In patients with acute ischemic stroke: the sooner the thrombolysis treatment is administered after symptom onset - the better the outcome. This delay can be dissected into onset-to-door time and door-to-needle time (DNT). Of the two, DNT can be directly influenced within the hospital by stream-lining of acute stroke care. The aim of our study is to reduce in-hospital delays (DNT) in self-selecting centers recruiting patients into the the Safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke-International Stroke Thrombolysis Register (SITS-ISTR) , comprising currently more than 80 000 patients from 1338 centers. Current median of DNT in all SITS centers is 65 minutes (compared with 20 minutes in Helsinki Univer-sity Central Hospital). An itemized detailed questionnaire, including all factors known to influence DNT, has been sent to all SITS centers to identify the reasons for long in-hospital delays. Based on the replies, we have prepared a list of interventions that can be considered by individual SITS centers in order to reduce DNT with interventions that are in line with national legislation.
In patients with acute ischemic stroke: the sooner the thrombolysis treatment is administered after symptom onset - the better the outcome. This delay can be dissected into onset-to-door time and door-to-needle time (DNT). SITS-WATCH aims to reduce median DNT in participating centres.