Relationship of Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) with the outcome of ischemic stroke and the neurocognitive stroke biomarkers

Background Reliable and acceptable biomarkers are needed to anticipate the outcome and cognitive impairment following ischemic stroke. The goal of this research is to examine the association of ASPECTS with cognitive decline, biomarkers of stroke, and acute ischemic stroke outcomes. This study included 120 patients with ischemic stroke in the middle cerebral artery region. The initial NIHSS, non-contrast CT brain assessed by ASPECTS, and the biomarkers of cognitive decline such as ESR, CRP, S100B, MMP9, and glutamate were investigated. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment and modified Rankin scale (mRS) were evaluated after 3 months. Correlations between ASPECTS, MoCA, biomarkers of cognitive impairment, and mRS were done by Spearman correlation. Results The incidence of cognitive impairment in our patients was 25.8%. Stroke biomarkers (ESR, CRP, S100B, MMP9, and glutamate) were significantly increased in cognitively disabled individuals with significantly lower mean MoCA scores than in cognitively intact patients. There was a strong direct correlation linking the initial ASPECTS and total MoCA test score after 3 months follow-up. Cases with unfavorable outcomes were older, more incidence of hypertension, and had higher average initial NIHSS (P < 0.05). While the average ASPECTS scores for the favorable outcome group of patients were significantly higher and there was a significant negative correlation between the initial ASPECTS and modified Rankin Scale score. Conclusions ASPECTS is a reliable scale to identify the extent of acute ischemic injury and could participate in assessing the outcome. ASPECTS and particular neurocognitive stroke biomarkers will enable the early detection of post-stroke cognitive impairment. Trial registration Registration of Clinical Trial Research: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04235920