AN OBSERVATION ON THE TIME OF HOSPITAL ARRIVAL AND CORRECT DIAGNOSIS WITH CT IN ACUTE CEREBRAL STROKE PATIENTS

Objective: Ischemic cerebral stroke should be treated as early as poss ible to improve therapeutic effects and decrease disability rate. This study was performed to investigate the time of presentation of acute stroke and the time of establishment of definite diagnosis. Method: Fo ur hospitals of different types in the Beijing area participated. Eigh t hundred and thirty-three patients were observed prospectively. The t ime from symptom onset of acute stroke to hospital arrival and the tim e of CT scanning were recorded. Results: Five hundred and ninety-one ( 70.9%) were ischemic stroke patients and 242 (29.1%) were hemorrhagic stroke patients. In Beijing Hospital the time of presentation of acute stroke was shortest among the four hospitals. The rates of patients w ho arrived at hospital within 3 and 6 h after acute stroke were higher for Beijing Hospital than for the other three hospitals, accounting f or 42.5 and 58.8%, respectively. The time of presentation after acute ischemic stroke was longer than that after hemorrhagic stroke in all f our hospitals. CT scanning was conducted most timely in Beijing Hospit al. The rates of CT scanning within 3 and 6 h also were higher in Beij ing Hospital, accounting for 23.5 and 40.0%, respectively. Conclusion: In the Beijing area, even in a large hospital at the city center, onl y half of the patients with ischemic stroke arrived at hospital within 6 h after stroke onset. The patients who were examined with CT scan w ithin 6 h were less than half. It is suggested that for early treatmen t of ischemic stroke a great deal of work, such as public and professi onal education in the community, should be done.