New lead for researchers in the race against stroke
National Stroke Week (September 14-18)
The Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) Stroke Research Group has a new lead in the race against stroke with funding to develop a ‘tissue clock’ that could overturn the time barrier to treatment.
The Greater Building Society has committed $240,000 over three years to fund research to determine a patient’s suitability for stroke treatment by the state of their brain tissue after a stroke rather than time. Researchers will study brain scans from more than 80 Hunter stroke patients with the aim of developing new guidelines for better patient selection.
HMRI Greater Building Society Senior Research Fellow in Stroke Dr Neil Spratt, who is also a John Hunter Hospital Neurologist, said many patients who may be suitable for treatment are currently excluded because they don’t arrive at hospital within the narrow three hour window from when the stroke occurred.
