The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, in partnership with Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, today unveiled the countrys first mobile stroke unit.
Staffed by a stroke team and equipped with a CT scanner, this specialized ambulance will run in conjunction with Emergency Medical Services of Bellaire, West University Place and Houston fire departments and is part of a three-year clinical trial to test whether it improves outcomes for stroke patients by speeding delivery of treatment with the clot-buster tPA (tissue plasminogen activator).
It typically takes roughly an hour once a stroke patient arrives in the emergency room to receive treatment. So if we can actually put the emergency room in the ambulance and take the CT scanner to the patient, we could treat the patient at the scene with the medication and save that hour, said Dr. James C. Grotta, director of stroke research in the Center for Innovation & Research at Memorial Hermann-TMC and director of the mobile stroke unit consortium made up of stroke teams from Houston Methodist Hospital and St. Lukes Medical Center, local businesses and philanthropists. That hour could mean saving 120 million brain cells.
Stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted by a blockage or a rupture in an artery, depriving brain tissue of oxygen. It is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of disability. The American Stroke Association and the Centers for Disease Control report nearly 800,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year one every 40 seconds and stroke costs the United States $38 billion a year. The only FDA-approved treatment for ischemic stroke, the most prevalent kind, is the clot-buster tPA, but it must be given within three hours of the first signs of stroke to be most effective, and the earlier, the better within that three-hour time frame.
The mobile unit will help quickly assess whether a patient is having a stroke caused by a blood clot, and if so, allow the stroke team to administer tPA. The team includes a paramedic, neurologist, nurse and CT technician.
The idea for the mobile stroke unit originated in March 2013 with Grotta, a longtime faculty member and former chairman of UTHealths Department of Neurology for seven years, who observed a similar unit in Germany. Soon after, John and Janice Griffin offered to help with the project. The couple own Frazer Ltd., a third-generation, family-run business that builds emergency vehicles. After looking at the needs of a mobile stroke unit, the Bellaire-based company knew it would have to engineer the new unit from the ground up.
We really liked the possibilities of moving medicine forward, said Laura Griffin Richardson, CEO and president of Frazer. Our company likes to push the limits, and this had never been done before. Were excited to be located in Houston, the forefront of the medical community. Once everyone sees the possibility of putting a CT scanner in an emergency vehicle, the question is what else can we do?
H-E-B, Gallery Furniture and other local businesses and philanthropists also supported the project, giving $1.1 million to the UTHealth Medical School for the scanner and personnel.
Effectiveness of the mobile stroke unit is on trial to measure its outcomes and cost savings, with Dr. Elizabeth Noser serving as co-principal investigator. Noser is clinical assistant professor of neurology and the James C. Grotta, M.D. Chair in Neurological Recovery and Stroke at UTHealth.
We anticipate that the decrease in stroke treatment time will translate to improved outcomes, she said.
Link:
Mobile stroke unit joins EMS response in Bellaire, West University