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Ischemic Stroke

When stroke victims arrive at the hospital, there is currently a three hour window from the start of the stroke until the cut off time to administer blood clot dissolving medications. These medications are the best treatment for strokes, but the time line guidelines leave many patients without medicinal care. Researchers and doctors want to change that fact. Current research into extending the time line guidelines to six hours is showing very promising results.

Study results set to be released in the April issue of The Lancet Neurology was released early to coincide with the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference. The report detailed a small study of patients that were given tPA (the medication to “bust” the clots causing a stroke) between the hours of three and six.

The results of the tests were just what the doctors and researchers were hoping for. The tPA increased the blood flow to the areas of the brain that would have been cut off from a blood supply due to the clot, leaving a smaller area of the brain without the crucial blood supply needed to maintain function.

While both doctors and researchers understand the need for a larger scale trial, the outcome speaks highly of a possible guideline change, universally, for the treatment of strokes.

Acute Cerebral Hemorrhage

In a second and third study presented at the same conference, studies were presented in regards to the treatment of the deadliest form of stroke. An acute cerebral hemorrhage, or bleed in the brain, in association with a stroke.

Researchers believe the hemorrhage is linked to high blood pressure levels in patients who are having a stroke. This high blood pressure increases the amount of blood in the Veins and Arteries and thus causes more bleeding in the brain during the hemorrhage.

It is believed that a massive reduction in blood pressure may reduce to overall bleed and lead to less chance of communication problems and death following the stroke.

New Advances in the Treatment of Stroke

The conference rounded out the stroke treatment information with some new and exciting devices and medications in the treatment of stroke. These include:

1. The Penumbra, a tiny vacuum that suck out the blood clots from the brain. The Penumbra can be used up until the 8th hour after the occurrence of a stroke.
2. Aricept, a medication said to improve executive function and processing speeds in stroke patients.
3. Genetic testing for predisposition to Aneurysm.

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According to new research, older people who live with higher risk factors for Stroke tend to display higher levels of memory loss. The memory loss occurs even if an actual stroke was never suffered.

The memory loss is linked to mini strokes in high risk patients. These mini strokes are common in older people and often go undiagnosed or unreported. Through the use of brain scans, researchers have found that from the ages of 55 to 80, 10% of older people show signs of memory loss due to mini strokes Past the age of 80, the percentage of mini strokes increases to nearly 50% of older people.

These mini strokes can be directly related to hypertension, Diabetes, heart disease and left ventricular Atrophy. Of the more than 17,000 people involved in the study, none of which had suffered from a stroke, these predisposing risk factors were present in 100% of the patients, with some patients suffering from more than one risk factor.

The study centered on that area of the south where stroke rates are the highest. This area known as the “stroke belt” was combined with patients from the 49 contiguous states.

In participants who displayed a chance of stroke higher than 20%, the cognitive decline tended to be double that of participants who has a chance of stroke less than 5%.

Mini strokes occur commonly in older people and cause small holes in the brain. These small holes are thought to be the cause for the memory loss and cognitive dysfunction in older people.

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Volleyball is a sport that requires intensive amounts of movement and jumping on the court. For college students, more than 750 ankle injuries occurred on the volleyball court from 1988 to 2005. These ankle injuries account for 36% of all injuries in the college sport of female volley ball.

In order to stop these injuries, the coaches and staff at the University of Pennsylvania decided to make wearing an ankle brace mandatory for their volleyball players. After implementing the ankle brace rule, and performing in seven volleyball seasons, only one injury occurred while wearing an ankle brace.

Of the volleyball players that used the ankle brace during the seven seasons, 132 had been affected previously by an ankle injury.

Researchers are thrilled with the results and by the potential outcome this could bring for the use of braces as preventative devices in sports. While further studies are needed to determine the styles and types of braces that are most effective in athletes, there is no doubt that an ounce of prevention is a good choice for athletes.

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Australian researchers recently concluded a small scale study of the effects of early extensive therapy on the overall outcome of a Stroke. Of the 71 patients studied, 38.9% of the patients receiving early extensive care versus 24.2% of the patients not receiving the same care ended up in better health one year after the stroke.

The study adjusted results based upon many factors including age, but offered a positive enough result that a new study on a larger scale is set to verify the outcome of the initial study.

Both groups exhibited approximately the same number of adverse reactions to the stroke including death, stroke progression Pneumonia and falls.

The premise behind the study is simple, for patients who are unable to receive the help of clot breaking drugs, this early extensive Exercise therapy, based mainly on mobility training, is an alternative. The outcome of the new study is hoped to prove an effectiveness of 80% in order to establish the training as a cost effective, and possibly lifesaving, treatment for strokes.