as a mini mental state examination score of ≤26, recorded at one year post stroke. We examined the associations between enlarged perivascular spaces and clinical and imaging markers of small vessel disease at presentation and clinical evidence of cognitive impairment at one year using linear and logistic regression models. Results: We analyzed data on 430 patients with mean (±SD) age 64.7 (±12.7) years, 276 (64%) males. In linear regression analysis, age (β = 0.24; p < 0.001), hypertension (β = 0.09; p = 0.025), and deep white matter hyperintensities (β = 0.31; p < 0.001) were associated with enlarged perivascular spaces. In logistic regression analysis, basal ganglia enlarged perivascular spaces were independently associated with cognitive impairment at one year after adjusting for clinical confounders (OR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.22–2.42) and for clinical and imaging confounders (OR = 1.54; 95% CI = 1.03–2.31). Conclusions: Our data show that in patients with ischemic cerebral events, enlarged perivascular spaces are cross-sectionally associated with age, hypertension, and white matter hyperintensities and suggest that enlarged perivascular spaces in the basal ganglia are associated with cognitive impairment after one year.

Introduction: Hemorrhagic transformation (HT) is a complication of reperfusion therapy for acute ischemic stroke. Blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption is a crucial step toward HT; however, in clinical studies, there is still uncertainty about this relation. Hence, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize the current evidence.Methods: We performed systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies from January 1990 to March 2020 about the relation between BBB disruption and HT in patients with acute ischemic stroke with both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) assessment of BBB. The outcome of interest was HT at follow-up imaging evaluation (within 48 h from symptom onset). We pooled data from available univariate odds ratios (ORs) in random-effects models with DerSimonian–Laird weights and extracted cumulative ORs.Results: We included 30 eligible studies (14 with CT and 16 with MR), N = 2,609 patients, with 88% and 70% of patients included in CT and MR studies treated with acute stroke therapy, respectively. The majority of studies were retrospective and had high or unclear risk of bias. BBB disruption was measured with consistent methodology in CT studies, whereas in MR studies, there was more variability. All CT studies provided a BBB disruption cutoff predictive of HT. Four CT and 10 MR studies were included in the quantitative analysis. We found that BBB disruption was associated with HT with both CT (OR = 3.42; 95%CI = 1.62–7.23) and MR (OR = 9.34; 95%CI = 3.16–27.59). There was a likely publication bias particularly for MR studies.Conclusion: Our results confirm that BBB disruption is associated with HT in both CT and MR studies. Compared with MR, CT has been more uniformly applied in the literature and has resulted in more consistent results. However, more efforts are needed for harmonization of protocols and methodology for implementation of BBB disruption as a neuroradiological marker in clinical practice.

Objective: In patients with acute ischemic stroke, we aimed to investigate the relation between preexisting small vessel disease (SVD) and the amount of blood–brain barrier (BBB) leakage in ischemic and nonischemic area before IV thrombolysis. Methods: We retrospectively accessed anonymous patient-level data from the Stroke Imaging Repository and the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive resources and included patients treated with IV thrombolysis with pretreatment MRI. We rated SVD features using validated qualitative magnetic resonance (MR) scales. Leakage of BBB was assessed with postprocessing of perfusion-weighted images. We evaluated associations between SVD features (individually and summed in a global SVD score) and BBB leakage using linear regression analysis, adjusting for major clinical confounders. Results: A total of 212 patients, mean age (±SD) 69.5 years (±16.1), 102 (48%) male, had available MR before IV thrombolysis. Evidence of BBB leakage was present in 175 (80%) and 205 (94%) patients in the ischemic and nonischemic area, respectively. Lacunar infarcts (β = 0.17, p = 0.042) were associated with BBB leakage in the ischemic area, and brain atrophy was associated with BBB leakage in both ischemic (β = 0.20, p = 0.026) and nonischemic (β = 0.27, p = 0.001) areas. Increasing SVD grade was independently associated with BBB leakage in both ischemic (β = 0.26, p = 0.007) and nonischemic (β = 0.27, p = 0.003) area. Conclusions: Global SVD burden is associated with increased BBB leakage in both acutely ischemic and nonischemic area. Our results support that SVD score has construct validity, and confirm a relation between SVD and BBB disruption also in patients with acute stroke.