Revalidation of the M-DIRECT scale in prehospital identification of acute stroke patients for endovascular treatment
摘要
The M-DIRECT scale was implemented for prehospital triage of acute stroke, such that patients with an M-DIRECT score ≥ 2 are transferred directly to an endovascular treatment (EVT)-ready center (EVT-C) instead of a nearer stroke unit (SU). Our aim is to evaluate the performance of M-DIRECT at five years post-implementation.
MethodsA prospective observational study of consecutive prehospital code stroke patients attended by regional emergency medical services during 2022 in an urban network of 6.75 million inhabitants. Basal characteristics, time metrics, presence of large or medium vessel occlusion (LVO/MeVO), and treatments were compared between EVT-C and non-EVT-ready SU groups according to the M-DIRECT score.
ResultsA total of 1950 patients were included. Of these, 992 (51%) were first attended at an EVT-C and 958 at a nearer SU (49%). Furthermore, 706 (36%) patients were M-DIRECT positive, of which 413 (58%) had an LVO/MeVO, and 354 (50%) underwent EVT. Of 1244 M-DIRECT negative patients, 204 (16%) had an LVO/MeVO and 105 (8%) underwent EVT. M-DIRECT showed 77% sensitivity, 76% specificity, and 77% diagnostic accuracy for EVT from prehospital triage, with an AUC (95% CI) of 0.768 (0.742–0.793). A positive M-DIRECT score was independently associated with EVT adjusted for age, sex, NIHSS, and unknown onset, with aOR (95% CI) 3.05 (1.65–5.68), and consistently across every arterial segment. Only 46 out of 459 (10%) EVT required a secondary transfer.
ConclusionsM-DIRECT scale accurately identifies EVT candidates prehospital, reduces secondary transfers, and independently predicts EVT likelihood across different vessel occlusions.