Linked Life Data

20099774

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/20099774

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
4
pubmed:dateCreated
2010-1-26
pubmed:abstractText
Thrombolytic therapy has been proven to be beneficial in selected patients with ischaemic strokes. Early diagnosis is paramount because there is a narrow therapeutic window for these patients to derive benefit from thrombolytics. We sought to evaluate the timing of stroke presentations at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) in order to assess the potential eligibility for definitive therapy A retrospective audit of all consecutive patients who had emergent computed tomographic (CT) scans for suspected ischaemic stroke at the UHWI was performed over a six-month period between February 2006 and July 2006. Data were extracted from the hospital records and analysed using SPSS version 12. There were 331 patients evaluated with brain CT for a clinically suspected stroke during the study period. Complete time documentation and CT scans were available for analysis in 171 patients with ischaemic strokes. The average age was 64.5 years (range +/- SD: 3-98 +/- 19.9 years) with a slight male preponderance (58% vs. 42%). There was considerable pre-hospital delay with 63% of patients presenting more than 12 hours after the onset of symptoms. There were also long inhospital delays. Only 52% of patients were assessed by a physician within an hour of presentation to hospital and only 55% of patients had CT scans completed within three hours of a physician s request. Although thrombolysis is not routinely performed for ischaemic strokes at our institution, sensitization of physicians and the general public in our setting to symptoms and signs of this disease is urgently needed to improve stroke management, whereby definitive treatment can be considered for selected patients.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Sep
pubmed:issn
0043-3144
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
58
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
341-6
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2009
pubmed:articleTitle
Delays in presentations of stroke patients at the University Hospital of the West Indies.
pubmed:affiliation
Emergency Medicine Division, The University of the West Indies, Kingston 7, Jamaica. verz3us@yahoo.com
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article