Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of the classification of acute cerebral infarction based on the TOAST system.
Methods: 300 patients with ischemic stroke were recruited into this study. Ischemic stroke was classified into five subtypes according on clinical manifestations, MRI, MRA and DSA. The investigators classified all the patients into five etiologic subtypes. The data was analyzed by the statistics software of SPSS 11.5.
Results: The value of Kappa about the classification's reliability was 0.8, P = 0.028.
Conclusions: The reliability for the classification of acute cerebral was excellent. This value could be improved with the development of the diagnosis tools and the physicians' recognition.