Emergency Medical Minute

Episode 983: Head-of-Bed Position in Large Vessel Occlusion Strokes

Published: November 18, 2025

Duration: 2:20

Contributor: Aaron Lessen MD

Educational Pearls: 

Recent prospective randomized clinical trial assessed optimal head-of-bed positioning in patients with LVO 0º vs. 30º elevation Objective was to determine superiority of the two angles in stability prior to thrombectomy for LVO patients 45 patients randomized to the group with 0° head positioning and 47 patients randomized to the group with 30° head positioning Patients in the 30º group experienced worsening of NIHSS by 2 points or more Patients with head position at 0° showed score stability Hazard ratio 34.40; 95% CI, 4.65-254.37; P