Advanced Mobile Stroke Unit Offers CT Imaging Capabilities

The world’s most comprehensive mobile stroke unit (MSU) has been equipped with a computerized tomography (CT) scanner capable of conducting and producing advanced quality imaging for stroke diagnosis and noninvasive imaging of blood vessels in the brain.

The University of Tennessee (UT) College of Medicine (Memphis, USA) launched the MSU, the largest in the world, complete with an internal power source capable of matching regular electrical outlet access. Weighing in at more than 14 tons, it includes features and capabilities never before assembled for mobile deployment. These include a hospital-quality CT scanner with advanced imaging capabilities to not only allow brain imaging, but also high resolution CT-angiography, as it is equipped with a dedicated gantry that automatically moves the patient to obtain images.

Due to the advanced imaging capabilities, the MSU can bypass hospital emergency departments (EDs) and take patients directly to an endovascular catheterization laboratory, the operating room, a hospital stroke unit, or the neuro-intensive care unit. The MSU is staffed with fellowship-trained nurses certified as advanced neurovascular practitioners (ANVP-BC). The advanced CT capabilities will also help launch immediate treatment, including administration of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and the potent blood pressure drug nicardipine.

“We are thrilled to have this medical first in Memphis. I want to stress that the Mobile Stroke Unit is a product of worldwide industry leaders brought together to create the first-of-its-kind vehicle,” said David Stern, MD, executive dean at the UT College of Medicine. “The goal of the mobile stroke unit is to minimize morbidity and mortality, to have more patients walk out of the hospital fully functional. Time is everything for stroke treatment; the quicker we are able to assess and attend to a patient, the better his or her chances are for recovery.”

“The Mobile Stroke Unit will be based in the heart of a 10-mile, most critical needs areas of Memphis with the highest incidence of stroke, but can be deployed within the entire metro region,” said Andrei Alexandrov, MD, chairman of the department of neurology at The UT Health Science Center. “We estimate that 300 patients will need to be treated by the Mobile Stroke Unit to prove its effectiveness over the course of three years. Our goal is a sustainable model for future funding and an overall lowering of morbidity and mortality through early treatment.”

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University of Tennessee (UT) College of Medicine