Back to Search
Start Over
Letter to the Editor: Analysis of stroke patient migration for mechanical thrombectomy and changes in neurointerventional center size in Germany.
- Source :
-
Neurological research and practice [Neurol Res Pract] 2021 Jun 07; Vol. 3 (1), pp. 32. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Jun 07. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Aim and Methods: To analyse nationwide changes in neurointerventional center size of all German hospitals performing mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in stroke patients from 2016 to 2019. Furthermore, we assessed cross-district patient migration for MT for the first time using hospitals' structured quality reports and German Diagnosis-Related Groups data in 2019.<br />Findings: Number of hospitals performing more than 100 MT procedures/year doubled in Germany from 2016 (n = 36) to 2019 (n = 71), and these neurointerventional centers performed 71% of all MT procedures in 2019. The overall increase in MT procedures was largely driven by these high-volume neurointerventional centers with ability to perform MT 24/7 (121% increase as compared with 8% increase in hospitals performing less than 100 MT procedures/year). The highest cross-district patient mobility/transfer of stroke patients for MT was observed in districts adjacent to these high-volume neurointerventional centers with existing neurovascular networks.<br />Conclusion: The substantial increase in MT procedures observed in Germany between 2016 and 2019 was almost exclusively delivered by high-volume stroke centers performing more than 100 MT procedures per year in established neurovascular networks. As there is still a reasonable number of districts with low MT rates, further structural improvement including implementation of new or expansion of existing neurovascular networks and regional tailored MT triage concepts is needed.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2524-3489
- Volume :
- 3
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Neurological research and practice
- Publication Type :
- Editorial & Opinion
- Accession number :
- 34092263
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s42466-021-00131-2