[이데일리 이순용 기자] While difficulties in the normal operation of the emergency medical system are aggravating due to the continuous spread of Corona 19, Eunpyeong St. Mary’s Hospital is effectively responding to emergency cerebrovascular diseases, which are competing for seconds even in the situation of strengthening the quarantine of Corona 19 in the hospital.
The team of Professor Eun-Jin and Park Hae-Kwan of Neurosurgery at Eunpyeong St. Mary’s Hospital, Catholic University of Korea (Chairman Choi Seung-hye) accompanied cerebrovascular occlusion at Eunpyeong St. We compared the time and results of thrombectomy before and after strengthening quarantine for 88 patients with acute cerebral infarction.
Eunpyeong St. Mary’s Hospital has built an effective treatment system by further strengthening the classification of severity for all patients visiting the emergency medical center since March 2020, when the spread of COVID-19 began in earnest. In this process, patients who need surgery or surgery to keep the golden time are immediately isolated in a negative pressure isolation room, and after preemptively taking chest X-rays and checking symptoms of cough, cold, and fever, medical staff during emergency procedures or surgeries provide Level D protection Emergency patients are treated by treatment while wearing equipment.
Professor Eun-Jin’s research team started the new quarantine system with 45 patients who visited the emergency medical center due to acute cerebral infarction accompanied by cerebrovascular occlusion before March 2020, when the COVID-19 quarantine system was strengthened in earnest. As a result of analyzing the treatment process for 43 patients up to December, it was found that there was no significant difference in the time required for thrombectomy and the procedure results in both periods.
In detail, the time it takes for patients to be diagnosed by imaging after visiting the hospital was 14 minutes based on the median before the outbreak of COVID-19, but after quarantine was strengthened, it increased to 28.5 minutes for patients with symptoms related to COVID-19.
However, the time from admission to thrombectomy was 145 minutes and 140 minutes, respectively, and the procedure time was 60 minutes and 43 minutes, respectively. With 189 minutes, there was no delay due to strengthening quarantine. In addition, there was no difference between the two groups in the score scale indicating the prognosis after cerebral infarction.
Cerebral infarction is a condition in which irreversible brain cell damage occurs due to a decrease in blood flow to brain cells. Causes of cerebral infarction include blockage of blood vessels due to arteriosclerosis or heart embolism, and the frequency increases in smokers and elderly patients. If a cerebral infarction occurs due to occlusion of a major cerebral blood vessel, if the patient visits the emergency room within 4 hours and 30 minutes after the onset of symptoms, a thrombolytic drug can be administered, but the treatment rate is only about 30%, so physical thrombus removal is required. a lot of patients Endovascular thrombectomy can reduce the patient’s neurological sequelae as soon as the thrombus is removed as quickly as possible.
Professor Eunjin Eunjin of Neurosurgery at Eunpyeong St. Mary’s Hospital, who led the study, said, “Cerebral vascular occlusion is an emergency disease that can protect the patient’s life and enhance the treatment effect only when treatment is performed within the golden time. We are in an unfavorable situation.” He explained, “According to the enhanced infection control procedure, imaging took longer than usual, but it is very meaningful that the overall time of the procedure was reduced through the systematic response promised by the medical staff.” .
Professor Hae-kwan Park of Neurosurgery said, “In a situation where infectious diseases, including COVID-19, are expected to be prevalent in the future, it is necessary to discuss and make efforts from a long-term perspective to keep the golden hour of patients visiting emergency medical centers.”
This study was recently published in the Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society, an SCI-level academic journal.
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