Sept. 10, 2013, 10:30 a.m.
Redland Hospital Doctor Michael Cameron will use the drug for eligible stroke victims. Photo by Chris McCormack
Redland Hospital Doctor Michael Cameron will use the drug for eligible stroke victims. Photo by Chris McCormack
Redland Hospital Doctor Michael Cameron will use the drug for eligible stroke victims. Photo by Chris McCormack
A clot-busting drug to combat effects of stroke will start being used at Redland Hospital this week, which is National Stroke Week.
The drug, Tissue Plasminogen Activator, known by its acronym tPA, is given to patients in the early stages of having an ischaemic stroke, but cannot be administered after 4.5 hours.
Redland Hospital senior staff specialist in emergency medicine, Dr Mike Cameron, said to stop a stroke, blood clots must be dissolved within 4.5 hours of the start of symptoms, but if the drug was administered after that, it could do more harm than good.
Dr Cameron said the drug would be used at the hospital in conjunction with its stroke unit, which opened in October.
He said the hospital had developed resources and protocols for the use of the controversial drug, which could have adverse side effects or even result in death.
The drug, first tested in 1996, has approval in all major countries as a treatment for stroke caused by blocked blood vessels, with statistics showing it helps 33 per cent of those to whom it is given.
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Redland Hospital starts using stroke drug