Correlation between symptomatic, radiological and etiological diagnosis in acute ischemic stroke

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to correlate with the symptomatic, radiological and etiological diagnosis in acute ischemic stroke. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Two hundred and fifty patients with first-ever ischemic stroke within 24 h of onset were prospectively studied with 3-step diagnoses: 1) symptomatic diagnosis based on the Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project criteria (OCSP), 2) radiological diagnosis (CT or MRI) and 3) etiological diagnosis based on the Lausanne Stroke Registry criteria. RESULTS: Most of the patients with symptoms of total anterior circulation infarcts (TACI), partial anterior circulation infarcts (PACI) and posterior circulation infarcts (POCI) had corresponding lesions on CT or MRI, while only 68% of lacunar infarcts (LACI) patients had small subcortical infarction (SSI). More than 60% of patients with TACI were classified into cardioembolism in the third diagnosis, while the etiology of PACI was either CE or large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA) in equal numbers. Only 58% of LACI patients were classified into small-artery disease (SAD) and 29% of them (30 cases) into LAA, of which 23 patients had lesions other than SSI. The positive predictive value of SAD in the combination of LACI and SSI was 0.78. The etiology of POCI was variable. CONCLUSION: Except for LACI, the symptomatic classification by OCSP corresponds well to the radiological diagnosis. The etiological diagnosis can be predicted by OCSP in TACI and PACI, but it is hard in POCI, and a number of LACI are due to LAA.