News Release

HOSPITAL JOINS STROKE PREVENTION, TREATMENT INITIATIVE

Feb. 28, 2006 — UPMC Northwest is advancing the fight against brain attack (stroke) on a new front. It’s taking part in the American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Stroke initiative that is intended to prevent strokes and improve brain attack treatment.

The purpose of Get With The Guidelines–Stroke is to help UPMC Northwest and other hospitals use proven science-based treatment guidelines – including those developed by the American Stroke Association, American Heart Association, and Brain Attack Coalition – to advance stroke treatment and prevention. The guidelines address stroke prevention, acute stroke management, and the development of stroke centers like UPMC Northwest where patients can obtain advanced stroke prevention and treatment services.

		Neurologist James McLaughlin, DO, is medical director of the UPMC Northwest Stroke Program that now is involved in an American Stroke Association initiative to improve stroke prevention and treatment.

UPMC Northwest already has a comprehensive stroke program that is the only one of its kind among rural hospitals in western Pennsylvania – UPMC Northwest has provided care for more than 1,200 brain attack patients since launching the program in 1996 – and its participation in Get With The Guidelines-Stroke will further strengthen its ability to prevent and treat stroke, according to neurologist James McLaughlin, DO, medical director of the program.

As a Get With The Guidelines–Stroke participating hospital, UPMC Northwest will further develop its rapid diagnosis and treatment capabilities that are used when stroke patients arrive in the Emergency Department, Dr. McLaughlin says. The capabilities include around-the-clock availability of brain imaging scans, and when appropriate, the use of blood clot-dissolving medications such as tPA that potentially can stop a brain attack within minutes.

UPMC Northwest and other participating hospitals also will advance stroke prevention through aggressive use of statins (drugs that lower blood cholesterol levels) and anti-platelet medications (which thin the blood to prevent clots that cause brain attack), by aggressively managing other factors that increase individuals’ risk of stroke including treating atrial fibrillation, atherosclerosis, and diabetes, and by promoting weight loss, exercise, and smoking cessation.

Training and staffing guidelines, treatment and discharge protocols, and data collection and measurement also can be enhanced through involvement in Get With The Guidelines–Stroke, according to neurologic nurse specialist Pauline Rankin, CRNP, BC, who says the program also fosters creating and sharing “best practices” among participating hospitals.

The time is right for UPMC Northwest to become a Get With The Guidelines–Stroke hospital, the American Stroke Association says, because populations are aging locally and nationwide, and advancing age is one of the factors that increases a person’s risk of having a brain attack.

The impact of stroke is devastating. According to the American Stroke Association, stroke is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. (behind only diseases of the heart and cancer), and is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability. Stroke affects more than 700,000 Americans every year (500,000 first-time strokes and 200,000 recurrent attacks) and kills more than 275,000 people. Of stroke survivors, about one-fourth who have a first stroke die within a year, and for those 65 and older, the percentage is even greater.

Participation in Get With The Guidelines–Stroke will enhance UPMC Northwest’s stroke program that already features state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment; skilled, experienced caregivers; and direct access to advanced specialty care through affiliation with the UPMC Stroke Institute, one of the leading stroke treatment programs in the nation.