[Stroke: How can "time is brain" be translated into clinical practice?].

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Emergency Medicine
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Mechanical recanalization with stent retrievers offers new options for ischemic stroke, complementing intravenous thrombolysis.
• Therapeutic success in stroke treatment is highly time-dependent, with delays negatively impacting patient outcomes.
• Various factors can impede timely initiation of effective stroke therapies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review current literature on time management during prehospital and in-hospital phases of acute ischemic stroke care.
• To identify and present practice-relevant measures for accelerating therapy onset in stroke patients.

Main Methods:

• A literature search was conducted using PubMed.
• Representative articles on time management in acute ischemic stroke therapy were identified and presented.

Main Results:

• Emergency medical services and professional assistants play a key role in optimizing therapy times.
• Key interventions include advance hospital notification, dedicated stroke teams, rapid imaging (CT/MRI) access, point-of-care labs, and streamlined anesthesia protocols.

Conclusions:

• Optimizing therapy times involves primarily organizational measures with minimal associated costs.
• Effective implementation of these measures leads to significant improvements in treatment duration and patient functional outcomes.