The Los Angeles Prehospital Stroke Screen (abbreviated LAPSS) is a method of identifying potential

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

patients in a pre-hospital setting.

Screening criteria

* No history of seizures or epilepsy *Age 45 years or older *At baseline, patient is not bedridden and does not use a wheelchair *Blood glucose between 60 and 400 mg/dL *Obvious asymmetry-unilateral weakness with any of the following motor exams: *#Facial Smile/Grimace *#Grip *#Arm Strength If all of the above criteria are met (or not ascertainable) the LAPSS is positive for stroke. Patients may still be experiencing a stroke even if LAPSS criteria are not met.

Validity

A January 2000 study, conducted by 3 teams of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

-based

paramedic A paramedic is a healthcare professional trained in the medical model, whose main role has historically been to respond to emergency calls for medical help outside of a hospital. Paramedics work as part of the emergency medical services (EMS), ...

units resulted in "sensitivity of 91% (95% CI, 76% to 98%), specificity of 97% (95% CI, 93% to 99%), positive predictive value of 86% (95% CI, 70% to 95%), and negative predictive value of 98% (95% CI, 95% to 99%). With correction for the 4 documentation errors, positive predictive value increased to 97% (95% CI, 84% to 99%)." In a Chinese study,

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

paramedics using the protocol, completed LAPSS screenings in an average of 4.3±3.0 minutes (median, 5 minutes). The study resulted in a sensitivity of 78.44% and a specificity of 90.22%.

References

{{reflist Stroke Medical assessment and evaluation instruments Emergency medical services in the United States

Screening criteria

Validity

See also

References