CRANIAL
COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY INTERPRETATION IN ACUTE STROKE: PHYSICIAN ACCURACY IN
DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR THROMBOLYTIC THERAPY.
Schriger
DL, et al. JAMA 1998 Apr 22-29;279(16):1293-7.
CONTEXT:
Intracranial hemorrhage must be excluded prior to administration of thrombolytic
agents in acute stroke.
OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate physician accuracy in cranial computed tomography scan
interpretation for determining eligibility for thrombolytic therapy in acute
stroke.
DESIGN:
Administration of randomly selected, randomly ordered series of 15 computed
tomography scans from a pool of 54 scans that demonstrated intracerebral
hemorrhage, acute infarction, intracerebral calcifications (impostor for
hemorrhage), old cerebral infarction (impostor for acute infarction), and
normal findings.
PARTICIPANTS:
A convenience sample of 38 emergency physicians, 29 neurologists, and 36
general radiologists.
MAIN
OUTCOME MEASURES: Physician determination of eligibility for thrombolytic
therapy based on computed tomography scan interpretation.
RESULTS:
Average correct score by all physicians on all computed tomography scans was
77% (95% confidence interval, 74%-80%). Of 569 computed tomography readings by
emergency physicians, 67% were correct; of 435 readings by neurologists, 83%
were correct; and of 540 readings by radiologists, 83% were correct. Overall
sensitivity for detecting hemorrhage was 82% (95% confidence interval,
78%-85%); 17% of emergency physicians, 40% of neurologists, and 52% of
radiologists achieved 100% sensitivity for identification of hemorrhage.
CONCLUSION:
Physicians in this study did not uniformly achieve a level of sensitivity for
identification of intracerebral hemorrhage sufficient to permit safe selection
of candidates for thrombolytic therapy.
COMMENT:
Another reason to seriously consider before initiating thrombolysis for
suspected CVA. For other papers regarding thrombolysis in CVA, see the Cleveland
experience, and this Hoffman
opinion paper.