Communication-type smartphone application can contribute to reducing elapsed time to reperfusion therapy

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Communication-type medical smartphone applications enable text, neuroimaging, photos, and videos to be shared securely among the stroke team. Our aim was to investigate whether use of a smartphone application would shorten the duration from admission to reperfusion therapy in patients with hyper-acute ischemic stroke. METHODS: Enrolled were acute ischemic stroke patients who underwent reperfusion therapy (intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV t-PA) and mechanical thrombectomy (MT)) at our hospital between October 2012 and September 2018. We divided the patients into two groups based on the date of availability on smartphones of communication-type medical application: (1) Control group, conventional communication prior to September 2015, and (2) App group, communication via the smartphone app from October 2015 onwards. We compared door-to-image time (DIT), image-to-needle time (INT), door-to-needle time (DNT) for thrombolysis, and DIT, image-to-puncture time (IPT), and door-to-puncture time (DTP) for thrombectomy between the groups. RESULTS: We retrospectively enrolled 139 patients (68% male; median age, 69 years; median NIHSS score, 7) who were assigned into the App group (n = 86) and Control group (n = 53). Of the overall patients, 109 underwent IV t-PA (IV t-PA alone, 79 patients), and 63 underwent MT (MT alone, 30 patients), and 33 patients underwent combined IV t-PA and MT. There was no significant difference in DIT between the App and Control groups (23 min vs. 22 min, p = 0.493). DNT, DPT, INT, and IPT were significantly shorter in the App group than in the Control group (DNT, 62 min for the App group vs. 72 min for Control group, p = 0.038; INT, 42 vs. 48 min, p = 0.009; DPT, 106 vs. 129 min, p = 0.046; IPT, 89 vs. 117 min, p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: The present findings indicate that communication-type medical smartphone apps have potential for shortening the time elapsed between admission and reperfusion therapy, especially INT and IPT. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10072-021-05132-2.