Dell Seton takes part in global study into thrombectomies
AUSTIN, Texas - Each year, more than 795,000 people suffer strokes in the U.S.
Dell Seton Medical Center at UT Austin recently took part in a groundbreaking, global study – on a surgery that is providing hope for patients with more severe brain attacks.
"The study proved that a procedure called thrombectomy was highly effective in a group of severe strokes, that up to this point, we haven't had a treatment for" said Dr. Steven Warach, the principal investigator for this study at Dell Seton Medical Center.
The study looked at patients who’d had an ischemic stroke.
"When a stroke happens, blood flow to the brain is interrupted by a blockage in an artery thrombosis, usually a blood clot," Dr. Warach explained. "When that happens, parts of the brain are deprived of blood, and if they don't get the blood back in enough time, some of them will die. So what this therapy does is, it puts a catheter in the brain, a tube in the brain, and pulls out the clot and quickly restores blood back to normal."
Dr. Warack said in the past, a thrombectomy was only performed and deemed beneficial on patients with less brain damage or a "smaller core."
"There's this other group of strokes that come in with much more severe damage, called large core, that we were not able to treat," he said. "But, what this trial proved is that treating those large core with a thrombectomy, that pulls the clot out of the artery in the brain, was highly effective in improving the outcome."
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This particular study followed 352 patients in six countries with the most severe type of strokes. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either mechanical thrombectomy or usual stroke care – which includes clot-busting medication like TPA.
Investigators found patients given a thrombectomy had significantly better clinical outcomes and were three times more likely to be functionally independent after three months.
"So, even those that may have some level of disability, the likelihood that they could walk independently was much greater if they got the treatment than not," said Warach. "So, overall, the odds of having a good outcome - that is being independent, or if somewhat dependent, still being able to walk by yourself without the need of somebody else's help - are highly significant, much more beneficial than not getting the treatment."
The study was published this week in the "New England Journal of Medicine."