FRIDAY, Feb. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Rapid assessment and early treatment of transient ischemic attack (TIA) and minor stroke in a specialty outpatient clinic were associated with less subsequent hospital use and disability, according to research published online Feb. 5 in The Lancet Neurology.
Ramon Luengo-Fernandez, of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues analyzed data from 591 individuals referred to a clinic with suspected TIA or non-disabling stroke during two phases of a study. In the second phase, primary-care doctors sent patients directly to the clinic rather than making an appointment, and treatment was begun immediately at the clinic, as opposed to making recommendations to referring physicians.
The set-up of the second phase was associated with fewer recurrent fatal or disabling strokes compared to the first phase (less than 1 percent versus 5 percent), the researchers report. Hospital admissions for stroke recurrence were lower in the second phase (five in phase 2 versus 25 in phase 1), and total hospital bed-days were also lower for the group in the second phase (672 versus 1,957), the report indicates.
"To make full use of the urgent TIA assessment and treatment service, the public must be educated to recognize the symptoms of TIA and to seek urgent medical attention after an event. Otherwise, as is the case for thrombolytic therapy in acute ischemic stroke, the urgent treatment of TIA will also be constantly underused," write the authors of an accompanying commentary.
One study co-author and a commentary author disclose financial relationships with several pharmaceutical companies.
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