The Mass General Stroke Service
Mass General’s Stroke Service provides comprehensive care, including diagnosis, prevention and treatment, for patients with stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases.
What Are We Measuring?
Ischemic stroke, which account for about 87% of all strokes, occurs when a blockage in the blood vessels to the brain causes damage to brain tissue. Immediate treatment may minimize long-term disability and even death from a stroke.
Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is a drug used to dissolve the blood clots that cause this blockage and restore normal blood flow. The medication should be administered within 4.5 hours of stroke symptoms.
It is estimated that 2 million nerve cells die for every minute that brain ischemia remains untreated. Therefore, reducing the time to treatment is a critical intervention in the management of acute stroke. Massachusetts General Hospital tracks the percentage of eligible ischemic stroke patients who received IV tPA within 3 hours of stroke onset as well as the percent who are treated within 60 minutes of emergency department arrival.
To qualify for IV tPA, patients must arrive to Mass General within the first few hours of symptoms. The administration of tPA to carefully screened, eligible acute ischemic stroke patients has been shown to significantly improve patient outcomes.
How We Are Performing?
Below are three charts showing how Mass General performs on these measures compared to the national benchmark.
IV rt-PA Arrive by 2 Hour, Treat by 3 Hour
Higher scores are better
Data Source: Get With the Guidelines Report generated with IQVIA PMT ™ system. Copy or distribution of the GWTG Aggregate Data is prohibited without the prior written consent of the American Heart Association and IQVIA
Date Period: 2019
Door to IV rt-PA Median Time
Lower scores are better
Data Source: Get With the Guidelines Report generated with IQVIA PMT ™ system. Copy or distribution of the GWTG Aggregate Data is prohibited without the prior written consent of the American Heart Association and IQVIA
Date Period: 2019
Door to IV tPA: Percent (%) within 60 Minutes
Higher scores are better
Data Source: Get With the Guidelines Report generated with IQVIA PMT ™ system. Copy or distribution of the GWTG Aggregate Data is prohibited without the prior written consent of the American Heart Association and IQVIA
Date Period: 2019
The Mass General Stroke Service
Mass General’s Stroke Service provides comprehensive care, including diagnosis, prevention and treatment, for patients with stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases.