Stroke Injury Can Be Reversed
Researchers have shown for the first time that early brain injury resulting from
stroke can be reversed.
In
a study at the University of California, Los Angeles, doctors found clot-busting
drugs can rapidly reopen blocked blood vessels. All of the patients showed
significant improvement, the scientists said.
The
findings, published in the journal Annals of Neurology, used magnetic resonance
imaging to show early clot-busting treatment can reverse stroke-related brain
injury.
"This dramatic observation confounds the previously conventional view that
injured areas of the brain viewed on diffusion magnetic resonance images could
not be reversed and re-emphasizes the importance and benefits of early stroke
thrombolytic treatment," said study co-investigator Dr. Jeffrey Saver, neurology
director at the UCLA Stroke Center.
The
study showed that lesion growth due to stroke can be arrested or even partially
reversed with the treatment and that doctors can use MRI to monitor the response
of patients to the treatment. The seven patients were treated with
intra-arterial thrombolysis. This is a procedure in which a catheter is placed
in obstructing clots in the brain and clot-busting drugs are infused directly
into the clot to dissolve the obstruction.
