For older adults who have a stroke or develop a concerning blood clot, the issue can progress quickly, and caregivers have to move fast. Thankfully, there now is another fast-moving aid for stroke victims: a mobile ambulance intended to meet stroke victims where they are, be it a nursing home, a senior living community or an at-home residence.
A full-on stroke was averted in 18% of people treated in the mobile stroke unit, or MSU, compared with 11% of similar individuals who were sent to a hospital, a recent study shows.
Even better, 31% of people with potential stroke had early symptom resolution within 24 hours of being treated in the MSU, against just 21% sent to a hospital, the study stated. That finding indicates that such a mobile unit can be both effective and a literal lifeline when going to the hospital is more time-consuming.
Every 40 seconds, someone in the US has a stroke, according to the American Heart Association. Stroke deaths are actually on the rise after a four-decade decline in mortality rates, the McKnight’s Clinical Daily reported earlier this year.
Those who were treated in the MSU ambulance received intravenous medication, a tissue plasminogen activator, designed to dissolve blood clots blocking blood flow to the brain. The vehicles also included a mobile computed tomography, or CT, scan machine and video linkage to doctors.
On average, the MSU patients received the medication within 90 minutes of the first onset of symptoms, the researchers stated.
In addition to promising recovery numbers, one in six of the MSU patients averted a stroke and showed no brain damage on MRI results a day later, the study showed.
Researchers looked at MSU data across the country between 2014 and 2020. They were led by investigators at Cornell University.
Although MSUs are not widely deployed, the goal of the study was to demonstrate the viability of such options, and to engender mobile units for stroke within healthcare systems, including Medicare, the researchers said.
