Big Changes For Stroke Patients; Treatment Options
American Heart Association Guidelines Changing
Doctors have long known that when it comes to a stroke, seconds matter. Now, groundbreaking studies looking into opening the window for treatment are showing hours matter too.
OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital enrolled the third-most patients in the world in the DAWN trials.
From those trials and others, the American Heart Association has adopted new guidelines for stroke treatment, when it comes to clot removal options.
The American Heart Association reported at AHA.org.
The guidelines issued cover acute ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke, one that is caused by a blood clot that reduces or stops blood flow to a portion of the brain. Stroke is the second-leading cause of death in the world and a leading cause of adult disability. It kills about 133,000 Americans every year and occurs in the U.S. about once every 40 seconds.
The guidelines recommend more people should be considered to undergo a procedure called mechanical thrombectomy, in which doctors remove blood clots using a device threaded through a blood vessel. In addition, the guidelines suggest that more people should be considered eligible for a clot-dissolving IV medication called alteplase.
Some patients may now have mechanical clot removal up to 24 hours after symptoms begin. The limit used to be six hours, but new research showed that some carefully selected patients may benefit even after an extended amount of time.
"We've been waiting for this era of stroke for years," Dr. Hicks told the Dispatch.
Dr. Nirav Vora, a vascular interventional neurologist for OhioHealth Neuroscience, said this is the news that doctors and patients have been waiting for, and now they have the data to back up what they thought was possible.
“The effect is so great that those who get treated can avoid having a lifelong disability,” Dr. Vora said to The Columbus Dispatch. “That is so profound.”
To read the article in the Columbus Dispatch, click here.
To learn more about neuroscience at OhioHealth, click here.
