Management of Ischemic Stroke in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Existing Status and Prospective Opportunities

TL;DR

This study examines the current state of ischemic stroke care in a major hospital in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and identifies areas for improvement.

Contribution

The paper provides a detailed assessment of ischemic stroke management practices and challenges in a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan.

Findings

Ischemic strokes accounted for 49% of stroke cases in the study, with most patients arriving by private vehicle.

Only 19% of patients were eligible for thrombolytic therapy, indicating limited treatment options.

A significant association was found between patient age and emergency room arrival times.

Abstract

Background and objective

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the third largest province of Pakistan by population and has a high incidence of ischemic stroke. We evaluated all patients who presented to the largest tertiary care facility in the province to learn about the current trends in the management of ischemic stroke and explore future opportunities in this regard.

Materials and methods

This prospective observational research was carried out at the Lady Reading Hospital-Medical Teaching Institute (LRH-MTI), Peshawar, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The hospital's ethics committee granted the required permissions for the research. Any patient with an ischemic stroke diagnosis, regardless of age, met the inclusion criteria if their diagnosis was confirmed by clinical assessment, imaging (such as CT or MRI), or both. The clinical parameters that were evaluated included the duration since the patient's reported onset of symptoms, the patient's first mode of transfer to the hospital (such as ambulance, private vehicle, or other means), and the date and time of admission to the hospital. A structured database containing the data was utilized, and IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25 (released 2017; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States) was used for statistical analysis.

Results

One hundred fifty-six stroke patients were diagnosed throughout the study period, with 76 of them having an ischemic stroke, accounting for 49% of all stroke cases. Approximately 43% (n = 33) of the patients were from Peshawar, with the remaining patients coming from adjacent districts. There was only a small percentage (19%, n = 15) of patients who were eligible for any thrombolytic therapy, and the majority (93%) were brought by private vehicles. There was a significant association between age and arrival in the emergency room (p = 0.003).

Conclusion

The study reveals subpar ischemic stroke management in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, requiring coordinated efforts, modernization of treatment methods, and increased public awareness to improve patient outcomes.