• H Tejada Meza, Á Lambea Gil, A Sancho Saldaña, M Martínez-Zabaleta, E Garmendia Lopetegui, E López-Cancio Martínez, M Castañón Apilánez, M Herrera Isasi, J Marta Enguita, B Gómez-Vicente, J F Arenillas, N Arenaza Basterrechea, J J Timiraos Fernández, J Sánchez Herrero, J L Maciñeiras Montero, M Castellanos Rodrigo, D Fernández-Coud, I Casado Menéndez, M T Temprano Fernández, M Freijo, A Luna, E J Palacio Portilla, Y Jiménez López, E Rodríguez-Castro, M Rodríguez-Yáñez, J Tejada García, I Beltrán Rodríguez, F Julián-Villaverde, M P Moreno García, J M Trejo Gabriel-Galán, A Echavarría Iñiguez, C Pérez Lázaro, M P Navarro Pérez, Marta Moreno J J Stroke Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, Spain. , and NORDICTUS Investigators.
• Stroke Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, Spain.
• Eur. J. Neurol. 2020 Dec 1; 27 (12): 2491-2498.

Background And PurposeSpain has been one of the countries more heavily stricken by SARS-CoV-2, which has had huge implications for stroke care. The aim was to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic outbreak on reperfusion therapies for acute ischaemic stroke in the northwest of Spain.MethodsThis was a Spanish multicentre retrospective observational study based on data from tertiary hospitals of the NORDICTUS network. All patients receiving reperfusion therapy for ischaemic stroke between 30 December 2019 and 3 May 2020 were recorded, and their baseline, clinical and radiological characteristics, extra- and intra-hospital times of action, Code Stroke activation pathway, COVID-19 status, reperfusion rate, and short-term outcome before and after the setting of the emergency state were analysed.ResultsA total of 796 patients received reperfusion therapies for ischaemic stroke. There was a decrease in the number of patients treated per week (46.5 patients per week vs. 39.0 patients per week, P = 0.043) and a delay in out-of-hospital (95.0 vs. 110.0 min, P = 0.001) and door-to-needle times (51.0 vs. 55.0, P = 0.038). Patients receiving endovascular therapy obtained less successful reperfusion rates (92.9% vs. 86.6%, P = 0.016). COVID-19 patients had more in-hospital mortality.ConclusionA decrease in the number of patients benefiting from reperfusion therapies was found, with a delay in out-of-hospital and door-to-needle times and worse reperfusion rates in northwest Spain. COVID-19 patients had more in-hospital mortality.© 2020 European Academy of Neurology.

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