Thursday, October 29, 2015

Shifting From Informed Consent to Informed Refusal of Intravenous Tissue-Type Plasminogen Activator

I don't know what the percentage is of hemorrhage after tPA administration but it is non zero.
This problem could be solved by directed use of tPA via magnetic  nanoparticles carrying a much smaller bolus of drug because it would be delivered directly to the site.  But we seem to have no one in the stroke world that publicly acknowledges the problems in stroke and is working on a strategy to solve those problems. This is so fucking easy. You specifically describe the problem, hire researchers to solve that problem. Write up a stroke protocol based on the research that addresses the problem in real time.We must have incredibly stupid people out there.
http://circoutcomes.ahajournals.org/content/8/6_suppl_3/S69.extract?etoc
  1. Lee H. Schwamm, MD
+ Author Affiliations
  1. From the Department of Neurology, MGH Stroke Services, Fireman Vascular Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
  1. Correspondence to Lee H. Schwamm, MD, Department of Neurology, ACC 720, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114. E-mail Lschwamm@partners.org
Key Words:
In this issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, Decker et al1 have described a qualitative study to better define the type of information and the best methods of display to enable patients to express their preferences toward emergency treatment of stroke with intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA). Ten focus group interviews were conducted among stroke survivors, caregivers, emergency physicians, and nurses, and then based on their findings, the Rapid Evaluation for Stroke Outcomes using Lytics in a Vascular Event (RESOLVE) decision aid tool was developed. This work is an extension of the previous work by the authors in developing a similar tool for shared decision making in nonurgent percutaneous cardiac interventions. They found that patients and caregivers want simple graphs that show the increased chance of recovering to independence, not to perfection, in general and for their individual circumstances, while understanding the risks involved.(But are you going to tell them that tPA only fully works 12% of the time?) Providers had concerns about the process itself and voiced skepticism about the underlying efficacy and safety data of tPA, particularly the risk of hemorrhage and the ability to have meaningful discussions of risk and benefit in such an emergent setting. This skepticism is echoed in the recent modification of the American College of Emergency Physicians statement downgrading the level of evidence supporting the use intravenous tPA in stroke and calling for shared decision making, when feasible, between the patient (and his or her surrogate) and a member of the healthcare team that includes a discussion of potential benefits and harms before the decision …

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