• M Jauss, H J Schütz, C Tanislav, B Misselwitz, and F Rosenow.
• Department of Neurology, Okumenisches Hainich Klinikum Mühlhausen, Thüringen, Germany. marek.jauss@neuro.med.uni-giessen.de
• Eur. J. Neurol. 2010 Apr 1; 17 (4): 555-61.

BackgroundSince doubts were raised, if a challenging medical procedure such as acute stroke treatment including thrombolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rTPA) is available with identical standard and outcome 24 h and 7 days a week our aim was to examine if acute stroke patients defined by onset-admission time (OAT) of MethodsWe analyzed 2003-2006 data of a prospective registry and grouped patients by time, day, and year of admission. The evaluation was limited to patients that were diagnosed with ischaemic stroke and with OAT of ResultsPatient's characteristics, rate of thrombolysis, and outcome were independent from time or day of admission. Proportion of patients with good clinical state at discharge increased significantly from 2003 to 2006 together with a higher rate of rTPA treatment without increase of intracranial hemorrhage. Proportion of patients discharged in good clinical condition after rTPA treatment increased from 34% to 44%.ConclusionsStroke treatment in potential candidates for thrombolytic therapy revealed no impairment on weekend or at night already in 2003. During 4 years, it was possible to increase rate of rTPA treatment from 8.9% to 21.8% without increment of complications or death, confirming that rTPA is safe and can be implemented with full daily and weekly coverage.

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