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ACT NOW poster campaign prompts individual action by emergency team members
European stroke initiative emphasises that timely access to specialist care is key for optimal outcome in acute stroke |
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18 May 2006
Brussels/Belgium, 18 May 2006 - A new ACT NOW poster campaign launched at the European Stroke Conference in Brussels this week reminds emergency staff across Europe about the personal impact they can make by identifying potential stroke patients quickly. If a patient with acute ischaemic stroke reaches a specialist stroke unit within three hours of the start of symptoms they can potentially benefit from clot-busting thrombolysis treatment.¹
"As many as 1.9 million neurons die each minute that the brain is deprived of oxygen, brain damage increases and more of the brain is injured. In the case of a stroke, time is brain, literally," said Professor Martin Grond, Department of Neurology, Community Hospital, Siegen, Germany and President of the German Stroke Society. "The use of thrombolysis is spreading as we get more experience in using it. But I would like to see more specialist stroke units offering and applying thrombolysis as it is the only effective therapy to prevent neurons from dying. It is a straightforward treatment that can be applied with confidence if the specialist has been given basic training and has the adequate support services in place."
Acute ischaemic stroke is a treatable condition that requires urgent specialist attention because both thrombolytic drug treatment and specialist care of acute ischaemic stroke have been shown to influence survival as well as recovery.
This requires a rapid coordinated approach between pre-hospital emergency services (paramedic, ambulance) and hospital acute stroke services (emergency departments, stroke units and radiology departments).
The "All Because…" posters emphasise that an acute stroke victim may be able to resume normal activities all because an individual decides to "act now". The posters are being distributed to all relevant emergency departments. The role of emergency staff is critical because they are the first healthcare professionals to see the victim. For instance, ambulance staff can identify acute stroke patients and can alert specialised hospital staff to the imminent arrival of a suspected stroke victim.
"The FAST* test enables both the public and paramedics to quickly identify a suspected stroke patient. This is vital because the emergency medical services can prioritise an emergency response and the paramedics can then take the stroke patient directly to a hospital equipped with specialist stroke care facilities in order that they can benefit from time dependent treatments to minimise brain injury," said Mark Cooke, a founder member of the ACT NOW Initiative. "We hope that the new poster will remind emergency staff all over Europe that for stroke patients a little individual action can go a long way."
The poster is the latest element of the ACT NOW Campaign which aims to promote best practice in early patient assessment and treatment of acute stroke. One of its aims is to communicate how pre-hospital and hospital procedures can be interlinked and modified to speed the transfer of the patient to specialist care.
"The first symptom I noticed when I suffered my acute stroke at the age of 57 was not being able to find the right words when speaking, said R.M. from Cologne in Germany. "I was at work interviewing someone and I collapsed and my colleagues called the ambulance directly. I was lucky enough to be treated with the clot-busting drug at the hospital within two and a half hours of my symptoms developing. After a few months in rehabilitation I was able to return to work where I continued for another eight years until retirement. I can still do the things I enjoy and I'm so thankful for the support of my family and friends."
Notes to Editor
About ACT NOW
The ACT NOW initiative aims to communicate best practice in treating acute stroke at an interdisciplinary level. An Expert Report, entitled "Improving patient management and outcomes in acute stroke: a coordinated approach" seeks to communicate and cascade best practice internationally and nationally within the constraints of national health care systems. It shares best practice in acute stroke management within emergency medical services and relevant hospital departments and gives examples of pathways to optimise coordination between disciplines building on guidelines issued by the European Stroke Initiative (EUSI).
The multidisciplinary panel of experts involved in this initiative include:
- Werner Hacke, Head of Neurology, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Heidelberg, Germany
- Caroline Watkins, Professor of Stroke and Older People`s Care, University of Central Lancashire, Coordinator North West Stroke Task Force, Preston, UK
- Luis Garcia-Castrillo Riesgo, Director Emergency Department, University Hospital Marques de Valdecilla Cantabria, Spain
- Michael Brainin, Head of Neurology, Donauklinikum, Chair, Centre Neurosciences, Danube University Maria Gugging, Austria
- Laurent Derex, Service d`Urgences Neuro-Vasculaires, Hopital Neurologique, Lyon, France
- Gary Ford, Professor of Pharmacology of Old Age, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
- Mark Cooke, National Clinical Effectiveness Manager, Ambulance Service Association (ASA), London, UK.
ACT NOW is sponsored by an unlimited educational grant from Boehringer Ingelheim
About thrombolysis
Stroke is a neurological emergency that can affect one particular area or sometimes all of the brain. It can be caused by a burst blood vessel (haemorrhagic stroke) or when a vessel is obstructed by a blood clot (ischaemic stroke). Ischaemic stroke can be treated with clot-busting drugs, such as alteplase, which is injected directly into a vein. To achieve best outcome, patients need to receive the medication within three hours after onset of stroke symptoms. Randomised placebo-controlled studies have shown that thrombolysis with alteplase, administered within three hours of the onset of symptoms of ischaemic stroke, significantly improves clinical outcome at three months.1 The SITS-MOST study is investigating whether stroke thrombolysis in clinical practice is safe provided that guidelines for treatment are met. Alteplase is an enzyme that occurs naturally in man and causes blood clots to dissolve.
About SITS- MOST
Systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials indicate that treatment with thrombolytics is highly beneficial when given at up to 3 hours from onset of stroke symptoms. The SITS-MOST (Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke - MOnitoring STudy) aims to prove that Actilyse® is as safe and as beneficial in routine clinical practice in a large number of European clinical centres as it has been shown to be in randomised clinical trials such as the National Institute of Neurological Disorders Stroke (NINDS) Trial. SITS-MOST is embedded within the Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke International Stroke Thrombolysis Register (SITS-ISTR), an Internet-based, international monitoring registry for auditing the safety and efficacy of routine therapeutic use of thrombolysis in acute ischaemic stroke. The registry is available to clinicians across Europe, and is driven by independent collaborators having been established by the European Cooperative Acute Stroke Studies (ECASS) investigators. SITS continues to register patients for stroke thrombolysis with the aim to reach 5% or more in year 2009.FACE, ARMS, SPEECH TEST
Related links:
SITS International
CONTACT
ACT NOW
Andrew Pearce
Phone: +44 207 309 1279
Fax: +44 207 309 1221
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH
External Communications
Ute E. Schmidt
55216 Ingelheim
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)6132 7797296
Fax: +49 (0)6132 776601
E-Mail
¹ ATLANTIS and ECASS Trials Investigators; NINDS rt-PA Study Group Investigators. Association of outcome with early stroke treatment: pooled analysis of ATLANTIS, ECASS and NINDS rt-PA stroke trials. Lancet 2004; 363: 768-774.
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