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Stroke Centers May Offer Best Shot at Recovery

THURSDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Stroke patients taken directly to a designated stroke center are much more likely to receive the clot-busting drug tPA than those taken to the nearest hospital, says a new study.

If given within the first few hours after a stroke, tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) can reduce stroke-related disability.

The study grew out of a citywide program in Toronto that trains paramedics to screen for stroke and to take stroke patients to one of three regional stroke centers. The researchers examined the impact of the protocol at one of the stroke centers -- Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre -- in the first four months of the program and compared it with the same four-month period the previous year.

After implementation of the program, the percentage of stroke patients arriving at Sunnybrook less than two and a half hours after a stroke increased from 30 percent to 49 percent, with a four-fold increase in the number of people treated with tPA.

The study also found that the protocol led to significantly faster tPA treatment times and that the average hospital stay for stroke patients was reduced from five days to four.

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Alison Beaver

Stroke Guide