The current analysis focused on 236 of the transferred patients with complete information on their location at the time of their stroke and subsequent time intervals during their transport and treatment, including 117 patients with ground transfer from their first hospital to the thrombectomy site, 114 with air transfer, and 5 with an unreported means of transport.
Dr. Mueller-Kronast and his associates calculated the time it would have taken each of the 117 ground transported patients to have gone directly to the closest thrombectomy center (adjusted by traffic conditions at the time of the stroke), and modeled the likely outcomes of these patients based on the data collected in the registry. This projected a 47% rate of mRS scores 0-1 (good outcomes) after 90 days, and a 60% rate of mRS 0-2 scores with a direct-to-thrombectomy strategy, compared with actual rates of 31% and 51%, respectively, among the patients who were transferred from their initial hospital.
Patient transfer before thrombectomy worsens stroke outcomes
“Bypass to an endovascular-capable center may be an option to improve rapid access to mechanical thrombectomy,” he concluded.
The STRATIS registry is sponsored by Medtronic. Dr. Mueller-Kronast has been a consultant to Medtronic.
SOURCE: Mueller-Kronast N et al. Abstract LB12.
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