Author Interviews, Health Care Systems, JAMA, Stroke, University Texas / 11.02.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amrou Sarraj, MD, Associate Professor Department of Neurology McGovern Medical School The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Secondary analyses of trials showing efficacy and safety of thrombectomy within 6-8 hours of stroke onset showed that patients who were transferred to centers performing thrombectomy from another hospital had worse outcomes than patients who presented directly to the thrombectomy centers. We wanted to assess if the thrombectomy outcomes differ between transferred patients and patients directly coming to the thrombectomy centers when patients are selected with advanced perfusion imaging. We found that thrombectomy outcome rates were similar between patients who presented directly vs transferred from another hospital, including functional independence and safety outcomes.  (more…)