Schlemm L, et al. - For identifying patients with suspected acute ischemic stroke and unknown vessel status (large vessel occlusion) that require direct transport to a comprehensive stroke center instead of a nearer primary stroke center, researchers assessed the best method; they also assessed how the attenuation of population-wide stroke-related disability is influenced by 10 increasingly complex prehospital triage strategy paradigms. For this purpose, they used mathematical modeling. They found a link between variable stroke severity cutoff scores and the highest attenuation in stroke-associated disability. In most geographies, a better clinical outcome was achieved with the mothership strategy vs the drip-‘n'-ship strategy. In some rural (but not in urban) geographies, an additional clinical benefit of up to 12 disability-adjusted life years was achieved in relation to transportation of patients with clinically suspected large vessel occlusion based on a dichotomous large vessel occlusion detection scale to the nearest comprehensive stroke center.