Neurologists Sometimes Disagree with Emergency Physicians' Diagnoses of TIA

Patients who present with symptoms consistent with transient ischemic attack (TIA) require emergent evaluation, including imaging and specialty consultation, to confirm the diagnosis and initiate management. In a retrospective review of 429 adult patients who received emergency department (ED) diagnoses of TIA at a single academic center during a 4-year period, the authors evaluated how often neurologists disagreed with emergency physicians' diagnoses and whether ABCD² score ≥4 or atypical presenting features (headache, tingling, involuntary movement, seeing flashing lights or wavy lines, dizziness, confusion, incontinence) were associated with discordant diagnoses. The neurologists' diagnosis was the gold standard.

Overall, 156 patients (36…