The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, in partnership with Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, are unveiling the country's first Mobile Stroke Unit Monday.

According to a news release the ambulance is equipped with a computed tomography (CT) scanner that allows a mobile stroke unit team member to quickly assess whether a patient is having a stroke caused by a blood clot and if so, the clot-buster tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) can be administered. The stroke unit will be run in conjunction with the Emergency Medical Services of the Houston Fire Department, Bellaire Fire Department and West University Fire Department.

"It typically takes roughly an hour once a stroke patient arrives in the emergency room to receive treatment. So if we can actually put the emergency room in the ambulance and take the CT scanner to the patient, we could treat the patient at the scene with the medication and save that hour," said James C. Grotta, M.D., director of stroke research in the Center for Innovation & Research at Memorial Hermann-TMC and director of the mobile stroke unit consortium that will also include the stroke teams from Houston Methodist Hospital and St. Luke's Medical Center, local businesses and philanthropists. "That hour could mean saving 120 million brain cells."

After observing a similar unit in Germany, Grotta, a longtime faculty member who served as chairman of UTHealth's Department of Neurology for seven years, had the opportunity to present his idea to UTHealth Development Board members. He was surprised when a couple approached him and offered to help with the project after the meeting in March 2013, according to Monday's announcement.

."The mobile stroke unit is one example of how UTHealth is advancing stroke treatment," said Elizabeth Noser, M.D., co-principal investigator of the UTHealth trial that will measure outcomes and cost savings. "We anticipate that the decrease in stroke treatment time will translate to improved outcomes." Noser is clinical assistant professor of neurology and the James C. Grotta, M.D. Chair in Neurological Recovery and Stroke at UTHealth.

According to the announcement: "The stroke unit will be located at The University of Texas Professional Building in the Texas Medical Center. It will respond to calls within a three-mile radius and patients will be transported to comprehensive stroke centers including Memorial Hermann-TMC, Houston Methodist Hospital and St. Luke's Medical Center. It will carry a paramedic, neurologist, nurse and CT technician and run alternate weeks as part of the clinical trial at UTHealth."

Grotta, co-principal investigator of the study, said: "We know we can speed up treatment but we don't know how much that speed will affect recovery." ."We really don't have data on how receiving tPA within the first hour after symptoms start affects patient outcomes, including the amount of disability. This study will help us determine how much more helpful it is to receive tPA within that first hour."