Why it's done

In stroke telemedicine, your doctor and the doctor trained in treating strokes at the distant site work together to provide care in your home community and try to avoid the need for transfer to another medical center. This often allows you to receive quality stroke care in your community.

Many regional hospitals don't have neurologists on call to recommend the most appropriate stroke care. In stroke telemedicine, a stroke expert at the distant site consults with doctors and people who've had acute strokes at the originating remote site.

Getting a prompt diagnosis and an appropriate treatment recommendation increases the chances that clot-dissolving therapies (thrombolytics) can be delivered in time to reduce stroke-related disability.

To be effective, intravenously delivered clot-dissolving therapies must be given within four and a half hours after you experience stroke symptoms. Procedures to dissolve clots may be considered within 24 hours of stroke symptoms, but these require transferring from the originating to the distant site.