FAIRFAX, Va.The first outcome-based guidelines for interventional treatment of acute ischemic strokeproviding recommendations for rapid treatmentwill benefit individuals suffering from brain attacks, often caused by artery-blocking blood clots. Representatives from the Society of Interventional Radiology and seven other medical societies created a multispecialty and international consensus on the metrics and benchmarks for processes of care and technical and clinical outcomes for stroke patients.
In February, the guidelines will be published first in SIR's Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology and subsequently by each society either in its respective journal or on its website.
"These groundbreaking guidelines are the product of two years of collaboration among multidisciplinary teams from eight societies," said Marshall E. Hicks, M.D., FSIR, president of the Society of Interventional Radiology, the national society of nearly 5,000 doctors, scientists and allied health professionals dedicated to improving health care through minimally invasive treatments. "With real progress being made in research and treatment of stroke over the last decade, this distinguished group of international authorsfrom societies whose members perform minimally invasive stroke treatmentsfelt that the time was right for a consensus on how to effectively treat and manage stroke patients," said Hicks, the head of the division of diagnostic imaging at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
"The one constant in stroke treatment is time," noted David Sacks, M.D., FSIR, an interventional radiologist at Reading Hospital and Medical Center in West Reading, Pa., and the study's lead author. "Seconds count from time of admission to treatment. Meeting the outcomes described in these guidelines will ultimately benefit patients by requiring strict adherence to a rapid treatment schedule," he added. Stroke is the fourth leading caus
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| Contact: Ellen Acconcia eacconcia@sirweb.org 703-460-5582 Society of Interventional Radiology Source:Eurekalert |