First In State Telestroke Program Saves Lives

In the eight months since its roll out, UW Health Partners Watertown Regional Medical Center's (WRMC) Telestroke program – the first of its kind in Wisconsin - has advanced care for stroke patients in the greater Watertown region. Provided through a partnership with UW Health, telestroke uses telemedicine technology to connect suspected stroke victims at WRMC with nationally renown stroke specialists at UW Health.

When a stroke is caused by a blood clot, patients may benefit from a life saving, clot busting drug called Tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA). tPA dramatically increases the chance that a patient will return to normal function after the stroke, but the drug must be given within three hours of stroke onset and can be fatal if a stroke symptoms are caused by a bleed in the brain (as opposed to a clot).

Telestroke technology has allowed emergency physicians and stroke specialists to better assess and therefore prescribe tPA for more WRMC stroke patients, saving lives when precious minutes matter. "At stroke centers around the country, 15% to 20%** of stroke patients receive tPA. With the expertise available through Telestroke, WRMC has treated 26% of stroke patients with tPA, comparing favorably with the nation's major stroke centers," according to Dr. Justin Sattin, Medical Director of UW Health's Comprehensive Stroke Program. "This performance is 10 fold higher than the overall tPA administration rate across the country."

Dr. Sattin explains, "Once you put a formal program into place and educate people about stroke, it turns out that you see more of them than you realize and that more patients are tPA candidates than originally thought."

"Administering tPA is not the only success we have experienced with TeleStroke," said Bob Herdrich, WRMC's Director of Emergency Services. "One family was thankful the neurologist could give helpful advice on a decision about hospice care. Another patient, who came to the Emergency Room after the three hour window for tPA had passed, was transferred to UW Hospital and given tPA intra-arterially with great success."

"We are proud to offer this level of expertise to the area, speeding up treatment and improving the odds of survival without long-term disability. Telestroke is a great example of how our partnership with UW Health is improving the health of Watertown area residents," said Herdrich.

**CNS Drugs, 2008