The Impact of a Helicopter Emergency Medical System on Prognosis in Stroke Patients

Rigshospitalet

Status: Completed

Conditions: Thrombolysis

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02576379

ALH3-KF-2015

Details and patient eligibility

About

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability, and 15 million people suffer a stroke each year; one-third die and one-third are left permanently disabled. Because the risk of stroke increases with age, it has been considered a disease of the elderly, but stroke also occurs in middle-aged people.

Thrombolysis with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is the preferred choice of reperfusion therapy of ischemic stroke if performed within 4.5 hours from symptom onset. Time to thrombolysis is associated with improved outcome: the sooner the treatment, the less risk of serious - and possibly permanent - damage to the brain. Unfortunately, only a small fraction of stroke patients make it to thrombolysis within the 4.5-hour; one explanation may be system delays including prolonged transportation.

In May 2010, the first physician-staffed Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) was implemented in the Eastern part of Denmark. An observational study evaluating the short-term effects of HEMS implementation compared patients transported by conventional ground ambulance (Ground Emergency Medical Service (GEMS)) to patients transported by HEMS. Patients transported by helicopter had increased time to specialized care. However, both 30-day and 1-year mortality was slightly lower in patients transported by HEMS, although not significant, as was the degree of disability at three months measured by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS).

Enrollment: 1,068 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• All patients arriving at the regional stroke unit at Copenhagen University Hospital, Roskilde, suspected of an acute vascular condition within the geographical area covered by both HEMS and GEMS in a 40-month period from January 1st 2010 until April 30th 2013.

Exclusion criteria

• For patients with multiple contacts; only the first contact is included in the data for analysis.

Trial design

1,068 participants in 2 patient groups

HEMS patients

Description:

Patients suspected of suffering from a vascular condition within the geographical area covered by both HEMS and GEMS, and were transported by Helicopter Emergency Medical System (HEMS) to the regional stroke unit at Copenhagen University Hospital Roskilde in a 36-month period from May 1st 2010 until April 30th 2013.

GEMS patients

Description:

Patients suspected of suffering from a vascular condition within the geographical area covered by both HEMS and GEMS, and were transported by Ground Emergency Medical System (GEMS) to the regional stroke unit at Copenhagen University Hospital Roskilde in a 40-month period from January 1st 2010 until April 30th 2013.