• Chih-Hao Chen, Sung-Chun Tang, Li-Kai Tsai, Ming-Ju Hsieh, Shin-Joe Yeh, Kuang-Yu Huang, and Jiann-Shing Jeng.
• Stroke Center and Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Division of Neurology, Department of Internal Medicine, Far-Eastern Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
• Plos One. 2014 Jan 1; 9 (8): e104862.

Background And PurposeTimely intravenous (IV) thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke is associated with better clinical outcomes. Acute stroke care implemented with "Stroke Code" (SC) may increase IV tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) administration. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of SC on thrombolysis.MethodsThe study period was divided into the "pre-SC era" (January 2006 to July 2010) and "SC era" (August 2010 to July 2013). Demographics, critical times (stroke symptom onset, presentation to the emergency department, neuroimaging, thrombolysis), stroke severity, and clinical outcomes were recorded and compared between the two eras.ResultsDuring the study period, 5957 patients with acute ischemic stroke were admitted; of these, 1301 (21.8%) arrived at the emergency department within 3 h of stroke onset and 307 (5.2%) received IV-tPA. The number and frequency of IV-tPA treatments for patients with an onset-to-door time of <3 h increased from the pre-SC era (n = 91, 13.9%) to the SC era (n = 216, 33.3%) (P<0.001). SC also improved the efficiency of IV-tPA administration; the median door-to-needle time decreased (88 to 51 min, P<0.001) and the percentage of door-to-needle times ≤60 min increased (14.3% to 71.3%, P<0.001). The SC era group tended to have more patients with good outcome (modified Rankin Scale ≤2) at discharge (49.5 vs. 39.6%, P = 0.11), with no difference in symptomatic hemorrhage events or in-hospital mortality.ConclusionThe SC protocol increases the percentage of acute ischemic stroke patients receiving IV-tPA and decreases door-to-needle time.

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