Excellance, Inc. is delivering a new Mobile Stroke Unit to Rush University Medical Center this year.
Rush University Medical Center established the Rush TeleStroke Network in 2011 to ensure stroke specialists would be available around the clock through two-way consultations with doctors at community hospitals. Since its launch the TeleStroke Network has served more than 2,800 patients in the Chicago region.
“We’re talking about having the ability to check patients in their own driveways for bleeding in the brain or blockage in their blood vessels,” says Demetrius Lopes, MD, surgical director of the Rush Comprehensive Stroke Center. “This ability is crucial, since stroke treatment decisions depend on CT scan imaging of the brain.”
Rush hopes the new program will attend to 75 percent of strokes in their service area to deliver the ideal treatment for all patients.
“With the CT scan, the mobile stroke team can separate the bleeding strokes in the brain from the blockage strokes,” says Lopes. “If it’s a bleeding stroke, we can initiate measures in the field to control blood pressure, optimize patient coagulation and alert the surgical team in the hospital to get ready. It can be life-saving if you’re able to get to the hospital and get the patient right into surgery and alleviate the pressure on the brain.”
If you are interested in learning more about Rush University and its new initiative, please visit our Mobile Stroke section here.