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Preferential transport to specialized centers has been found to be beneficial for trauma and myocardial infarction; it is now becoming increasingly common for stroke. Chicago initiated a citywide policy of preferential transport of stroke patients to primary stroke centers in March, 2011. Researchers reviewed a database from 10 of Chicago's 17 primary stroke centers, to determine how care differed before and after the policy change. Nonstroke centers were not included.
The odds of a stroke patient receiving tissue plasminogen activator after presenting to the emergency department were 2.2 times higher in the 6 months after the policy change than in the 6 months before, in an analysis that controlled for confounding by mode of arrival, prehos…