A mobile stroke unit that debuted in Ohio earlier this year could come to help save lives in Palm Beach County.
In May, Cleveland Clinic started using the unit to diagnose the type and severity of brain attacks more quickly. Using a portable CT scanner, the ambulances staff wirelessly transmits brain images to neuro-radiologists and, if appropriate, administers the clot-busting drug tPA en route to the hospital in Ohios most populous county.
The nonprofit medical giant hopes to bring a similar mobile stroke unit to Palm Beach County. The specially equipped ambulance costs $1 million and staffing it costs about $1.2 million a year, according to Dr. Ryan McTaggart, director of neurointerventional services at Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston. Cleveland Clinic has a satellite clinic in West Palm Beach.
Clots in blood vessels cause more than 80 percent of all strokes; the rupturing of blood vessels cause the rest.
The drug tPA can stop or reduce brain damage caused by clots if it is administered within 4.5 hours of the onset of symptoms.
The rate of tPA administration for appropriate cases in South Florida is abysmal, about 1 percent, McTaggart said. That is because many patients dont recognize stroke symptoms early enough to qualify for intravenous tPA treatment and because paramedics often take patients to the closest hospital, rather than the hospital most qualified to treat strokes, he said.
A mobile stroke unit could boost physicians ability to use tPA to 50 percent of applicable cases, McTaggart said.
The other major benefit of this technology is that a patient is going to be transported to the appropriate facility the first time, McTaggart said. The United States is plagued by scenarios where patients are transported to the closest hospital that may not have the capability to manage this particular stroke and that can be devastating to patients.
Mobile stroke units respond to stroke calls alongside municipal emergency medical crews, he said. When the stroke unit staff confirms a stroke has occurred, it starts treating the patient immediately, McTaggart said.
McTaggart spoke about stroke risk factors, treatments and the mobile unit Wednesday at The Four Seasons Resort as part of Straight to the Heart, a Cleveland Clinic symposium on cardiovascular health.
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Mobile stroke unit could save lives in county