Mobile stroke unit shortens time-to-treatment metrics: 5 study notes

Compared to emergency medical services, the use of a mobile stroke unit significantly reduced time to treatment among patients experiencing large‐vessel occlusion strokes, according to a study published July 1 in Stroke: Vascular and Interventional Neurology.

Researchers from Atlanta-based Emory University compared treatment time metrics and clinical outcome data of stroke patients transported to a single center by either emergency medical services or the center’s mobile stroke unit between June 2018 and November 2023.

Here are five notes on the study:

1. The center’s mobile stroke unit is equipped with a mobile CT scanner and staffed by an EMS driver, an emergency medicine registered nurse, a paramedic and a CT technician. Initially operational six days a week, the unit eventually expanded coverage to seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 
   

2. The study included data from 565 patients, 66 of whom were transported to the center by the mobile stroke unit and 499 who were transported by EMS during the mobile stroke unit’s operating hours. 
   

3. The average time to treatment for patients transported by the mobile stroke unit were:
   
   • Door to CT: 9 minutes
   • Door to multimodal imaging: 17 minutes
   • Door to angiography: 41 minutes
   • Door to reperfusion: 96 minutes
     
     
4. The average time to treatment for patients transported by EMS were:
   
   • Door to CT: 17 minutes
   • Door to multimodal imaging: 27 minutes
   • Door to angiography: 62 minutes
   • Door to reperfusion: 127 minutes
     
     
5. Between the two groups, there was no difference in the final degree of reperfusion, the median Modified Rankin Score, hemorrhagic complications or mortality.
   

Read the full study here.