Stroke test ‘revolutionary’

Posted: Published on April 8th, 2013

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Helen Puttick Health Correspondent

The new method aims to eliminate one of the main problems faced when victims first arrive in hospital working out how long it has been since they suffered their attack.

Doctors have a window of four-and-a-half hours in which to give patients a clot-busting treatment. After this time, the dangers of the drug might outweigh the benefits.

However, patients are often unable to identify when their stroke occurred and just a small percentage are therefore able to have the treatment, which can help save brain tissue.

Dr Celestine Santosh, a neuroradiologist at the Glasgow's Southern General, is leading the development of a new system to identify which patients should have the treatment.

The procedure is also a therapy, helping reduce some of the disabilities caused by strokes.

It is hoped the system, called the Glasgow Oxygen Level Dependent (Gold) Technique, will eventually be good enough to be used internationally.

Strokes occur when the blood supply to the brain is disturbed, usually by a blockage.

The Gold technique works by giving patients an MRI scan while they are inhaling oxygen through a mask.

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Stroke test 'revolutionary'

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