Tuesday, December 02, 2014

Better speed to stroke treatment

More evidence that mobile stroke treatment can result in better outcomes. Just read about a recent study indicating that a mobile unit speeds access to tPA:
Nearly one-third of (32.6%) ischemic stroke patients who were transported in the special ambulance received thrombolysis, compared with 22% of patients who received conventional care ..., reported researcher Martin Ebinger, MD, of the Charite-Universitatsmedizin in Berlin, and colleagues.
Hospital transport ... increased the number of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) treatments within the critical window of 1 hour (the "golden hour") from symptom onset almost 10-fold, they wrote online in JAMA Neurology.
Golden-hour thrombolysis was associated with better short-term outcomes in the study population, they added.
Read the whole article for details for a way to improve the application of this treatment and improved versions in the future.

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