Improving workflow: the ANGIO-CAT study
The conference was kicked off by Dr Elkind delivering an inspirational Presidential address that emphasized building bridges between different disciplines both within stroke/cerebrovascular fields and with colleagues in other fields (see summary )
We then jumped into the exciting results of ANGIO-CAT by Dr Requena from Vall d'Hebron Hospital, in Barcelona, which has a high volume thrombectomy center. Patients were randomized to a conventional neuro-imaging pathway (DTCT, direct to CT, n=73) versus a direct to the angiography suite pathway (DTAS, n=74) with a flat panel CT to screen for hemorrhage.
Importantly, door to puncture times were a median of 18 minutes in the DTAS group versus 42 minutes in the DTCT group – this is a whopping 24 minutes of difference in median door-to-puncture times.