Latest Conference Articles

The Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery plans to issue new guidelines for treatment of ischemic stroke, its president-elect said. Donald Frei, MD, a Denver-based neurosurgeon, said that based on the overwhelmingly positive results of 3 studies, intravascular thrombectomy is the best treatment for many patients with major ischemic strokes.

There are new tools being developed everyday to help patients and healthcare professionals diagnose a wide variety of conditions. One recent study looked at the compliance levels achieved by a patch that can be used to help check a patient's heart health.

Unlike other conditions there is no one thing that can be done to fully prevent stroke. Even with the odds stacked against them a group is working to manage the effects of stroke on a worldwide basis.

Once a patient has a stroke how they recover can be determined by several factors. Recently a team of researchers looked at whether genetics could play a role in how different patients function after the event.

Patients who got twice as much rehabilitative care after a stroke did no better than peers who got usual therapy, a multi-center trial called ICARE found.

In the MR CLEAN trials, physicians were to decide whether patients should be immobilized with general anesthesia or given local anesthesia. Presenting another look-back at MR CLEAN trial data at the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in Nashville, Tenn. on Feb. 13, Olvert Berkhemer, MD and colleagues said their center's strong preference is for local anesthesia.

The more endovascular therapy is used in the treatment of stroke patients the more data there will be about its efficacy. Looking at those numbers and determining what they man can be as important as the procedures themselves.

Like most other procedures, endovascular therapy comes with some inherent risks, but when managed correctly it can provide lasting results for stroke patients.

While other endovascular therapies presented at the International Stroke Conference required more specialized imaging to reach their final results the authors of one study showed that more basic work can be just as effective.

As the population continues to age and more and more people are diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease or some other form of dementia researchers are looking into what can be done to stem the tide of further diagnoses.

It was not long ago that the merits of endovascular therapy were questioned by some in the healthcare field. A recent push and some new tools have given the debate a stronger argument in favor of the procedures.

As more endovascular therapy options are developed doctors will have the chance to learn a variety of methods and decide which will work best for their individual patients.

Patients who come to a hospital following a stroke face a variety of challenges and complications. A recent study looked at a possible treatment for those who suffered only a mild or moderate stroke.

The results of the SWIFT PRIME Trial as well as several others have given hope that endovascular therapy could become a key tool to help treat patients who have suffered a severe stroke.

As one of the key presentations at the International Stroke Conference the results of the SWIFT PRIME study showed that when conducted in the right circumstances the procedure can provide great benefits for stroke patients.

It will take the work of not only healthcare professionals but also government entities to help with stroke management around the world.

Endovascular Therapy has been under significant scrutiny in recent years, but following studies conducted that view could be changing.

As endovascular treatment has come under the microscope in recent years several studies have shown with the right training and equipment it can be a viable option for stroke patients.

Dehydrated stroke patients tend to do worse than those who are hydrated, a Johns Hopkins team found. The next question is whether all such ischemic stroke patients should get fluids when they arrive at the hospital, contrary to current recommendations.

Patients who have strokes during their sleep pose a treatment conundrum. Since it is hard to assess when the stroke happened, physicians may not know whether to administer clot-busting tPA. The drug is thought to have a therapeutic window of 3 hours. A Texas study suggests tPA is safe for these patients even if the 3-hr window has closed.

There are many factors to consider when treating a stroke patient during their recovery time. One area which some researchers say requires more attention is overcoming fatigue in patients.

In a new presentation on the game-changing trial of neurological interventions for stroke patients, a MR CLEAN researcher crunched the numbers on time-to-reperfusion and patient outcomes.

While the ESCAPE trial and others like it showed benefits for stroke patient treatment, they also showed the need for specialized doctors to perform the procedure.

Endovascular surgery was one of the focal points of the International Stroke Conference in Nashville and the results of several studies, including the ESCAPE trials showed the benefits it can hold for stroke patients.

It may be common sense that parents of children who have a stroke are likely to be upset and worried, but a new study from Boston Children's Hospital shows that parental stress often rises to the level of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The implication for clinicians is that these parents need treatment too-and that their PTSD anxiety may cause them to avoid having more to do with the medical profession, which could have a negative impact on kids' care.

Even as the Cold War becomes a distant memory patients in Eastern Europe are at greater risk of suffering a stroke than their western neighbors but do not have the same treatment and prevention options available to them.

Many factors contribute to a patient being diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, including obesity. Research is looking at the condition's role in the treatment of stroke patients.

Stroke, particularly in younger people, could be a sign of undetected cancer, a Minnesota research team reports.

Countering the argument that hypertension is being overtreated, a University of Miami-Columbia University study found that changing the definition of high blood pressure would be a bad idea.

Following a stroke patients require a variety of rehabilitation options from physical and occupational therapy to speech therapy among others. A recent study looked at the benefits of aerobic exercise in the recovery process.