Treatment of Stroke

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Anchor lead: Treatment options for stroke are expanding, Elizabeth Tracey reports

If you experience a stroke that’s the result of a blot clot, treatment options may be employed for longer than ever before. Victor Urrutia, an expert in the use of telemedicine to evaluate stroke, says that’s one reason to get an expert opinion using this technology.

Urrutia: The window for TPA has expanded to 4 and a half hours. However for thrombectomy, which is available to patients that have large artery occlusion, so the big vessels in the brain, it’s standard for patients selected with advanced imaging, up to 24 hours. A significant number of the primary stroke centers have acquired the capacity to do advanced imaging. They can help with the selection of those patients and a faster transfer to those hospitals where they perform the procedure. Telemedicine can definitely help with this.  :33

Telestroke is becoming more available, Urrutia says. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.