Highly Visible Wall-Timer to Reduce Endovascular Treatment Time for Stroke.

BACKGROUND: Endovascular therapy for acute ischemic stroke has revolutionized clinical care for patients with stroke and large vessel occlusion, but treatment remains time sensitive. At our stroke center, up to half of the door-to-groin time is accounted for after the patient arrives in the angio-suite. Here, we apply the concept of a highly visible timer in the angio-suite to quantify the impact on endovascular treatment time. METHODS: This was a single-center prospective pseudorandomized study conducted over a 32-week period. Pseudorandomization was achieved by turning the timer on and off in 2-week intervals. The primary outcome was angio-suite-to-groin time, and secondary outcomes were angio-suite-to-intubation time, groin-to-recanalization time, and 90-day modified Rankin scale. A stratified analysis was performed based on type of anesthesia (ie, endotracheal intubation versus not). RESULTS: During the 32-week study period, 97 mechanical thrombectomies were performed. The timer was on and off for 38 and 59 cases, respectively. The timer resulted in faster angio-suite-to-groin time (28 versus 33 minutes; P=0.02). The 5-minute reduction in angio-suite-to-groin was maintained after adjusting for intubation status in a multivariate regression (P=0.02). There was no difference in the 90-day modified Rankin scale between groups. The timer impact was consistent across the 32-week study period. CONCLUSIONS: A highly visible timer in the angio-suite achieved a meaningful, albeit modest, reduction in endovascular treatment time for patients with stroke. Given the lack of risk and low cost, it is reasonable for stroke centers to consider a highly visible timer in the angio-suite to improve treatment times.

Interfacility transfer for mechanical thrombectomy - Direct to neuroangiography or CT angiography first?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Faster time to mechanical thrombectomy (MT) improves outcome in stroke. In patients from other hospitals where a CT has ruled-out hemorrhage, transfer direct-to-angiography (DTA) may reduce door-to-groin time compared to transfer to CT angiography (CTA)+/-repeat CT first. However, this may result in unnecessary catheter angiography. We sought to determine how often CTA+/-CT changed the decision to proceed to MT. METHODS: Data on patients transferred to our comprehensive stroke center (CSC) from outside facilities for possible MT from 7/2016-5/2017 was extracted from a prospective database and supplemented with chart review. RESULTS: Of 170 patients transferred for MT undergoing CT+/-CTA on CSC arrival, MT was aborted in 108 (64%). Of these, 87 (81%) were aborted directly based on imaging findings, with absence of large vessel occlusion or occlusion too distal to be amenable to MT the most common reasons (n = 76), followed by extensive early CT changes (n = 9) and ICH post-tPA (n = 2). Even with NIHSS ≥10 on CSC arrival, MT was aborted based on imaging findings in 35% patients. Time from symptom onset dichotomized as early/late based on median onset-to-CSC arrival (253 min) was an important modifier of proceeding to MT in this group, with 71% of early presenters going to MT compared to 33% of late presenters (p = .003). CONCLUSIONS: Transfer DTA may result in many patients who would have been excluded based on CT+/-CTA findings undergoing unnecessary catheter angiography. However, a target population for a DTA approach might be identifiable based on severity of deficit and time from onset.