Tilt-Corrected Region Boundaries May Enhance the Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score for Less Experienced Raters

Background: The Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score (ASPECTS) is widely used to quantify early ischemic changes in the anterior circulation but has limited inter-rater reliability. Aims: We investigated whether application of 3-dimensional boundaries outlining the ASPECTS regions improves inter-rater reliability and accuracy. Methods: We included all patients from our DEFUSE 2 database who had a pretreatment noncontrast computed tomography scan (NCCT) of acceptable quality. Six raters (2 neuroradiologists, 2 vascular neurologists, and 2 neurology residents) scored ASPECTS of each NCCT without ( “CT-native”) and with the superimposed boundary template (“CT-template”).

Source: Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases - April 15, 2020 Category: Neurology Authors: Collin J. Culbertson, S øren Christensen, Michael Mlynash, Jeremy J. Heit, Christian Federau, Christina Mijalski Sells, Catherine Legault, Addason F.H. McCaslin, Katherine Werbaneth, Gregory W. Albers, Maarten G. Lansberg Source Type: research