[Preclinical treatment of patients with stroke]

Stroke is the third leading cause of death and number one cause of disability in industrialised countries. Studies into the pathophysiology of acute ischaemic stroke have indicated that treatment options are likely to be optimized when early signs of stroke are recognized and treatment is initiated within 3 hours from symptom onset. Therefore, new conceptions heading towards early diagnosis, fast preclinical treatment, structured diagnostics, immediate initiation of acute therapy as well as early initiation of rehabilitation are required. It is well known that, for most patients, there is a long delay between the onset of symptoms and the start of therapy. Many factors are responsible for the time delay:signs and symptoms often go unrecognized and/or are minimized by patients, relatives and bystanders. Unlike trauma or myocardial infarction, stroke is not given a high priority by medical staff and/or emergency medical services (EMS). Although a small number of stroke patients is treated as emergency and attended to by the emergency medical services within this time window, this number could easily be increased by intensified public and emergency personnel education. At present the standard of care by the EMS personnel includes adequate cerebral oxygenation, treatment of cardiac arrhythmia, management of hypertension as well as therapy of hyperglycemia and hyperthermia. For the future, we hope that emergency medical services will be able to initiate therapies which must be administered within the first few hours of acute stroke after onset of symptoms. Early notification of hospitals would enable a particular stroke team to be present at the patient's admission.