Blood clot removal better aided by brain imaging

Brain imaging may be a better method of identifying patients for blood clot removal instead of monitoring them after the onset of symptoms, according to new research.

Researchers showed brain imaging can select patients who could benefit from clot removal up to 18 hours after their symptoms began, at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference.

Jenny Tsai, study author at the Standford Stroke Center in California, said: “Using this image-based selection, we would be able to look at any patient who comes through the door to identify the ones likely to benefit from these therapies, regardless of what the clock shows. This is important because we want to offer the best treatments to every patient who suffers stroke and who may benefit from them.”

Endovascular treatment – the removal of the blood clot blocking a blood vessel – is deemed beneficial within six hours of the onset of symptoms; medication to break up the blood clot is effective up to four and a half hours after.

Data on more than 100 patients who received endovascular surgery up to 18 hours after a stroke began and had a CT Perfusion (CTP) scan before treatment began to show which brain tissue was able to be saved.

Good recovery – little to no disability – was achieved in 71% of all patients treated within six hours, and 62% of all patients treated beyond six hours of stroke onset. There was no significant association seen between time to treatment and good outcomes when CTP showed salvageable brain tissue.