Steven R. Levine
The State University of New York College of Medicine, USA
Title: Telemedicine for Stroke: Interaction Between the Emergency Site & Hospital
Biography
Biography: Steven R. Levine
Abstract
Telestroke is the application of telemedicine to stroke. The use of telemedicine in the ambulance for more precise and rapid prehospital/EMS care of acute stroke patients including performing an NIHSS analysis dates back to 1988 and now with innovative Mobile Stroke Units (MSUs) equiped with head CT scanning in the ambulance, patients are now given intravenous t-PA for acute ischemic stroke prior to hospital arrival in Germany and now in Houston and Cleveland. These studies and their cost effectiveness will be reviewed as will new telemedicine technologies in development for acute stroke. The future should see further research emphasizing better study design and larger sample size to improve reliability of results and conclusions, wearable technology (head-mounted displays), further reductions in response times with incorporating smartphone technology into EMS and thus facilitate patient or bystander incident reporting and prehospital triage-Primary Stroke Center vs. Comprehensive Stroke Center (IA/mechanical thrombectomy)/Neurosurgery for SAH/ICH. Although technological advances will continue to outpace their utilization in clinical practice incorporating emerging technologies into medical practice holds promise in improving care and enhancing clinical outcomes and researchers must continue to evaluate the effectiveness of telemedicine so that communication technology-assisted care is optimized.