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Successful Stroke treatment is a very time critical process. An exponential, inverse relationship exists between the time lag until the start of treatment and the clinical outcome. This time lag is shortest when intravenous fibrinolysis is initiated in the nearest hospital with the capacity of delivering the adequate treatment. This retrospective comparison of two hospitals was undertaken to show the impact of establishing a telemedicine unit and implementation of teleconsultation in the evaluation process for systemic fibrinolysis on the lysis rate and the time required for the initial evaluation.

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Martin Liesch MD, MSc, born 1970. Consultant for Internal and Emergency Medicine and European Master in Stroke Medicine. Head of the Emergency Departement and of the local Stroke Unit in a rural mountain area in Switzerland.

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