AMH stroke coordinator to speak at international conference

Dec 14, 2018 9:39 AM

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Kyle Ogle

ALTON – Kyle Ogle, the stroke program coordinator at Alton Memorial Hospital, has been selected to present an abstract at the International Stroke Conference this February in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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Ogle has conducted research to determine the best way for Emergency Medical Services to triage stroke patients and decide whether or not they need to be taken directly to a comprehensive stroke center for thrombectomy evaluation. (As a primary stroke center, AMH is unable to offer such services.)

A thrombectomy is a surgical procedure in which physicians will go in to the blood vessel to retrieve a clot. This is only done for moderate to severe strokes, and there is a very strict criteria to determine who is eligible.

“From this research, a pre-hospital stroke screening tool was selected,” Ogle said. “Then, recent clinical trials were adapted to the tool so that we can help patients up to 24 hours since the time that they were last without stroke symptoms. Alton Memorial has begun to lead the way with this new development and EMS personnel are currently learning the screening scale.

“The scale has received positive regional response, and up to 85 ambulance services in the Southern Illinois area may be following our lead in raising the bar for emergency stroke care standards. We are all very excited for this chance to make such an impact within the communities for our patients.”

Stroke remains one of the top causes of death and disability worldwide. Strokes may result from an obstruction in blood flow within a blood vessel (ischemic) or a ruptured, bleeding vessel (hemorrhagic). The good news is that there are currently major advances developing in the world of stroke care to treat patients that are experiencing the ischemic type of stroke.

Unlike current medicine treatment (tPA), patients may be eligible for a thrombectomy for up to 24 hours. Call 911 if you notice someone having stroke symptoms!

B – Balance is off

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E – Sudden eye/vision changes

F – Facial droop

A – Arm Weakness

S – Speech irregularity

T – Time is of the essence

“Just as heart attack patients may be rushed to the closest facility for cardiac catheterization, significant stroke patients may be transported to the nearest facility for thrombectomy evaluation,” Ogle said. “To better assist our patients within the community, we needed to figure out how to best complete this task in the most efficient way possible for patients after a 911 call and ambulance response.”

The International Stroke Conference is the world’s premier meeting dedicated to the treatment of stroke and cerebrovascular disease and evolving toward a better understanding of the disease process and effective therapies.

“I feel very grateful to be sharing our exciting news from Alton Memorial Hospital with the rest of the world,” Ogle said.

“Kyle continues to display an extremely high level of commitment to Alton Memorial Hospital,” said Amy Schuler, manager of Performance Improvement at AMH. “He works elbow to elbow with those team members who are caring for stroke patients. It is ultimately our patients who benefit from Kyle’s devotion to the stroke program. His compassion and tenacity for the program is admired by all of us.”

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