To evaluate the impact of early presentation, NIHSS and GCS scores on the functional outcome of patients with acute basilar artery occlusion (aBAO).

This is a descriptive, retrospective single-center database correlating time and severity at presentation on functional outcome in aBAO patients. We reviewed patients presenting with aBAO or with symptomatic high grade stenosis in basilar artery at University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) between January 1, 2007 and June 31, 2017. Data was extracted from UNMH Cerner database and collected on secured Redcap™. Patients with missing data were excluded. All included patients were dichotomized into two groups based on 1-3 months post-stroke modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Patients with mRS 0-2 were grouped as good outcome and patients with mRS 3-6 as poor outcome.

Sixty six patients were identified with aBAO and 35 patients were included for final analysis. Eight patients (22.9%) had good outcome (mRS 0-2) and 27 (77.1%) had poor outcome (mRS 3-6). Of patients presenting within first eight hours, 50% and 59.2% had good outcome and bad outcomes, respectively. The NIHSS scores on presentation were as follows: with NIHSS 0, 37.5% in good outcome and 0% in poor outcome; NIHSS 1-4, 37.5% and 18.5%; NIHSS 5-15, 25% and 29.6%; NIHSS 15-20, 0%, respectively; NIHSS 21-42, 7.2% and 51.9% respectively. All patients in good outcome group presented with GCS 12-15 while in poor outcome group, 44.4% presented with GCS 12-15, 7.4% with GCS 8-12 and 48.2% with GCS 3-8.