Prediction of Stroke-associated Pneumonia

Stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) constitutes a clinically relevant complication of stroke, because it increases the mortality and has a negative impact on the neurological prognosis of the patient. An early identification of patients at risk for SAP allowing an early initiation of antiinfective therapy may improve the prognosis. To date, no reliable prediction models or clinical scores for stroke-associated pneumonia exist. Recently, it was shown that parameters indicating an impaired immune function are associated with the subsequent occurrence of SAP and could therefore be used as predictors for SAP. This study will develop and prospectively validate a prognostic score to predict SAP based on clinical parameters. Furthermore, the study examines the prognostic properties of selected immune and infectious parameters for the prediction and diagnosis of SAP. The study will further address the question whether these infectious and immune parameters predict the 3-month-outcome. In a subgroup of patients, MRI parameters on stroke size and localization will be assessed to investigate whether these parameters might allow prediction of SAP or the 3-month-outcome.