Imaging Technique To Assess Stroke Treatment

One of the commonly available imaging techniques helps identify stroke patients that are most likely to benefit from a procedure to restore blood flow. This serves as a potential breakthrough in care that could save thousands of lives every year, as per a study in Radiology, Radiological Society Of North America. When a clot travels up from the heart or the neck and blocks blood flow in one of the large arteries providing blood to the brain, it is referred to as large vessel occlusion strokes.

It affects almost 100,000 people annually in the United States and is responsible for most stroke-related deaths and long-term disability. The standard treatment of choice is endovascular thrombectomy, where a tube is inserted into the blocked vessel to remove or destroy the clot.

“Thrombectomy is over 90% effective if we get to the patient in time. The problem is, we’re only treating less than 10% of the people who might benefit,” says study co-first author R. Gilberto Gonzalez M.D., Ph.D., from the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston.

However, one may fail to prioritize which patients need the treatment right away and which can wait, that is depending upon how fast the brain injury – ischemic core, is growing.

Imaging Benefits

To further evaluate this, the team evaluated results from 31 stroke patients who upon admission & underwent computed tomography angiography (CTA – an imaging technique) & MRIs to track ischemic growth.

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It was found that there was a strong link between ischemic core growth and blood flow in the collateral blood vessels, smaller blood vessels recruited by the brain to make up for the loss of flow through the large vessels.

“Our data shows that in almost half of patients, the core grows very slowly. That’s a huge number of people who are potentially treatable. With CT angiography, we’ve found a way that’s widely available to identify these slow progressors. Now, a large number of patients with the most severe type of strokes can be treated,” says, Dr. Gonzalez.

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Source-Medindia