27.1% of more than 100,000 people treated for stroke at American hospitals and whose treatment began within one hour of the first symptoms, received tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). This is in a report to be delivered at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference, in San Diego. It seems only 12.9% of those who arrived between one and three hours of symptom onset were given the drug, the study reported.
The study results “are both good news and bad news,” says study author Dr. Jeffrey L. Saver, director of the stroke center, University of California, Los Angeles. “The good news is that the message is getting through to a partial extent. We’re getting early treatment to a lot more people than we ever expected. The bad news is that only about a quarter of patients are getting to hospitals within an hour of having stroke symptoms.”
Saver says that the results apply only to the hospitals that are in the American Heart Association’s “Get With the Guidelines” program. Saver adds that the report did not discuss the results of early treatment but that preliminary analysis indicates that “for every 100 patients treated, 30 benefit and three are harmed”.
The symptoms of stroke include sudden weakness or numbness in the face, leg or arm, especially down one side of the body; sudden trouble in speaking or understanding; sudden trouble seeing with one or both eyes; or sudden, acute headache.
Get With the Guidelines-Stroke, the stroke association’s program, is aimed at increasing appropriate use of tPA therapy for ischemic strokes, which are caused by blood clots.
The use of tPA is the only approved treatment for the 80% or more of strokes caused by a brain artery blocked by a blood clot (The others are the result of ruptured arteries). However, the drug needs to be used within three hours of the onset of the stroke symptoms. For further details one can visit the source of the article.