A Chilean Experience of Telestroke in a COVID-19 Pandemic Year
Journal
Cerebrovascular Diseases
ISSN
1015-9770
1421-9786
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Felipe Jurado Díaz
Lorena Lara Cisternas
Diego Rocha Jiménez
Mirya Arévalo Valdivia
Diego Rojas Torres
Type
Resource Types::text::journal::journal article
URL Institutional Repository
Abstract
<jats:p><b><i>Background and Purpose:</i></b> Telemedicine for stroke patients’ care (telestroke [TS]) has grown notably in recent decades and may offer advantages during health crisis. Hospital admissions related to stroke have decreased globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, but scarce information is available regarding the effect of COVID-19 in TS. Using a population-based TS registry, we investigated the impact of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout our TS network in Santiago, Chile. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Stroke codes evaluated after the onset of COVID-19 restrictions in Chile (defined as March 15, 2020) were compared with those evaluated in 2019. We analyzed differences between number of stroke codes, thrombolysis rate, stroke severity, and time from the stroke onset to hospital admission. <b><i>Results:</i></b> We observed that the number of stroke codes and the number of patients undergoing reperfusion therapy did not change significantly (<i>p</i> = 0.669 and 0.415, respectively). No differences were found with respect to the median time from the stroke onset to admission (<i>p</i> = 0.581) or in National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores (<i>p</i> = 0.055). The decision-making-to-needle time was significantly shorter in the COVID-19 period (median 5 min [IQR 3–8], <i>p</i> < 0.016), but no significant changes were found at the other times. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> This study demonstrates the potential of adapting TS to extreme situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the importance of establishing networks that facilitate patient access to quality treatments. </jats:p>
Cite this document
Delfino, C., Mazzon, E., Cavada, G., Muñoz Venturelli, P., Brunser, A. M., Jurado Díaz, F., Cisternas, L. L., Rocha Jiménez, D., Arévalo Valdivia, M., Rojas Torres, D., & Mansilla, E. (2022). A chilean experience of telestroke in a covid-19 pandemic year. Cerebrovascular Diseases, 51(5), 690-694. https://doi.org/10.1159/000523920
Subjects
covid-19
;
pandemic disease
;
stroke
;
telemedicine
;
telestroke
;
thrombolysis
;
chile
;
covid-19
;
humans
;
pandemics
;
stroke
;
telemedicine
;
thrombolytic therapy
;
adult
;
aged
;
article
;
atrial fibrillation
;
blood clot lysis
;
cerebrovascular accident
;
chilean
;
computer assisted tomography
;
coronavirus disease 2019
;
decision making
;
diabetes mellitus
;
dyslipidemia
;
educational status
;
female
;
heart infarction
;
hospital admission
;
human
;
hypertension
;
incidence
;
ischemic stroke
;
major clinical study
;
male
;
middle aged
;
national institutes of health stroke scale
;
pandemic
;
public health
;
quality control
;
reperfusion
;
retrospective study
;
telemedicine
;
videoconferencing
;
cerebrovascular accident
;
chile
;
epidemiology
;
fibrinolytic therapy
;
pandemic