CTA Protocols in a Telestroke Network Improve Efficiency for Both Spoke and Hub Hospitals.

ABSTRACT:

Background and purpose

Telestroke networks support screening for patients with emergent large-vessel occlusions who are eligible for endovascular thrombectomy. Ideal triage processes within telestroke networks remain uncertain. We characterize the impact of implementing a routine spoke hospital CTA protocol in our integrated telestroke network on transfer and thrombectomy patterns.

Materials and methods

A protocol-driven CTA process was introduced at 22 spoke hospitals in November 2017. We retrospectively identified prospectively collected patients who presented to a spoke hospital with National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores ≥6 between March 1, 2016 and March 1, 2017 (pre-CTA), and March 1, 2018 and March 1, 2019 (post-CTA). We describe the demographics, CTA utili

SUBMITTER: Yu AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7959422 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature