ESOC 2025 | Enhancing stroke care with mobile units: benefits achieved, barriers remaining

Mobile stroke units are specialized ambulances that consist of a CT scanner in the truck itself. And so we’re able to transport two patients, perform scans with the neurologist, with the stroke nurse, and then be able to provide on-scene medications such as thrombolysis. Thrombolysis, and so mobile stroke units have been around since about mid-2015 or so and have been shown to dramatically improve outcomes. First off, you can provide treatment quicker through a mobile stroke unit versus patients presenting directly to an emergency room, and we’re able to get more patients presenting within the golden hour and given thrombolysis within the first hour of symptom onset. And there’s been clinical trial data that have shown that compared to emergency presentations, mobile stroke units improve outcomes both in the short term and in the long term. One of the limitations of mobile stroke units, as you can imagine, is that it’s extremely expensive. There are substantial upfront costs to put a mobile stroke unit together, at least a million dollars if not more, and then staffing is a major issue as well. So often a mobile stroke unit consists of a neurologist, a stroke nurse, a radiographer for the CT scanner, and then a paramedic, one or two, depending on where you are regionally. And so there are substantial costs from a staffing standpoint that can make long-term viability an issue, just because again, it can cost a lot to keep these trucks going long-term.

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