Stroke Clinical Trials

Experimental: Intervention arm

Participants are patients presenting with acute stroke symptoms in rural districts in Norway. A cockpit solution by Syngo Virtual Cockpit® software for remote control of the stationary CT machine at the DMCs from the nearest stroke center is implemented. The EMC center routes the ambulance to DMC Midt-Troms when it is the nearest. A nurse at DMC and the ambulance personnel performs the clinical examination and positions the patient in the CT machine. Through AVC the examination is overseen by the stroke physician, images are interpreted by a radiologist at UNN, and the decision regarding acute treatment is made by the stroke physician at UNN, Tromsø. If indicated, IVT and blood pressure lowering medication is administered by the nurse at the DMC. Patients resenting with acute stroke symptoms in the catchment area of DMC Midt-Troms (Sørreisa and Senja municipalities) and DMC Sør-Helgeland (Brønnøy and Sømna municipalities) comprise the intervention group.

No_intervention: Control

1\) Patients presenting with acute stroke symptoms residing in municipalities in Nord-Troms (Nordreisa, Kåfjord, Skjervøy and Kvænangen) and Nordland (Saltdal, Hamarøy, Steigen and Sørfold) from the time of DMC model implementation until end of study. These patients are from areas that are geographically similar to Midt-Troms and Sør-Helgeland with regards to distance to the nearest hospital, but without access to prehospital CT diagnostics and acute stroke treatment.

No_intervention: Historical control

This control group consists of acute stroke patients from the same municipalities (both intervention and control group) presenting with stroke symptoms within a 5 year period prior to the implementation of prehospital diagnostics and treatment at the DMC.