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Jarin Chindaprasirt 1 and Kittisak Sawanyawisuth 1,2,3 and Paiboon Chattakul 1 and Panita Limpawattana 1 and Somsak Tiamkao 1,4 and Patcharin Aountri 5 and Verajit Chotmongkol 1,3
Academic Editor:A. Arboix and Academic Editor:G. Boysen and Academic Editor:M. G. Grasso
1, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, 123 Mitraparp Road, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
2, Improvement of Physical Performance and Quality of Life Research Group, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
3, Researches and Diagnostic Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
4, North-Eastern Stroke Research Group, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
5, Stroke Unit, Srinagarind Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Received 29 July 2013; Accepted 18 August 2013
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
1. Introduction
Acute ischemic stroke is the most common neurological disease and the third leading cause of death in Thailand [1, 2]. The sequel is catastrophic for patient and caregivers and causes economic burden for the country. Approximately 200,000 Thai patients were diagnosed with stroke yearly but less than one percent received thrombolytic therapy in time [3].
Thrombolysis with the intravenous recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (rt-PA) is now the standard of care for AIS patient with onset of stroke less than 4.5 hours [4, 5]. Male gender was shown to be a predictor in acute stroke patients who received rt-PA [6]. There is limited data on prognostic factors particularly in Asian population. Here, we reported the predictor for functional outcomes of acute stroke in the stroke referral system in Northeast Thailand.
2. Stroke Referral System
Srinagarind hospital is a 900-bed university hospital situated in Khon Kaen province, the central part of Northeastern Thailand. It served as a referral center for all provinces in this region. The stroke fast track program was initiated in 2007, and the referral system was complete in January 2008. The stroke network cover 63 primary or community (30 to 90 beds), 4 secondary (120 beds), and 1 tertiary (500 beds) hospitals in 4 provinces including Khon...