With the advent of time-dependent
thrombolytic therapy for
ischemic stroke, it has become increasingly important to differentiate
transient ischemic attack (TIA) from minor
stroke patients after symptom onset quickly. This study investigated the difference between TIA and minor
stroke based on age, blood pressure, clinical features, duration of TIA, presence of diabetes, ABCD² score, digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and blood
lipids. One hundred seventy-one patients with clinical manifestations as transient neurological deficits in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital were studied retrospectively. All patients were evaluated by ABCD² score, blood
lipid test,
fibrinogen, and Holter electrocardiograph and DSA on admission. Patients were categorized into TIA group or minor
stroke group according to CT and MRI scan 24 h within symptom onset. The study suggested that minor
stroke patients were more likely to have a higher ABCD² score (odds ratio (OR) 2.060; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.293-3.264). Receiver-operating characteristic curves identified ABCD² score >4 as the optimal cut-off for minor
stroke diagnosis. Total serum
cholesterol seemed a better diagnostic
indicator to discriminate minor
stroke from TIA (OR 4.815; 95% CI 0.946-1.654) than other blood
lipids in simple logistic regression, but not valuable for the differentiation between TIA and minor
stroke in multivariate logistic regression. Higher severity of intracranial internal
carotid stenosis, especially >90%, were more likely to have minor
stroke, but was not a reliable diagnostic
indicator (P > 0.05). ABCD² could help clinicians to differentiate possible TIA from minor
stroke at hospital admission while blood
lipid parameters and artery
stenosis location offer limited help.