New research published in the journal [b]Stroke[/b], from the [b]American Heart Association[/b], found that reducing treatment delays by just a few minutes could lead to big gains. [s]The Daily Telegraph[/s] reports that health experts have found that for every minute that treatment is more quickly delivered, patients benefit from another 1.8 days of disability-free life. Clot-busting drug ‘alteplase’ is given to patients suffering an ischaemic stroke – caused by a blockage in artery – when they reach hospital but there are significant differences in how quickly it is administered. Researchers said that across the entire sample of more than 2,200 people ‘each 15 minute decrease in treatment delay provided an average equivalent of one month of additional disability-free life.’
[link url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10696347/Stroke-survivors-lose-a-month-of-healthy-life-for-every-15-minute-delay.html]Full report in The Daily Telegraph[/link]
[link url=https://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/early/2014/03/13/STROKEAHA.113.002910.abstract]Stroke abstract[/link]
[link url=http://nyneurosymposium.columbia.edu/symposium/2013/Thursday/1110AM_Attaining_In-Hospital_Stroke_Thrombolysis_within_20_Minutes.pdf]Neuro-symposium poster[/link]