Acute Care/Hospitalization

Large vessel occlusion after a mini stroke predicts functional decline

Sometimes called a "mini stroke," a transient ischemic attack (TIA) can be a sign of an imminent stroke within 3 months following its occurrence. A blockage in the brain's large artery, known as an intracranial large vessel occlusion (LVO), is responsible for a large number of strokes. A recent study that explored the frequency of intracranial LVO in patients with TIAs found that 13 percent of patients with TIA had an intracranial LVO and attendant declines in functional status.

Those participating in this study were patients suspected of acute stroke or TIA who arrived at two urban academic medical centers within 24 hours of symptom onset. All patients underwent CT imaging and angiograms to determine if they had a stroke or a TIA. A total of 97 patients were diagnosed with a TIA. Of these, 13 had symptomatic intracranial LVO. This LVO was an independent predictor of decline in functional status. The LVO was also a significant predictor of poor outcome, even after adjusting for age and gender. The study was supported in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (HS11392).

See "Intracranial large vessel occlusion as a predictor of decline in functional status after transient ischemic attack," by Sharon N. Poisson, M.D., Mai N. Nguyen-Huynh, M.D., M.A.S., S. Claiborne Johnston, M.D., Ph.D., and others in Stroke 42, pp. 44-47, 2011.

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