Maintaining high thrombectomy rates during pandemics

The aim of this article is to review the current literature on endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke in the aftermath of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 has had effect of unprecedented magnitude on the social, economic and personal aspects around the globe. Healthcare providers were forced to expand capacity to provide care to the surging number of symptomatic COVID-19 patients, while maintaining a fully operating service for all non-COVID patients. The recent literature suggesting an overall decrease in acute ischemic stroke admissions as well as total number of endovascular treatments will be reviewed. Although the underlying reasons therefore remain the matter of debate, it seems that the imposed restrictions, requiring social distancing, and stopping all nonessential services, have led to a higher threshold for patients to seek medical attention, in particular in those with less severe symptoms. Thus, raising public awareness on the importance of strokes and transient ischemic attacks is even more important in the light of the current situation to avoid serious healthcare, economic consequences, and limit long term morbidity.

The priority remains maintaining a fast and efficient pre and in-hospital work-flow while mitigating nosocomial transmission and protecting the patient and the healthcare workers with appropriate personal protective equipment.