Critical role of the "Doctor-Heli" system on cerebral infarction in the superacute stage--report of a outstanding pilot case.

In Japan, the physician staffed helicopter ambulance system, "Doctor-Heli" System, was first founded in our University Hospital in 1999. In this system, a helicopter is based at an Emergency Medical Center at all times and dispatch with both emergency physicians and a nurse upon a request by paramedics. This system has made possible a critically earlier development of the initial management at the point of care and rapid transport to the hospital. We presented the case suffering from acute cerebral infarction was transported by the "Doctor-Heli" and received the intervention for thrombolysis successfully. It was less than three hours from the onset to the completion of the intervention. The "DoctorHeli" system has a potential benefit for patients with acute cerebral infarction because of it enables quite early clinical diagnosis and rapid transport.