The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and Georgetown County Fire/EMS recently teamed up to test the feasibility of conducting an MRI scan in the back of a moving ambulance. The goal, according to MUSC, was to “cut down the steps that need to happen between the time a stroke patient is wheeled through the ambulance bay until the treatment can begin.”
Doctors went into the project with the assumption that the sooner an MRI was performed, the better the patient outcome, especially for those experiencing oxygen deprivation.
Dr. Christine Holmstedt, who serves as MUSC’s Medical Director for Clinical Stroke Services, explained that “for every 15-minute reduction in ‘door-to-needle time,’ there’s a significant improvement in patient outcomes, including reduction in disabilities and reduction in mortality.”