Mobile Stroke Units and Outcomes: Driving to Success?

New evidence of a benefit from the earlier treatment afforded by MSUs.

In the past decade, several cities have offered acute stroke treatment with mobile stroke units (MSUs), in which an ambulance is equipped with a computed tomography (CT) scanning machine for rapid brain imaging and typically has a nurse onboard and remote physician supervision. The MSU model provides an opportunity for early stroke treatment, but limited data are available thus far on whether MSUs improve patient outcomes. In this randomized study, patients were treated with either an MSU or conventional emergency medical system (EMS) transport to the hospital on alternate weeks. Patients were provided tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) if they met standard clinical criteria and could be treated within 4.5 hours of stroke onset. The primary…

Reviewing Author

Seemant Chaturvedi, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBayer Pharmaceuticals; Novartis

Grant/Research SupportNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Editorial BoardsNeurology; Stroke

Seemant Chaturvedi, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBayer Pharmaceuticals; Novartis

Grant/Research SupportNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Editorial BoardsNeurology; Stroke

Mobile Stroke Units and Outcomes: Driving to Success?

Topics

Reviewing Author