Document Type : Short Communication
Authors
1 Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
2 Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
3 Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
Abstract
Background: According to the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) guidelines, in acute stroke, the door-to-computed tomography (CT) scan (DTC) time should be less than 25 minutes, and time to injection of recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (r-tPA) [door-to-needle (DTN) time] should be less than 60 minutes.
Methods: We had a tendency to prospectively collect the clinical and time information of patients who received r-tPA during one year after the initiation of prehospital notification (PN). Patients were divided into three groups, covering patients transferred by Emergency Medical Service (EMS) with and without PN, and non-EMS. We then contrasted the impact of EMS with PN and EMS use on onset-to-needle time (ONT), and the neurological outcome. Good outcome was determined as Modified Rankin Scale (MRS) ≤ 2 at 3-month follow-up.
Results: Among 102 studied patients, 64% were transferred by EMS, of whom 53.9% entered PN. Compared with non-PN groups, EMS with PN group showed significantly shorter DTN and DTC time, as well as ONT.
Conclusion: Our study showed that EMS with PN, rather than EMS, significantly improved stroke outcome by shortening of ONT.
Keywords
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