Restoring reperfusion to the brain as quickly as possible during acute ischemic stroke is important to reduce long-term disability and optimize clinical outcomes for patients, although hospital and resource availability are frequently not well matched with patient location. Accordingly, many patients who may have large-vessel occlusion (LVO) lack rapid access to endovascular thrombectomy (EVT), a highly efficacious procedure with a number needed to treat of approximately 3 to 7 for regaining independence among carefully selected patients. Therefore, accurate out-of-hospital diagnosis and ensuring that the patient and the neuroendovascular physician speedily arrive at the same location are paramount. In this issue of JAMA, 2 new studies report interventions designed to address this mismatch between patient location and time-critical access to stroke expert resources.
Source: JAMA Online First