“Systemic issues in the stroke transfer system
In the study of over 20,000 patients with acute ischemic stroke, researchers found that just 26% of transfers occurred within 90 minutes, the maximum time recommended by the American Heart Association.
The likelihood of a patient receiving endovascular therapy declined steeply as transfer time delays grew. Patients with transfer times between 91 minutes and three hours had 29% less chance of receiving a thrombectomy. That number climbed to 65% when the DIDO time was longer than 4.5 hours.
“We have made tremendous progress in getting people timely acute stroke treatment after they arrive at the emergency department, which we call door-to-needle time, but the next frontier of acute stroke systems of care is improving inter-hospital transfer times for patients eligible for endovascular thrombectomy,” Prabhakaran said.
“Every minute that passes before treatment increases the risk of losing neurologic functioning, and our results highlight missed opportunities for many stroke patients who are not initially seen at thrombectomy-capable centers.”
Delayed stroke care linked to increased disability risk | EurekAlert!