Time to up the game for stroke treatment

Photo by Chris Violette via Flickr

During the last couple of decades, we've seen some upgrade in care for stroke patients.

But this can't stop. Treatment could be so much better.

Check out the story on how experts call for care upgrade:

Patients suspected of having a stroke should be transported to an accredited comprehensive stroke center (CSC) when it is reasonable to do so, they wrote. When a CSC is too far away, patients should be taken to the nearest primary stroke center (PSC) that is linked to a CSC by telemedicine. They also called for the expansion of telemedicine networks linking smaller, non-PSC hospitals in very rural communities to accredited stroke centers.

"The qualifications for these PSCs and CSCs should be upgraded so that imaging technology and the availability of neurologists to see patients 24/7 should be requisites," the editorialists wrote. "Systems for rapid imaging and throughput should be in place at these centers."