How do we ensure that more patients receive stroke thrombectomy in the UK?

Jabbour, Richard J, Routledge, Helen and Curzen, Nicholas (2023) How do we ensure that more patients receive stroke thrombectomy in the UK? British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 84 (5). (doi:10.12968/hmed.2023.0111).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the UK and the largest cause of long-Term disability (Stroke Association, 2018). In approximately 10% of acute ischaemic strokes, there is occlusion of a large vessel. In these cases, percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy is the most effective treatment since, unlike intravenous thrombolysis, it removes thrombus from the cerebral circulation to restore blood flow and thereby mitigates the extent of brain damage (Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme, 2021). Despite the proven effectiveness of thrombectomy from multiple randomised controlled trials, only 2% of patients in the UK who have had an ischaemic stroke currently receive mechanical thrombectomy, which means that over 7000 eligible patients per year are unable to access this treatment (Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme, 2021). This editorial explores the main barriers to provision of mechanical thrombectomy in the UK and potential mechanisms to overcome them.

Text

Editorial final - Accepted Manuscript

Available under License University of Southampton Accepted Manuscript Licence.

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