The second published report on a dedicated stroke ambulance shows that prehospital imaging and thrombolysis are feasible in the right healthcare setting.
Few patients receive intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) within the optimal period of 90 minutes after stroke. Most efforts to speed treatment have focused on events after hospital arrival, but German investigators recently showed that TPA may be administered safely in the field by a mobile stroke unit. Now, another German group has reported its experience with prehospital thrombolysis.
In 2011, investigators at Berlin's emergency medical services system piloted the stroke emergency mobile unit (STEMO). An ambulance with portable computed tomography (CT) capability, a point-of-care laboratory, and telemedicine equipment was staffed by a physician certified in neurology and emergency medicine, a paramedic, and a radiology technicia…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresSpeaker’s bureauGenentech
Grant / Research supportNational Institutes of Health/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; Michael Goldberg Stroke Research Fund
Editorial boardsPLOS One; Scientific Reports
Leadership positions in professional societiesNeurocritical Care Society (Research Committee Member)
DisclosuresSpeaker’s bureauGenentech
Grant / Research supportNational Institutes of Health/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; Michael Goldberg Stroke Research Fund
Editorial boardsPLOS One; Scientific Reports
Leadership positions in professional societiesNeurocritical Care Society (Research Committee Member)