Siriraj Acute Stroke Unit: 10 Years Experience
Songchai Chinwatanakul MD*, Kanokwan Boonyapisit MD*, Darakul Pornsriniyom MD*, Naraporn Proyoonwiwat MD*, Vorapan Senanarong MD, FRCP*, Rungsan Chaisevikul MD*, Chotipat Danchaivijitr MD, MRCP*, Watanachai Chotinaiwatarakul MD*, Sith Sathornsumetee MD*, Niphon Poungvarin MD, FRCP, FRI*
Affiliation : * Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Background : Stroke is the second most common cause of death and leading cause of adult disability worldwide. The recent
publication guidelines suggest that there are treatment strategies for optimizing the management of acute stroke patients
including thrombolytic therapy, antiplatelet drugs and the establishment of a stroke unit. In Thailand, the first stroke unit has
been established since May 1997 and was named Siriraj Acute Stroke Unit (SASU).
Material and Method: The authors retrospectively analyzed the data of stroke patients who were admitted in the SASU from
May 1997 to May 2007, as well as hyper acute stroke (within 3 hours after onset). The statistical analysis was performed by
using SPSS 11.0.
Results : There were 2,109 patients admitted to the SASU during 10 year-period. The mean age of all patients was 65.35 years
(range14-94 years, median 69.2 years). Stroke subtypes were classified as infarction (including transient ischemic attack) in
1799 patients (86.7%) and hemorrhage in 310 patients (13.26%). The most common stroke mechanism was small vessel
disease (38.97%). The mainly ischemic stroke distribution was middle cerebral artery territory (77.14%). Risk factors of
stroke were as follow: hypertension (61.79%), diabetes mellitus (35.47%), hyperlipidaemia (46.58%), smoking (21.02%)
and prior stroke or coronary heart disease (23.74%). Mortality rate was 3.4% mainly due septicemia (26 patients). The mean
total hospital stay of stroke patients at the SASU was 13.81 days (ranging from 1-120 days). There were thirty hyper-acute
ischemic stroke patients who received intravenous thrombolytic therapy (between August 2005 and May 2007) for which the
mean age was 70.7 years (ranges 48-88 years, median 74.5 years). Mean initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale
(NIHSS) was 14.27. Intracranial hemorrhage after intravenous thrombolytic therapy was found in 8 patients which include
3 patients with symptomatic hemorrhage.
Conclusion : The standard of care in SASU is not inferior to other stroke unit worldwide. Admission of acute stroke patient
to the SASU provides a better chance of survival as well as a shorter length of hospital stay.
Keywords : Stroke unit, Acute stroke, Treatment, Mortality, Length of stay
