Stroke Unit Care : Collaboration between Vascular Neurosurgeon and Stroke Neurologist

Abstract

  The essence of stroke treatment is “team medicine” and the stroke unit care is a treatment system based on the integration of patients and medical personnel, early rehabilitation, and multidisciplinary stroke team medicine. The treatment of cerebral infarction is an important role for neurologists, involving high examination skills, knowledge of internal medicine (especially cardiovascular, endocrinology, metabolism, thrombosis, and hemostasis), geriatrics, radiology, and rehabilitation medicine, the latest knowledge on primary and secondary preventions, various ultrasonography skills (carotid duplex, transcranial Doppler, transesophageal echocardiography, lower extremity vein), and neuroradiological evaluation skills (CT, MRI, and angiography). Common treatment guidelines should be established for acute revascularization, craniotomy, and other surgical interventions, to establish a system in which neurosurgeons and neurologists collaborate based on information sharing and mutual understanding for identifying pathologies, determining indications, performing surgeries, and peri- and postoperative management.