WCN 2021 | Stroke care in Brazil

Sheila Martins, MD, PhD, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, gives an overview of the key dates in the development of the stroke system of care in Brazil. Whilst the first stroke unit opened in 1996, it wasn’t until 2007 that the Ministry of Health initiated the creation of a national program for stroke based on the experience of 35 stroke centers performing endovenous thrombolysis. In 2012, the Ministry of Health published a national policy for stroke authorizing intravenous thrombolysis procedures and increased funding to hospitals with stroke units and stroke centers with a complete multidisciplinary team, resulting in the improvement of overall stroke care in Brazil. Today, there are 192 both public and private hospitals prepared for acute stroke care. In addition, thrombectomy was recently approved for stroke in the public health care system in Brazil based on data from the RESILIENT trial (NCT02216643). This interview took place during the XXV World Congress of Neurology.