Abstract
Easy-to-perform and valid assessment scales for the effect of thrombolysis are essential
in hyperacute stroke settings. Because of this we performed an external validation
of the DRAGON scale proposed by Strbian et al. in a Danish cohort. All patients treated
with intravenous recombinant plasminogen activator between 2009 and 2011 were included.
Upon admission all patients underwent physical and neurological examination using
the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale along with non-contrast CT scans and
CT angiography. Patients were followed up through the Outpatient Clinic and their
modified Rankin Scale (mRS) was assessed after 3 months. Three hundred and three patients were included in the analysis. The DRAGON
scale proved to have a good discriminative ability for predicting highly unfavourable
outcome (mRS 5–6) (area under the curve-receiver operating characteristic [AUC-ROC]:
0.89; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.81–0.96; p < 0.001) and good outcome (mRS 0–2) (AUC-ROC: 0.79; 95% CI 0.73–0.85; p < 0.001). When only patients with M1 occlusions were selected the DRAGON scale provided
good discriminative capability (AUC-ROC: 0.89; 95% CI 0.78–1.0; p = 0.003) for highly unfavourable outcome. We confirmed the validity of the DRAGON scale
in predicting outcome after thrombolysis treatment.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of Clinical NeuroscienceAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Predicting outcome of IV thrombolysis-treated ischemic stroke patients: the DRAGON score.Neurology. 2012; 78: 427-432
- National institutes of health stroke scale score is poorly predictive of proximal occlusion in acute cerebral ischemia.Stroke. 2009; 40: 2988-2993
Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
April 13,
2013
Received:
January 14,
2013
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
