Expanding Access to Intravenous Tissue-type Plasminogen Activator Treatment with a Practice-based Telestroke System

• Published in: Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases 2013-11, Vol.22 (8), p.e546-e548
• Main Authors: Sanders, Keith A., MD, Figiel, Christine, BA, Kiely, James M., MD, PhD, Gwynn, Matthews W., MD, Johnston, Lisa H., MD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Medical Centers; Administration, Intravenous; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cardiovascular; Disability Evaluation; Emergency Medical Services; Female; Fibrinolytic Agents - administration & dosage; Health Services Accessibility; Hospital Mortality; Humans; Length of Stay; Male; Middle Aged; Neurology; Predictive Value of Tests; Remote Consultation; Severity of Illness Index; Stroke - diagnosis; Stroke - drug therapy; stroke mimic; Telemedicine; telestroke; thrombolysis; Thrombolytic Therapy; Time Factors; Time-to-Treatment; Tissue Plasminogen Activator - administration & dosage; Tissue-type plasminogen activator; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 1052-3057; 1532-8511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2013.06.013

Emergency stroke treatment would benefit from the increased use of thrombolysis via academic or practice-based telemedicine systems. However, a comparative analysis of these systems has not been undertaken. Data on stroke severity and outcomes after thrombolysis were gathered on patients treated by a practice-based system and compared to published data from academic systems. Patient demographics and outcome measures were not significantly different for patients treated by practice-based or academic providers with the exceptions of lower age and shorter duration of stay in the practice-based treatment group. This study shows that emergency stroke care provided by academic and practice-based telemedicine systems can achieve similar outcomes.