Development and validation of a novel scoring system for acute ischemic stroke

This study aimed to assess the clinical application of the Artery Occlusion Image Score (AOIS), a new metric based on computed tomographic angiography (CTA) that reflects the severity of occlusive changes in the main intracranial arteries.

Patients diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) were divided into three groups: anterior circulation infarcts (ACI group), posterior circulation infarcts (PCI group), and both anterior and posterior circulation infarcts (ACI + PCI group). The sensitivity and specificity of AOIS were evaluated using the Basilar Artery on Computed Tomography Angiography (BATMAN) score, the Clot Burden Score (CBS), and the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) as comparators through receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

The final analysis included 439 consecutive patients. In the ACI group, AOIS demonstrated high sensitivity (86.3%) and specificity (85.0%) and outperformed CBS in predicting patient prognosis. In the PCI group, AOIS also showed high sensitivity (88.9%) and specificity (90.0%) and outperformed BATMAN in predicting patient prognosis. In the ACI + PCI group, AOIS positively correlated with the NIHSS score (Spearman’s ρ = 0.602, P < .001). Additionally, the scoring time of AOIS did not significantly differ from CBS and BATMAN.

AOIS is a convenient and reliable method for guiding treatment and predicting outcomes in patients with ACI or/and PCI. Furthermore, AOIS is the first CTA-based scoring system that covers both the anterior and posterior circulation, providing a convenient and reliable evaluation for patients with concurrent acute ischemic stroke in both circulations.