CLEVELAND -
Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States suffers a stroke.
"My left arm and part of my face were numb and tingling, and when I went to stand up to dress myself, I fell right to the floor," Brad Fahrenkamp recalled of his stroke.
"It never occurred to me that it could possibly be a stroke. It didn't even cross my mind," said Jessie Porter, another stroke patient.
But getting treatment quickly can make all the difference.
Dr. Peter Rasmussen, a neurosurgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, said the life-saving drug tPA must be delivered within four-and-a-half hours or less of a stroke, and the sooner the better.
"Unfortunately in the United States, only between three- and eight-percent of Americans get tPA if they're having a stroke," Rasmussen said.
Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic are trying to change that with a new mobile stroke unit. It travels to the emergency scene when a stroke is suspected.
"I can't really think of a faster way that you could deliver stroke care to a patient," Rasmussen said.
The unit is equipped with a CT scanner. The mobile team can scan a patient's brain and perform lab tests right away. The results are sent to a neurologist at the hospital, who can make a diagnosis via a broadband telemedicine link. The on-board staff can then deliver treatment before the patient even gets to the emergency room.
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Health Beat: Stroke care on the go: tPA