New Method to Diagnose Stroke, Coming Soon

Researchers are in the process of developing a new blood test that could quickly confirm whether someone is having a stroke and what kind.

Steven A. Soper and colleagues note that strokes have two possible causes.

Stroke – Early Warning Signs - Risk Factor - Rehab - Treatment
Stroke can cause permanent disability and it is important to recognize its early warning signs to stop its progress. Early warning signs of stroke include sudden weakness of facial muscles.

In ischemic stroke, a clot stops blood flow in a part of the brain. In hemorrhagic stroke, a blood vessel in the brain ruptures.

Both can lead to similar symptoms, such as numbness on one side of the body, sudden weakness and headache.

Current diagnostic tests can't tell between these two types. But treatment, ideally within three hours of onset, depends on the kind of stroke a person is having.

Quiz on Stroke
Stroke is the third leading cause of death world over. Besides, it also disables the affected people, making them completely dependent on caregivers for their daily needs. Lifestyle greatly affects the chances of developing a stroke. Thus, the incidence of stroke can be brought down to a great extent by leading a healthy lifestyle. Here is a quiz that tests if you know enough about this disabling condition.

Soper's collaborator, Alison Baird, who is at SUNY Downstate Stroke Center, found clues - or biomarkers - in the blood that can suggest the stroke type and assist in determining the course of proper treatment.

Soper's team sought a way to detect those clues quickly.

Transplantation Cell Therapy can Reverse Loss of Brain Function in Stroke Patients
Results of a new study offer new hope to stroke patients suffering from lost brain function, a condition thought to be irreversible until now.

They built a device that can process whole blood and isolate genetic material for two potential stroke biomarkers within minutes.

Keeping in mind that identifying more biomarkers could aid in diagnosis, they designed their device so it can analyze a total of four biomarkers at the same time.

Research Finds ER Doctors Commonly Miss More Strokes Among Women, Minorities and Younger Patients
Doctors overlook or discount the early signs of potentially disabling strokes in tens of thousands of Americans each year, a team of researchers has concluded.

The report appears in the ACS journal Analytical Chemistry.

Source-ANI