Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Research Upends Long-Held Belief That There's A Narrow Time Window To Remove Stroke Patients' Clots
The New York Times: New Findings Could Save Lives Of More Stroke Patients
Many more stroke victims than previously thought can be saved from disability or death if doctors remove blood clots that are choking off circulation to the brain, a new study has shown. “These striking results will have an immediate impact and save people from lifelong disability or death,” Dr. Walter J. Koroshetz, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said in a statement. “I really cannot overstate the size of this effect.” (Grady, 1/24)
The Washington Post: New Research Will Radically Change Response To Strokes
The research is upending doctors’ long-held belief that they have just six hours to save threatened brain tissue from lack of blood flow when a major vessel to the brain is blocked. The new findings suggest they may have as long as 16 hours in many cases; a study published three weeks ago with a different group of stroke victims put the outer limit at 24 hours for some. Both studies showed such dramatic results that they were cut short to speed up reporting of the information to physicians. (Bernstein, 1/24)
Columbus Dispatch: Study Finds Bigger Treatment Window For Some Stroke Patients
Blood clot removal, called thrombectomy, is done by running a catheter from a patient’s groin into the brain and deploying a device that can trap and pull out the clot. It became more common after 2015 research showed it was beneficial for patients up to six hours after they were last known to be well, said Dr. Shahid Nimjee, a Wexner neurological surgeon who performed the surgery on some of the study’s patients. (Viviano, 1/24)
