Urgent response a life or death issue for stroke patients

Urgent response a life or death issue for stroke patients

Wire Services
November 3, 2000


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New York. An urgent response to stroke symptoms may mean the difference between life and death in some patients according to two recent studies.

The first of the studies published in this month’s issue of the journal Stroke, found that people who reacted urgently to their symptoms, such as by calling 911 or an ambulance, were less likely to have a delay in treatment and received faster medical attention than those who were driven to the hospital.

Researchers found that because emergency medical services personnel can administer clot-busting drugs – usually needed within three hours of symptom onset to be effective – all the cells affected in the brain can be saved. Patients who wait to respond to symptoms may miss this window of opportunity and although blood flow still may be restored by drugs at the hospital, cells already will have died from damage.

The second study found that patients who received emergency medical services because they called an ambulance received faster care at the hospital, regardless of age, race, sex and educational level.

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