In a retrospective study of consecutive patients with RCVS (n = 30) or non-RCVS arteriopathy (n = 80), recurrent or single thunderclap headache, vasoconstrictive trigger, female sex, and convexity subarachnoid hemorrhage were predictors of RCVS; intracranial carotid artery involvement (ie, segmental narrowing) was a negative predictor. In the derivation cohort, RCVS2 scores ≥5 had a high specificity and sensitivity (99 and 90%, respectively) for diagnosing RCVS, while scores ≤2 had a high specificity and sensitivity (100 and 85%) for excluding RCVS; intermediate scores of 3 to 4 had a lower specificity and sensitivity (86 and 10%) for diagnosing RCVS. Performance was similar in the validation cohort.
From: Rocha EA, Topcuoglu MA, Silva GS, Singhal AB. RCVS
2 score and diagnostic approach for reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome. Neurology 2019; 92:e639. DOI:
10.1212/WNL.0000000000006917. Copyright © 2019 American Academy of Neurology. Reproduced with permission from Wolters Kluwer Health. Unauthorized reproduction of this material is prohibited.
