Editor's Choice Main Category: Stroke Article Date: 24 May 2012 - 15:00 PDT Current ratings for: 'Is Alteplase Safe For Stroke Patients Over 80? Researchers Say Yes' Although the drug can be used in several conditions including ischemic stroke, heart attacks and pulmonary embolism, the time window in which the drug can be administered safely and effectively after a stroke is still debated. Two studies published in The Lancet reveal the benefits of alteplase in stroke patients age 80+ and also confirm the benefits of rapid treatment. The first study reports the results of the third International Stroke Trial (IST-3). In the trial, Professor Peter Sandercock, University of Edinburgh and Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK, evaluated 3,035 patients at 156 hospitals in 12 countries in order to determine whether stroke patients treated within 6 hours in clinical trials might benefit (ie, be alive and independent in daily living). 53% of study participants were older than 80 years of age. At present, thrombolysis is known to benefit individuals under the age of 80 who are treated within 4-5 hours of acute ischemic stroke. The researchers assigned 1,515 participants to receive alteplase and 1,520 to the control group. At 6 months, the … Continue reading →

Stroke victims are more likely to make a better recovery if they are given a new clot-busting drug, Scottish researchers said. More than 3,000 patients worldwide took part in Edinburgh University's trial of the rt-PA drug, which was administered after an acute ischemic stroke. Doctors found that for every 1,000 patients treated with the drug within three hours of stroke, 80 more will survive and live without help from others than if they had not been given the drug. Professor Joanna Wardlaw, from the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, said, "We have looked at data from more than 7,000 stroke patients worldwide. What we see is that the drug increases patients' longer term recovery." However, patients are also at risk of death within seven days of treatment because the drug can cause a secondary bleed in the brain. Wardlaw added, "We need to find out why some people bleed and how to reduce this to increase the effectiveness of clot busting treatment." The findings, published in The Lancet medical journal, advised that the drug was effective up to six hours after a stroke. Visit link: Clot drug aids stroke recovery, researchers say … Continue reading →

The common practice of infusing magnesium sulfate into patients who have suffered a hemorrhagic (bleeding) stroke provides no discernible benefit, Dutch researchers reported Friday. The study could lead to a change in treatment for victims of such strokes, which account for about 13% of the estimated 795,000 strokes that afflict Americans each year -- and about 30% of the 133,000 stroke deaths. The rest of the strokes are caused by blood clots that impede circulation in the brain. Many survivors of hemorrhagic strokes, which occur when a blood vessel in the brain leaks blood into the organ, causing acute pressure, are left permanently impaired. The only treatments for such strokes that have proved modestly effective are calcium-channel antagonists such as nimodipine. Magnesium has been proposed as a treatment because it also acts as a calcium antagonist and because it has neuroprotective effects. Small clinical trials, however, have produced mixed results. Dr. Sanne Dorhaut Mees of the Utrecht Stroke Center in the Netherlands and her colleagues had previously performed a phase 2 trial of magnesium infusions with 283 patients in the Netherlands, half of whom received infusions of the drug and half who got infusions of saline solution as a placebo. … Continue reading →

This section displays the last 50 news articles that were published. Updated05/24/2012 05:55 PM Advancements in medical technology are making it easier for patients to recover from a stroke. The first ever stent approved specifically for the treatment of blood clots hit U.S. hospitals a month and a half ago. Upstate University Hospital was one of those early adopters. As our Katie Gibas reports, doctors say it's easier, faster and safer for patients. To view our videos, you need to enable JavaScript. Learn how. install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now. Then come back here and refresh the page. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- We've all heard the symptoms. "Problems talking, weakness in the arms or legs, numbness, tingling. Those are some of the major symptoms of stroke," said Dr. Eric Deshaies, the SUNY Upstate Neurovascular Center Director. The good news for those patients is a new treatment method is making it easier, faster and safer to treat blood clots in the brain. The Solitaire FR Revascularization Device was approved for widespread use in the U.S. about a month and a half ago. The device deploys a small metal net, called a stent, into the artery where the clot is. The … Continue reading →

Leila Navidi Mercy Doyle, 6, visits with Tina Lindquist, the program director at Brain Balance Achievement Centers in Henderson on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. Doyle has been diagnosed with the rare neurological disorder Opsoclonus MyoclonusSyndrome. By Conor Shine (contact) Thursday, May 24, 2012 | 2 a.m. Six-year-old Mercy Doyle is like a lot of girls her age. She loves coloring, swimming and The Little Mermaid. She looks up to her big sister and finds her younger brother kind of annoying. But to doctors in Nevada and around the country, Mercy is a medical mystery, a child with a unique set of symptoms theyve never seen before. Mercys medical odyssey began seemingly overnight, her parents say, four years ago during a family vacation to the beach in California. She kept falling in the sand. She couldnt run around. She was shaky. It was weird, said her father, Kevin Doyle, a worship pastor at Green Valley Christian Center. Her family rushed back home to Henderson, where Mercy was diagnosed with a viral infection that was attacking her brain. After a few months, her condition seemed to be improving. Then her symptoms worsened again. Follow this link: Prayer for Mercy: Henderson family seeks … Continue reading →