Stroke-Unit and emergency medical service: a 48-month experience in northern Italy

• Published in: Neurological sciences 2013-03, Vol.34 (3), p.333-336
• Main Authors: Camerlingo, Massimo, Cesana, Bruno Mario, Tudose, Veaceslav, Simoncini, Giovanni, Valoti, Oliviero, Pozzi, Emilio, Zaninelli, Augusto, Ferrarese, Carlo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cerebral infarction; Data processing; Emergency Service, Hospital - statistics & numerical data; Female; Geriatrics; Humans; Ischemia; Italy - epidemiology; Logistic Models; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Neuroimaging; Neurology; Neuroradiology; Neurosciences; Neurosurgery; Original Article; Psychiatry; Retrospective Studies; Stroke; Stroke - diagnosis; Stroke - epidemiology; Stroke - nursing; Time Factors; Transportation of Patients
• ISSN: 1590-1874; 1590-3478
• DOI: 10.1007/s10072-012-1004-2

Since the therapeutic window for acute ischaemic stroke is very short, early arrival at emergency care rooms is mandatory. Emergency medical service (EMS), assuring fast patients transportations, plays a fundamental role in the management of stroke. We have prospectively analysed the utilisation of EMS in the management of stroke patients in a countryside area of northern Italy. Among patients presenting with an acute stroke during the period January 2007–December 2010, those with an ascertained time of onset and documented ongoing brain ischaemia at neuroimaging were included in the study. For all of those patients, the personal data, means of arrival, nature of stroke, whether first stroke or recurrence, severity of stroke and the in-hospital outcome were recorded. Of 1,188 patients hospitalised with a definite diagnosis of stroke, 757 patients were included in the study. Of those, 285 patients (37.6 %) were transported by EMS. EMS allowed earlier admissions (75 % within 3 h of stroke onset), but also transportation of patients of an older age (75 vs. 71 years, p