Study Results Show That Minimally Invasive Therapy is Successful for Over Two-Thirds of Stroke Patients Treated Outside the Standard Eight-H...( Findings May Potentially...),Health

Findings May Potentially Lead to New Approach to Stroke Treatment

BOCA RATON, Fla., July 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- When minimally invasive endovascular (through the vessel) therapy made its debut two decades ago, stroke care underwent a major shift as the "window of treatment" for patients suffering a stroke was expanded to eight hours within symptom onset, rather than the standard three-hour window required by the FDA-approved intravenous tPA therapy. Now, a new retrospective, multi-center study shows that endovascular therapy beyond the eight-hour window restored blood flow in the brain in approximately 74 percent of patients suffering ischemic (caused by a clot) stroke. Presented today at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS) 6th Annual Meeting in Boca Raton, FL, the data suggests that this treatment is safe and potentially leads to improved outcomes for a select number of late-presenting patients, including those who awake with stroke symptoms.

According to lead author Raul Nogueira, M.D., Assistant in Neurology and Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital -- Harvard Medical School, presentation beyond eight hours of symptom onset has traditionally been the single most important factor in excluding patients from stroke treatment. Thus, continued Nogueira, when brain imaging studies revealed that a significant number of late-presenting stroke patients showed evidence of salvageable brain tissue in the area of the stroke, it was an important avenue to pursue. This meant that endovascular therapy (performed by neurointerventional specialists who use drugs or mechanical devices inserted through a catheter or narrow tube that is threaded up through the vessels directly to the problem site to dispel the clot) could potentially be utilized successfully in these patients.

"As we considered the possibilities, it became an exciting proposit
'/>"/>