- New research shows an endovascular thrombectomy helps create new connections around dead brain tissue following a large ischemic stroke.
- The surgical procedure restores blood flow to large parts of the brain damaged by stroke.
- The findings demonstrate the potential for improved health and quality-of-life outcomes for stroke survivors.
In the United States, one person has a stroke every 40 seconds, while every 3 minutes and 14 seconds, another person dies of one, according to the
About 795,000 people have a stroke each year and 1 in 6 cardiovascular deaths is the result of a stroke. The CDC also reports that 87% of stroke cases are ischemic stroke, in which there is a blood clot blocking the flow of blood to the brain.
A new study finds that people who’ve had large ischemic strokes may experience better clinical outcomes when the blood clot, or thrombosis, that has damaged a large area of the brain is surgically removed with an endovascular thrombectomy (EVT).
In the study, the surgical procedure was accompanied by treatment with tissue plasmogen activator (tPA), which further breaks up clots.
The study is published in
Until now, EVT had been used for less severe strokes that produced smaller areas of dead brain tissue.
The new study, called “SELECT2 — A Randomized Controlled Trial to Optimize Patient’s Selection for Endovascular Treatment in Acute Ischemic Stroke,” followed patients for a year to document the long-term success of the procedure.
It took place at 31 hospitals in the United States, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand, and was a phase 3, open-label, international, randomized controlled trial with blinded endpoint assessment.
The 352 participants in the trial each had acute ischemic stroke with a large blood clot at its center, and were randomly assigned to receive either EVT with medical treatment or medical treatment alone, within 24 hours of the stroke.
All…
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