Elevated blood urea nitrogen/creatinine ratio is associated with poor outcome in patients with ischemic stroke.

Objective: Dehydration may impair cerebral oxygen delivery and worsen clinical outcome in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We evaluated if elevated blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio (BUN/Cr) as a marker of dehydration was associated with poor clinical outcome in emergency department (ED) patients presenting with AIS.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study using a stroke registry enrolling all ED patients with AIS from 10/2007 through 6/2009.

A novel emergency department dysphagia screen for patients presenting with acute stroke.

Objectives: Dysphagia is a common complication for emergency department (ED) patients presenting with acute stroke (AS). Recent stroke recommendations have suggested that EDs screen patients with AS for dysphagia prior to administering anything by mouth. This study sought to develop and test a novel ED dysphagia screen to be used in this population.

Variables associated with discordance between emergency physician and neurologist diagnoses of transient ischemic attacks in the emergency department.

Study Objective: Transient ischemic attack is a common clinical diagnosis in emergency department (ED) patients with acute neurologic complaints. Accurate diagnosis of transient ischemic attack is essential to help guide evaluation and avoid treatment delays. We seek to determine the prevalence of discordant diagnosis for patients receiving an ED diagnosis of transient ischemic attack compared with neurologist final diagnosis.