Telemedicine Improves Treatment of Stroke Patients
The current issue of the Lancet Neurology includes an article that describes the advantages of incorporating telemedicine consultation for patients who have had a stroke that reside in remote areas where access to specialists is not readily available. The researchers note the benefits of such to determine treatment for those patients.
The team specifically noted that telemedicine consultation offers improvements compared to telephone consults. The assessment from a specialists entailed determination of whether or not patients should be treated with thrombolytics.
The research team evaluated a group of 222 adult patients who had a stroke. These were recruited from four different remote sites in California. Patients were randomly assigned for either a telephone or a telemedicine consultation. The telemedicine consult entailed a real-time, two-way audio and video system. Also incorporated was digital imaging and communications.
Findings reported in the study indicate that telemedicine consults yielded a higher rate of appropriate treatment, 98 percent compared to 82 percent in the cohort of patients who had phone consultations. This finding was statistically significant.
Long-term outcomes in the two groups were no different, specifically death and recurrence of stroke. This may support routine use of telemedicine for stroke assessment. The team further suggests that this study can serve as a model for incorporating telemedicine in other disease specialties.
August 6, 2008 Related topics: Diagnostic, Psychiatry & Neurology