This section displays the last 50 news articles that were published.
Updated06/07/2013 02:59 PM
When it comes to a stroke, think FAST: Face, Arm, Speech, Time. If someone is experiencing weakness on one side of their body and their speech is slurred, they need to get to an emergency room as quickly as possible. But now they have a bigger window of opportunity to ward off a stroke. As our Katie Gibas reports, new technology almost doubles the amount of time doctors have to remove a blood clot from the brain.
To view our videos, you need to enable JavaScript. Learn how. install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now. Then come back here and refresh the page.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Stroke treatment has come a long way in the last few decades. Doctors used to use either a corkscrew type device or a suction tool like a vacuum to get the blot clot out. The Solitaire FR Revascularization Device was introduced in 2012 and is the first retractable stent and the first stent designed for stoke therapy.
"You can prevent permanent damage by removing the clot early, as soon as possible, reestablishing blood flow and oxygen to the area of the brain," said Dr. Eric Deshaies, the Director of the Upstate University Hospital Neurovascular Institute.
The device deploys a small metal net, called a stent, into the artery where the clot is. The doctor is able to grab the blood clot with the stent and pull it out.
Now, the second generation of Solitaire is being implemented at stoke centers across the country, making it easier, faster and safer to treat blood clots in the brain.
"It has a stronger joint that connects the stent to our movements that we can get more difficult clots out. Some of the clots with the first generation device that might be very hard and difficult to pull out is actually a little bit easier with this and more reliable. A number of things make the clots more difficult to pull out. It could be the location of the clot inside of the blood vessels. Some of these clots also have calcium," said Dr. Deshaies.
Right now, the traditional treatment for a stroke is within the first four hours using clot busting drugs. And any time after that using the stent procedure. But there's an international trial going on right now to see if a combination of the two could be more effective used earlier on.
The rest is here:
New technology makes stroke treatment faster and safer