Impact of code stroke on thrombolytic therapy in patients with acute ischemic stroke at a secondary referral hospital in Taiwan.

Background: Efficacy of thrombolytic therapy decreases with time elapsed from symptom onset. We sought to identify the impact of code stroke on the thrombolytic therapy.

Methods: Code stroke is activated by the emergency physician when a patient is eligible for thrombolytic therapy. We retrospectively reviewed patients with acute ischemic stroke between January 2011 and December 2014.

Results: In total, 1809 patients were enrolled. Code stroke was activated in 233 of 351 patients arriving at the emergency room (ER) within 3 h of symptom onset, and in 21 patients arriving >3 h. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of code stroke were 76%, 46%, 72%, and 51%, respectively. Thrombolytic therapy was provided to 58 patients, accounting for 3.4% of all cerebral infarcts. Code stroke was activated in 40 of these patients. The most common reasons for excluding thrombolytic therapy were: National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) < 6, intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), and age >80 years. Mean liaison-to-neurological evaluation time was only 6 min. Code stroke activation significantly reduced all the intervals, except for the onset-to-ER and door-to-order times. During the 4-year study period, there were significant reductions of the door-to-neurology liaison time by 28 min and door-to-laboratory time by 22 min. The proportion of door-to-needle time within 60 min improved from 33% in 2011 to 67% in 2014. Improved NIHSS scores during hospitalization were most prominent in tPA-treated patients. Symptomatic ICH occurred in 3.6% patients arriving within 3 h. Death occurred in 50% of patients received tPA treatment on family's request, and only 13% of those patients had favorable outcome.

Conclusion: Code stroke is effective in reducing in-hospital delays. The accuracy of code stroke activation has acceptable sensitivity but low specificity. Rapid patient assessment by neurologists increases the number of patients eligible for thrombolytic therapy.