What is the door-to-device time goal for direct arriving patients with acute ischemic stroke

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Abstract

Objective

To reduce door-to-angiographic reperfusion (DTR) time to 120 minutes for patients presenting with acute ischemic stroke attributed to anterior circulation large-vessel occlusion amenable to endovascular mechanical thrombectomy.

Patients and Methods

Patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy before (April 10, 2015, through April 11, 2016) and after (April 12, 2016, through May 10, 2017) implementation of a multitiered notification system were studied. Lean process mapping was used to assess inefficiencies with multidisciplinary triage. A 3-tiered paging platform, which rapidly alerts essential personnel of the acute ischemic stroke team at advancing decision points, was introduced.

Results

Sixty-two patients were analyzed before and after implementation (34 vs 28, respectively). Following intervention, DTR time was reduced by 43 minutes (mean DTR, 170 minutes vs 127 minutes; P=.02). At 90-day follow up, 5 of the 28 patients in the postintervention cohort (19%) had excellent neurologic outcomes, defined as a modified Rankin Scale score of 0, compared to 0 of 34 (0%) in the preintervention cohort (P=.89). Reductions were also seen in the length of stay on the neurocritical care service (mean, 6 vs 3 days; P=.006), and total hospital charges for combined groups (mean, $100,083 vs $161,458; P<.001).

Conclusion

The multitiered notification system was a feasible solution for improving DTR within our institution, resulting in reductions of overall DTR time, neurocritical care service length of stay, and total hospital charges.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

ASPECTS

Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score

DTR

door-to-angiographic reperfusion

LTR

last known normal time to angiographic reperfusion

LVO

large-vessel occlusion

MT

mechanical thrombectomy

NIHSS

National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale

NCC

neurocritical care service

rtPA

human recombinant tissue plasminogen activator

© 2018 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc.

ABSTRACT

Background

A nationally recommended practice to accelerate thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke is to route emergency medical services (EMS)-transported stroke patients directly to the computed tomography (CT) scanner on arrival. We evaluated door-to-needle time with direct-to-CT routing versus emergency department (ED)-bed first routing.

Methods

This was a retrospective analysis from a large regionalized stroke system. Paramedics utilize the modified Los Angeles Prehospital Stroke Screen and transport acute stroke patients to Approved Stroke Centers. Individual stroke centers postarrival protocols vary, with some routing patients directly to CT. Stroke centers report treatment and outcomes to a registry, from which data were abstracted from May 2015 through April 2016. Adult patients transported by EMS and treated with thrombolytic therapy were included. The primary outcome was door-to-needle time. Secondary outcome was door-to-imaging time.

Results

EMS transported 6315 patients for suspected stroke and 789 (13%) were treated with thrombolysis at 41 stroke centers, 171 (22%) at hospitals with direct-to-CT routing and 618 (78%) at hospitals with ED-bed routing. Patient characteristics were similar between groups. Door-to-needle time was not different in the 2 groups, median 57 minutes (interquartile range [IQR] 44-76) for CT routing versus 54 minutes (IQR 40-74) for ED routing, median difference 3 (95% CI −1, 7), P == .2. Door-to-imaging time was shorter with CT routing compared to ED routing, median 13 minutes (IQR 8-21) and 16 minutes (IQR 10-24), respectively.

Conclusions

In this regional stroke system, hospitals with protocols for routing EMS-transported stroke patients directly to CT did not have reduced door-to-needle compared to hospitals without such protocols.

Key Words

Stroke

thrombolytic therapy

neuroimaging

emergency medical services

© 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.