A Global Push to Increase Awareness, Action and Access to Thrombectomy Care for Stroke Patients is Underway

MIAMI, October 29, 2020 (Newswire.com) - Mission Thrombectomy 2020+ (MT2020+), a global campaign of SVIN (Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology), has just published "Mechanical Thrombectomy for Acute Stroke. Building Thrombectomy Systems of Care in Your Region: Why and How," a White Paper targeted towards health policymakers. The paper examines the widespread inaccessibility and geographical disparities in receiving Mechanical Thrombectomy (MT), an interventional treatment that has been proven to have overwhelming benefit for a common type of disabling stroke in multiple large studies across many countries since 2015. MT needs to be performed within the first 24 hours of the onset of stroke symptoms for disabling stroke from a large artery being suddenly blocked in the brain (commonly called LVO stroke), and its outcomes are highly time-sensitive, especially early on. The White Paper report calls for sweeping increase in MT awareness, accessibility, and action on a worldwide level. It will be distributed on Oct. 29 to coincide with World Stroke Day.

Currently, the United States is a global leader in MT patient care, but the burden of care is almost 4-5 times greater in many lower to middle income countries. According to MT2020, the data on stroke patients and the level of care they receive are as follows.

• Each year, approximately 13.67 million people suffer from strokes worldwide
• 20-30% of all ischemic stroke cases are due to a large vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke, which makes them eligible for highly effective MT treatment
• Less than 10% of eligible LVO stroke patients receive MT, leaving approximately two million people in need for this procedure but unable to receive it.
• The two main goals set forth by the MT2020 initiative and detailed in the report are:
  • Implement public health interventions to double global access to MT treatments every two years for the next decade
  • Performing 202,000 MT procedures worldwide by the end of 2020

"Large vessel occlusion stroke is a long-standing silent global crisis that now has a highly effective solution since the last five years: Mechanical Thrombectomy. However, thrombectomy care isn't widely accessible with colossal geographic disparities on a global level," said Dr. Dileep Yavagal, MT2020 Chair and GEC Co-Chair and Past-President of SVIN. "We are calling on public health policymakers to increase physical, financial and diagnostic access to thrombectomy for patients with disabling stroke to prevent a lifetime of suffering and death."

The White Paper also provides perspective on:

• Cost-effectiveness of patient care afforded by successful implementation of MT protocols
• Tracking metrics and analytics made available through the dedicated MT2020 Global Thrombectomy Tracking (GTT) app
• Educational tools for members of the community
• Training initiatives for EMS and healthcare professionals
• Building Thrombectomy Systems-of-Care in the community
• Improving inter-hospital transfers for MT patients

The White paper will be disseminated in all six continents by the 82 Regional Committees of MT2020. The long-term goal is the emergence and wide-spread availability of Mechanical Thrombectomy as the standard of care globally. While progress has been made since the formation of MT2020 in 2016, there is still an imminent need for continued efforts.

About Mission Thrombectomy 2020 (MT2020)

Mission Thrombectomy 2020+ is a global health campaign, founded by the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology (SVIN) in 2016, to accelerate access to the stroke thrombectomy surgery globally. The goal of MT2020 is to coalesce global public health efforts with a goal to double access to thrombectomy every two years for stroke caused by large vessel occlusion (LVO). The campaign will improve stroke care worldwide by increasing the rate of stroke thrombectomy for eligible patients from less than 100,000 procedures today to 202,000 annually by end of 2020 and thereby reduce global stroke disability. Stroke Thrombectomy, also known as Mechanical Thrombectomy, is the new highly effective standard of care that reverses paralysis from a stroke in over 60% of patients if done by experts within six hours of stroke symptoms. For further information about MT2020, please visit http://missionthrombectomy2020.org.

About SVIN

The Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology was created to achieve the highest level of care for patients through increased collaboration in scientific research and by educating young professionals and training young investigators. The Society also aims to provide opportunities to connect leaders in the field and provide a common ground for dialogue and creation of practice and safety standards. Our mission is to represent the advancement of interventional neurology as a field with the ultimate goal of improving clinical care and outcomes in patients with stroke and cerebrovascular diseases. For further information about SVIN, please visit www.svin.org or find us on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

For more information about MT2020, contact Dileep Yavagal at dyavagal@med.miami.edu.

Source: Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology