Published 23 July 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a955
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a955
News
Joint guidelines call for speedier assessment of patients with stroke
Henry Creagh
1 London
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
All patients suspected of having had a stroke should be admitted as quickly as possible to an acute stroke unit and, if appropriate, given thrombolytic treatment, say new guidelines for the United Kingdom.
Patients who have had transient ischaemic attacks ("mini-strokes") should no longer have to face the risk of having a full acute stroke while they wait, sometimes weeks, for assessment, the guidelines state.
Two sets of guidelines were launched on Wednesday 23 July, one from the Royal College of Physicians and the other from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Both documents highlight the fact that one in 10 deaths in the UK are caused by a stroke and that every year an estimated 150 000 people have a stroke. Stroke is the third largest cause of disability, with 250 000 people living with severe disabilities resulting from the condition.
The NICE guideline (soon to
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