Stroke unit should be preserved during the pandemic to ensure the best possible health to stroke patients

ABSTRACT

Background and Aims: Early treatment greatly reduces the negative effects of stroke. The pandemic in the last period has dramatically affected stroke care around the world. Worldwide there was a reduction in hospitalizations, thrombolysis, mechanical thrombectomies. In Italy is was the same reduction in hospitalizations for strokes, thrombolysis, while the number of mechanical thrombectomies remained unchanged. Sardinia an Italian island with about one and a half million inhabitants have 3 Stroke Units. The Stroke Unit of Sassari one of the three guarantees treatment for the whole of northern Sardinia, about 500,000 inhabitants. Methods: We analyzed hospitalizations, thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomies in 2020, the year of the pandemic, and 2019, the previous year, at Sassari Stroke Unit Results: In our hospital, the number of hospitalizations for stroke in 2020 decreased compared to 2019 (535vs475) but unlike the rest of the world and Italy, the number of thrombolysis remained constant, the number of mechanical thrombectomies increased. In 2019, thrombolyses were 109 while in 2020, 111;thrombectomies in 2019 were 20, in 2020, 29. Conclusions: Many Stroke Units during the pandemic were converted into Covid structure. In Sassari throughout 2020, stroke patients had always a preferential code both in the case of suspected Covidrelated and unrelated pathology. Our Stroke unit remained unchanged as number of health workers. Probably due to this reason thrombolyses and mechanical thrombectomies has not suffered any deflections despite the pandemic. It is essential to maintain adequate care conditions for stroke patients even during the pandemic to reduce the risk of mortality and disability from stroke.