Use of Wearable Technology in Remote Evaluation of Acute Stroke Patients: Feasibility and Reliability of a Google Glass-Based Device.

BACKGROUND: Telestroke is an efficient, cost-effective way to standardize care and improve access to immediate neurologic expertise for rural hospitals and other underserved areas. Hands-free wearable technology potentially allows for faster evaluations that fit easily within prehospital workflows and could improve prehospital triage of stroke patients to appropriate receiving stroke centers. The goal of this study is to assess the feasibility and inter-rater reliability of wearable eyeglass video technology in assessing stroke-related neurologic deficits in patients with suspected acute stroke. METHODS: Consecutive patients with suspected stroke were evaluated concurrently by an on-site neurologist using wearable eyeglass video technology and a remotely located neurologist viewing the patient through an online platform. Inter-rater reliability in assigning National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores was evaluated using inter-rater correlation coefficient (ICC) and weighted kappa scores. RESULTS: Among 17 enrolled patients, mean age was 58 (SD ± 20) and 29% were female. There was a high degree of correlation in total NIHSS score (ICC .99 and weighted kappa .88) and across all NIHSS subitems (ICC .81-1 and weighted kappa .68-1) between the examiner evaluating remotely via wearable eyeglass video technology with access to the patient and the in-person examiner. The maximum difference between the 2 NIHSS scores was 3. CONCLUSIONS: The use of wearable eyeglass video technology in telestroke is feasible and reliable. Use of this technology in the prehospital setting has the potential to improve early assessment of patients with acute stroke symptoms and to facilitate transfer to appropriate stroke centers in the regional systems of care.

Non-invasive prediction of portal pressures using CT and MRI in chronic liver disease.

PURPOSE: To assess the diagnostic value of a fast scoring system based on non-invasive cross-sectional imaging to predict portal hypertension (PH) in patients with liver disease. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we included patients who underwent contrast-enhanced CT or MRI within 3 months of hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) measurements. Two independent observers provided an imaging-based scoring system (max of 9): number of variceal sites, volume of ascites, and spleen size. ROC analysis was performed to predict the presence of PH (HVPG ≥ 5 mmHg) and clinically significant PH (HVPG ≥ 10 mmHg). RESULTS: Our cohort consists of 143 patients with mean HVPG of 13.1 ± 2.0 mmHg. Mean PH scores from the two observers were 3.9 ± 2.7 and 3.2 ± 2.5. There was a significant correlation between PH score and HVPG (r = 0.58, p < 0.001 for both observers) with high inter-observer agreement (kappa 0.71). AUCs of 0.78-0.76 and 0.83-0.81 were observed for diagnosing HVPG ≥ 5 mmHg and HVPG ≥ 10 mmHg, respectively, for observers 1 and 2. CONCLUSIONS: We have developed a fast PH imaging-based composite score, which could be used for non-invasive detection of clinically significant PH.