By EMS1 Staff
HOUSTON — UTHealth researchers published a recent study that revealed stroke patients that are transported via a mobile stroke unit receive a clot-busting procedure 10 minutes faster than when they are transported via an ambulance.
Researchers published the study in Stroke, according to UTHealth. The study was conducted from 2014 to 2018 and looked at data from 161 patients who received an intra-arterial thrombectomy after suffering a stroke.
The data is part of an ongoing BEST-MSU study that is investigating the benefits of using a mobile stroke unit compared to standard EMS services.
The McGovern Medical School at UTHealth began using a mobile stroke unit in 2014. An interdisciplinary team used the mobile stroke unit to quickly assess the patient’s needs ahead of arriving at the hospital, providing data for the study.
“The quicker we get stroke victims treatment that will restore blood flow, the more brain tissue we can save,” Alexandra Czap, MD, said. “This study shows that mobile stroke units like ours can be effective in streamlining time to treatment, potentially saving neurological function, and ultimately improving quality of life in stroke patients.”
In the study, researchers also demonstrated improvement in endovascular thrombectomy metrics for all patients whether they arrived by a mobile stroke unit or regular ambulance.
“This is a hallmark paper because it shows that pre-hospital evaluation and management on a mobile stroke unit can significantly reduce time to endovascular treatment for patients with large artery clots,” Amanda L. Jagolino-Cole, MD, said.