Abstract 117: Relationship Between Presence of Visceral Infarction and Functional Outcome Among Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke

Abstract

Background: Evidence of visceral infarction is often found in patients with acute ischemic stroke, and appears to be more common among patients with embolic stroke subtypes. It remains uncertain whether there exists a relationship between visceral infarction and functional outcomes among patients with stroke. Methods: Among patients with acute ischemic stroke enrolled in the Cornell AcutE Stroke Academic Registry (CAESAR) from 2011 through 2016, we included those with a contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomographic scan within 1 year of admission. Our outcome was ambulatory status at discharge from the acute stroke hospitalization, defined as walking without assistance, walking with assistance, and unable to walk. We used ordinal logistic regression to examine the association between visceral infarction and discharge ambulatory status after adjustment for demographics, stroke risk factors, stroke severity (NIH Stroke Scale score) and stroke subtype. Results: Among 2,116 ischemic stroke patients registered in CAESAR from 2011-2016, 228 had contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic computed tomographic imaging, of whom 40 (18%) had evidence of visceral infarction. Among the 188 patients without visceral infarction, 125 (66%) patients were discharged walking without assistance, 34 (18%) patients could walk with assistance, and 29 (15%) patients could not walk. In comparison, among the 40 patients with visceral infarction, 18 (45%) patients were discharged walking without assistance, 9 (23%) patients could walk with assistance, and 13 (33%) patients could not walk. After adjustment for demographics, stroke risk factors, stroke severity and stroke subtype, the presence of visceral infarction was associated with a worse ambulatory status (global OR for better ambulatory status, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1-0.8). Conclusions: We found that the presence of visceral infarction, which is often incidentally detected on imaging among stroke patients, was associated with poor functional outcomes at the time of hospital discharge. These findings suggest that such incidental findings are not benign and are at the least a marker of poor outcomes.