The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the normal operation of European hospitals since March 2020, and stroke care has not been an exception. Patients, professionals as well as hospital care routines have all suffered the consequences.

Acute stroke is an emergency that requires a fast, time-sensitive treatment. If not promptly treated, it may cause severe neurologic impairment, resulting in limited functional status and loss of quality of life.  Therefore, an organized system of care is essential, focusing on prevention primary prevention, prehospital care, acute phase treatment, rehabilitation and community reintegration.  

Una de las tareas del proyecto ICTUSnet es el desarrollo de herramientas de minería de textos (TM) para asistir en el proceso de extracción de información relevante para la evaluación de la calidad asistencial. La información se extrae de los informes de alta hospitalaria de pacientes diagnosticados con ictus y se compila en un registro centralizado. La unidad de Text Mining del Barcelona Supercomputing Center lidera el desarrollo de estas herramientas dentro del proyecto.

Multiple randomized controlled trials have recently proved the superiority of mechanical thrombectomy compared to the best medical therapy in patients with recent cerebral infarct and large vessel occlusion in the anterior circulation. There are 6 Stroke Units in the Occitanie-East region, formerly Languedoc-Roussillon. Only one of these units, the Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC) of the Montpellier hospital, has a centre of interventional neuroradiology (NRI) that can perform mechanical thrombectomy.

The organization of acute stroke treatment services at the regional/national level is key to guaranteeing reperfusion therapies reach the whole population.