Many stroke patients would have survived

Treatment on Stroke Unit can prevent deaths and severe disabilities
Stroke is an absolute emergency that needs to be treated as quickly as possible in a specially-targeted clinic. However, as a study led by the Neurological University Clinic of Heidelberg shows, more than half of those affected reach a so-called "stroke unit" far too late. Almost 20 percent of the patients would also be taken to hospitals without a special ward. This reduces the chances of surviving the stroke alive and without serious consequential damage, the university reported in a recent press release. The results of the study were published in the journal "Neurology".

In a stroke, quick action is vital
According to the German Stroke Society (DSG), every year 270,000 people in Germany suffer for the first time or repeat a stroke every year. This is always an emergency that requires no time loss. Because only if the patient is immediately taken to a clinic with an attached Stroke Unit (Stroke Unit) can special, life-saving therapy procedures be used within a narrow "therapeutic time window" of a maximum of four and a half hours.

More than half of the stroke patients are brought into a stroke unit too late. A lysis treatment is then often no longer possible. (Image: pattilabelle / fotolia.com)

Time window of maximum four and a half hours
The importance of rapid admission to such a stroke center can not be repeated often enough. Because many patients still reach far too late a corresponding clinic. This is shown in a recent study by the Baden-Württemberg AG Stroke of the Quality Assurance Office in the Hospital (GeQiK), which is a cooperation project between the University Hospitals of Heidelberg, Mannheim and Freiburg. According to this, 60 percent of all stroke patients in Baden-Württemberg would only reach a stroke unit if it is already too late for so-called "thrombolysis" ("lysis" for short).

Rescue services should approach even more consistent stroke units
According to the study, 17 percent of the patients would be taken to the clinic in time for thrombolysis, but would end up in a hospital without a stroke unit. Here, however, the special treatment is used much less often, which increases the risk of fatal stroke and severe disabilities. Because lysis is the only approved drug therapy after an acute stroke. By administering medicines, the blood graft in the brain is dissolved here again, allowing the blood to flow unhindered again and the brain can be adequately supplied with oxygen. "It would be desirable, therefore, that in the event of suspicion, emergency services should be even more consistent in addressing hospitals with stroke units," says study leader Professor Dr. med. Peter Ringleb, head of Heidelberg Stroke Unit, according to the announcement.

Older patients are often underserved
The team led by Professor dr. Peter Ringleb and dr. Christoph Gumbinger from the Department of Neurology of the University of Heidelberg evaluated data from the GeQiK for the inpatient treatment of stroke patients in all hospitals in Baden-Württemberg (2008 to 2012) for the study, according to information from the university. It was found that 40 percent of those affected within 4.5 hours after the first stroke signs such. hemiplegia or speech disorders came to the clinic and thus timely for a lysis treatment. As a result, 44 percent of these patients were treated promptly in specialized stroke centers. In hospitals without a stroke unit, on the other hand, only 13 percent of on-time patients received thrombolysis, which often left older patients with pre-existing physical impairments under-supplied, the university reports. "Especially with these patients, it takes a lot of experience and competence to be able to assess whether the lysis therapy can be carried out," emphasizes Professor Ringleb.

In Germany, there is a network of more than 250 stroke units, these mostly neurological clinics are affiliated. The centers have the technical and personnel resources to provide stroke patients with the necessary medical measures. "It's been proven that treatment on a stroke unit as a whole and beyond the lysis therapy helps to prevent deaths and severe disabilities after stroke thanks to a specially trained treatment team and comprehensive 24/7 diagnostics and therapy," says Ringleb. (No)