title: Was it infarction or haemorrhage? A clinical diagnosis by means of the Allen score.
abstract: Since the clinical distinction between haemorrhagic and ischaemic stroke cannot be achieved with a simple clinical evaluation, and it is virtually impossible to submit all stroke patients to CT, a weighted clinical score may offer some advantages to physicians who are involved in stroke management. The Allen score (also referred to as the Guy's Hospital score), a validated clinical score, has been tested in two different clinical settings, comprising 289 patients. When only the values under 4 and those over 24 are taken into account (i.e. greater than 90% probability of ischaemia and haemorrhage), the global accuracy of the score is 97%, and the diagnostic gain (given a pretest probability for haemorrhage of 11% and a likelihood ratio of 194) is 85%. Therefore, we conclude that this simple clinical method can be used for epidemiological studies of stroke incidence and outcome, as well as for a first bedside screening to decide which patients should have priority for CT.
authors.affiliation: Clinica Neurologica, Perugia University Hospital, Italy.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Celani
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Ceravolo
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Duca
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Minciotti
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Caputo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Orlandini
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Provinciali
mesh_terms: D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed