The Benefit of a Triage System to Expedite Acute Stroke Head Computed Tomography Interpretations.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We developed and tested a triage system to accelerate the interpretation of stroke head computed tomographies (CTs), with the goal of optimizing the time available for acute stroke therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In our practice, acute stroke protocol head CTs have been given the highest reading priority. We implemented a technologically enabled prioritization infrastructure to consistently present these critical cases to our radiologists so they are evaluated before other examinations. In our 1-year retrospective multicenter study of 350,495 head CT examinations, we compared the reading time of stroke protocol head CTs to our next highest priority head CT. RESULTS: Our average acute stroke head CT reading turnaround time was 6.5 minutes. This represented a 17.3-minute improvement over the next highest priority head CT in our practice (confidence interval 17.2-17.4 minutes, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: A technologically enabled acute stroke protocol CT triage system consistently improves the reading times of critically time-dependent head CT examinations. As a result, this system has the potential to improve treatment times, treatment eligibility, and clinical outcomes.