Abstract TP3: What Hospital Characteristics Drive Faster Thrombectomy For Emergent Large Vessel Occlusion (ELVO)?

Abstract

Introduction: Recent thrombectomy trials for ELVO have reverberated the importance of speed in reperfusion therapy. Identifying hospital practices and features associated with faster door to thrombectomy times is critical to evolving our hospital systems to effectively deliver this powerful therapy. Methods: A multi-hospital, Get with the Guidelines stroke registry was used to identify AIS patients who received intra-arterial (IA) intervention between January 2012 and May 2016. Transferred patients were excluded since their door to reperfusion times don’t typically include a primary evaluation. Patients were categorized as having door to reperfusion (Door-to-IA) time over 135 minutes or Door-to-IA time below or equal to 135 minutes. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to identify which of the following variables were associated with Door-to-IA times over 135 minutes: age, gender, IV alteplase treatment, admit NIHSS score, patient arrival time to hospital, hospital certification (primary stroke center (PSC) versus comprehensive stroke center (CSC)), hospital annual IA treatment volume, and hospital annual percentage of transfers for thrombectomy. Results: We identified 229 AIS patients from ten hospitals who received IA intervention between January 2012 and May 2016. Of those, 49% (n=113) had Door-to-IA times over 135 minutes and 51% (n=116) had Door-to-IA time below or equal to 135 minutes. Patients with Door-to-IA times over 135 minutes were more likely to be older (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.02 per year; p=.040), treated at a PSC (AOR = 2.26; p=.028), and treated at a hospital with a higher percentage of transfers (AOR = 1.08 per percentage point; p<.001). IV-alteplase treatment, gender, NIHSS, patients’ arrival time and volume were not significant. Conclusion: Comprehensive stroke centers had shorter Door-to-IA times than Primary Stroke Centers in our system. However, hospital annual IA treatment volume did not impact Door-to-IA and centers with larger transfer volume actually had worse Door-to-IA times for patients evaluated and treated locally. This suggests that high volume centers with a larger volume of transferred patients may have tuned their practices to treating transfers rather than treating local ELVO patients.