A Stroke Resource for Patients and Professionals
The treatment of stroke patients has been characterized by the need for speed. The only medical therapy available, a clot dissolving drug called tPA, was originally available for use only if it could be given less than 3 hours after the start of symptoms. This led to the development of stroke centers to treat patients … Read more…
Last month, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association released a new guideline for the prevention, detection, evaluation and management of high blood pressure in adults. This is the first comprehensive update since 2003. The most important points for the public are new thresholds for starting treatment with medications, and new levels … Read more…
At the Apple new product announcements last week, the new Apple Watch was presented as a device to improve health. They announced a new health study to be conducted with Stanford to use the watch to study irregular heart rhythms, specifically atrial fibrillation, a known risk factor for stroke. Apple has stated that their watch … Read more…
The window for stroke therapy refers to the time limit after the onset of symptoms when treatment can still be made available. A new study, presented at the European Stroke Organization conference in Prague last month, may extend this window to 24 hours for carefully selected patients. The trial, known as DAWN, selected patients for treatment … Read more…
The only available drug for the treatment of the most common type of stroke is the clot buster known as tPA. This treatment was first approved by FDA 20 years ago. The cost of tPA jumped by 111% between 2005 and 2014, but reimbursement rose by only 8%, reported Dawn Kleindorfer, MD, University of Cincinnati, … Read more…