| What's New In Stroke Research and Treatment | |
|
The annual conference of the American Stroke Association was held the week of February 14, 2001. This years conference highlighted some exciting new research into the diagnosis and treatment of stroke. Here are a few of the areas highlighted this year.
Sleepyheads and Snorers Face Higher Risk of Stroke
The results of a stroke-screening program in Buffalo, New York indicated that sleeping for more than eight hours a night, snoring and daytime drowsiness was associated with an increased risk for stroke. Among those people in the study the incidence of TIA or transient ischemic attack was much higher (at 14 % for those people who reported sleeping eight or more hours a night.
Snoring, and excessive daytime drowsiness are associated with sleep apnea, a condition in which a person actually stops breathing for periods of time during sleep. Sleep apnea has been associated with increased incidence of stroke. People who snore severely or who have trouble staying awake during the day, despite sleeping for eight hours a night would be well advised to see their physician for evaluation for sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is often associated with overweight and if diagnosed can be successfully treated with a weight loss program or a C-pap device.
Targeted Clot Dissolving Drugs Can Help Reduce Brain Damage From Stroke
An experimental technique used at UCLA Medical Center over the last eight years appears to reduce the brain damage caused by a thrombolitic type stroke. When a blood clot dislodges from the heart wall or large blood vessel and then travels to a smaller artery in the brain it can occlude blood flow to that area of the brain and cause damage. The technique used at UCLA involved threading a catheter with clot-busing medication such as TPA through a large blood vessel in the groin to the precise area in the brain where the clot had lodged. Physicians were able to pinpoint this area with imaging. Using this pinpoint delivery of these clot-busting drugs increased the percentage of opening blocked blood vessels from 30-40 percent using standard IV infusion to 67 percent. This technique did however increase the likelihood of hemorrhage or bleeding in the in the brain.
Cell Transplants Offer Hope of Brain Repair
Preliminary studies with rats who have stroke damaged brains showed a reversal of the brain damage following stem cell transplant. The transplanted stem cells survived and developed into neurons and other mature brain tissue. Stem cells are found primarily in bone marrow in adults or in embryonic tissue.
Job Demands Affected Speed of Return to Work After Stroke
A study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Boston looked at job characteristics as affecting the rate of return to employment after stroke. Individuals who returned to work within 12 months had significantly less physically and psychologically demanding jobs. Additionally they felt more secure in their jobs, felt more satisfaction on the job and felt they had jobs that gave them more authority to make decisions. Overall the study found that white-collar, more educated and wealthier people were more likely to return to work. Blue-collar workers may have more physically demanding jobs, which may prevent them from returning to work. White-collar workers would have more cognitive demands on the job, but they may be more easily able to make adaptations to make the job easier to perform.
Another interesting finding was the even among those people who regained their independence in daily activities only about 60 percent return to work.
Previous ArticlesThe information contained in these pages
is for educational / reference use only.
