“Stroke” ambulances

This year will herald the arrival of Australia’s first “stroke” ambulance. Equipped with a CT scanner the size of a washing machine, it will offer suspected stroke victims in Melbourne a brain scan in their driveway and access to time-critical therapy up to an hour earlier.

Strokes afflict 1000 Australians a week. About 80 per cent are caused by a blocked blood vessel in the brain and may benefit from a clot-busting drug, tPA. Yet the drug has to be taken within four hours of having a stroke and it can be fatal in the 20 per cent of strokes that are caused by a haemorrhage.

Currently, only 7 per cent of eligible patients receive tPA as they don’t know exactly when the stroke occurred. The stroke ambulance will diagnose the type of stroke and deliver treatment. On board will be two paramedics, a radiologist, neurologist and nurse. The project is likely to be rolled out in other states.