Neurológia pre prax 3/2020

Prehospital triage of acute stroke patients

Ischemic stroke is one of the leading causes of mortality or morbidity in the world. Early therapeutic intervention is important for final clinical outcome and that can be obtained by quick and correct prehospital triage, which is managed by paramedics. The patient with a stroke must by quickly diagnosed and transported to the nearest stroke center, or when a large vessel occlusion is suspected to the comprehensive stroke center to a possible thrombectomy. This decision can be made with different prehospital triage tests. „FAST PLUS” test was introduced in Moravian-Silesian region in year 2016 and it is focused on presence of a severe hemiparesis. The test predicts large vessel occlusion with 92 % sensitivity and 44 % specificity. More studies are needed to improve the specificity of prehospital tests without increasing their difficulty.

Keywords: ischemic stroke, triage, prehospital tests, paramedic, thrombectomy