Cranial Ultrasound for Prehospital ICH Diagnosis

With the over-arching goal of achieving early diagnosis of Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) with cPOCUS, this study hypothesizes that (a) Emergency Medical System (EMS) personnel can competently perform cPOCUS in the field in a timely fashion in a large majority of stroke patients; (b) acquired POCUS images can be successfully and securely transmitted for a remote physician interpretation in a timely manner; and (c) cPOCUS will have a greater sensitivity and specificity than clinical scores as a screening tool for ICH identification in pre-hospital settings.

Inclusion criteria

• Any patient deemed to have a stroke like presentation or possibility of brain hemorrhage in the clinical judgement of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provider and a decision to transfer the patient to the nearest Emergency Department (ED) for further evaluation has been made will be eligible for the study
• 18 years old or older
• transfer initiated by EMS to the ED for further evaluation
• performing ultrasound will not interfere with the care or triage as part of routine care

Exclusion criteria

• less than 18 years old
• incarcerate patients
• penetrating cranial/head trauma or scalp wound
• any patient where performing ultrasound will interfere with the care
• patients who decide not to be transported to ED