title: Prehospital stroke care: telemedicine, thrombolysis and neuroprotection.
abstract: Over the last 15 years, new approaches regarding neuroprotective and thrombolytic strategies in stroke management have been evaluated in the prehospital setting. These efforts have provided exciting new potentials of hyperacute stroke care. Trials have shown that the use of specialized stroke ambulances increases the proportion of patients receiving intravenous thrombolysis and shortens alarm-to-treatment time by approximately half an hour compared to standard care. Intravenous thrombolysis within the ultra-early time window of the 'golden hour' has become a realistic scenario. However, direct effects of prehospital stroke care on functional outcome have yet to be shown and other approaches such as neuroprotective treatments could not demonstrate clinical benefit so far. There is a clear need for systematic research in the prehospital field to test the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of new therapeutic strategies. It will be necessary to test various components of prehospital stroke care alone and in combination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ebinger
authors.forename: Heinrich J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Audebert
mesh_terms: D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000379:methods*
keywords: endovascular treatment; hemorrhagic stroke; ischemic stroke; neuroprotection; prehospital stroke care; stroke ambulance; thrombolysis