TUESDAY, June 18 (HealthDay News) -- For stroke victims, 15 minutes can mean the difference between life and death, a new study finds. Rapid treatment with a clot-dissolving drug reduces stroke patients' risk of in-hospital death and increases their chances of being able to walk and return home when they leave the hospital, according to the study, published in the June 19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "These findings support intensive efforts to accelerate patient presentation and to streamline regional and hospital systems of acute stroke care to compress [onset to treatment] times," Dr. Jeffrey Saver, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues said in a journal news release. Researchers examined data from more than 58,000 patients who suffered an ischemic stroke (in which blood flow to the brain is blocked) and were treated with clot-dissolving tissue plasminogen activators (tPA) within four and a half hours of the onset of stroke symptoms. The patients were treated at nearly 1,400 U.S. hospitals between 2003 and 2012. The median time between symptom onset and treatment was two hours and 24 minutes. Nine percent of patients were treated within 90 … Continue reading →

Public release date: 20-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Anna Borthwick Anna.Borthwick@ed.ac.uk 44-131-651-6514 University of Edinburgh Patients given a clot-busting drug within six hours of a stroke are more likely to have a long-lasting recovery than those who do not receive the treatment, new research has found. A study of more than 3000 patients reviewed the effects of the drug rt-PA, which is given intravenously to patients who have suffered an ischaemic stroke. The international trial, led by the University of Edinburgh, found that 18 months after being treated with the drug, more stroke survivors were able to look after themselves. Patients who received rt-PA had fewer long-term problems with self-care and mobility, and experienced less pain and discomfort than those who did not. Treatment also reduced the number of patients who needed help from other people from 51 per cent to 43 per cent. An ischaemic stroke happens when the brain's blood supply is interrupted by a blood clot. The damage caused can be permanent or fatal. Stroke symptoms include paralysis down one side and speech problems. The study, published in The Lancet Neurology, builds on the world's largest ever trial of the drug, which was published … Continue reading →

OAKLAND, Calif., June 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --A more accurate and reliable stroke prediction model has been developed to help physicians decide whether to start blood-thinning treatment for patients with atrial fibrillation, as described in the current online issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association. Atrial fibrillation affects millions of Americans. Because the heart-rhythm disturbance promotes the formation of blood clots that can travel to the brain and block an artery, atrial fibrillation independently increases the risk of ischemic stroke four-to-five-fold. The condition is highly age-dependent and affects 10 percent of those over age 80. The findings are a result of the Anticoagulation and Risk Factors in Atrial Fibrillation Study conducted within the national Cardiovascular Research Network and led by Kaiser Permanente and Massachusetts General Hospital. "While predicting ischemic stroke and major bleeding are both relevant to the anticoagulation decision, formal decision analyses indicate that for most patients with atrial fibrillation, risk of ischemic stroke is the more important," said senior author Alan Go, MD, of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. "Among study participants, 46 percent were categorized by the ATRIA score as having less than a 1 percent per year risk. Such low risk indicates a small … Continue reading →

SINGAPORE, June 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- NeuroAiD, a stroke treatment based on Traditional Chinese Medicine, increases the odds of achieving a better functional outcome, according to research published online in the journal Stroke. The CHIMES study is an academic international double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial which included 1,100 patients from several countries who had suffered an ischemic stroke of intermediate severity within 72 hours, treated and monitored for 3 months. Researchers found that patients who were taking NeuroAiD at acute stage had an 11% increase in the odds of achieving independence in function and being able to perform daily activities at the end of three months. This effect was even greater when NeuroAiD was started beyond 48 hours after stroke onset, with an increase of 39%. The odds ratio was the highest among recently completed stroke trials of neuroprotective agents. The benefit observed is clinically relevant and might have reached statistical significance with a larger sample size. In addition the study confirmed the excellent safety profile of NeuroAiD. Stroke survivors who were on NeuroAiD had fewer adverse events than those in the control group. Further studies will likely look into the benefits of longer duration of treatment. Prof. Christopher Chen, neurologist … Continue reading →