A regional hospital network is enrolling patients in an international trial to find a treatment option for the most deadly form of stroke.
Premier Healths Clinical Neuroscience Institute with six locations including Atrium Medical Center in Middletown will be one of 70 centers in the United States, Europe and Israel to participate in the clinical trial originating out of Johns Hopkins University.
The study called MISTIE III is being funded at a rate of $11.7 million for the first two years by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke at the National Institutes of Health.
The study is focused on intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) strokes, in which a blood vessel in the brain has burst and caused blood to leak into the brain and clot, said Dr. John Terry, a neurointerventionalist at Miami Valley Hospitals Clinical Neuroscience Institute.
Its one of the most deadly forms of stroke and the stroke we have the least options for treatment, Terry said. This trial could potentially be game changing in terms of providing treatment modality for these types of patients.
Nearly 800,000 people in America have a stroke each year. Terry said about 20 percent of strokes are ICH; with a mortality rate of 65 percent.
The MISTIE III which stands for minimally invasive surgery plus rt-PA for ICH evacuation will test a surgical procedure in which a hollow tube, called a catheter, is used to remove the blood clot and administer a clot-busting drug.
After surgery to suck out the blood, Terry said the patient is moved to the intensive care unit for three days while a dose of the protein rt-PA (recombinant tissue plasminogen activator) is given every eight hours. He said the clot is drained, and daily CT scans monitor the progress.
Rt-PA is the standard treatment for the more common ischemic strokes in which the blood vessel is blocked by a clot.
Terry said previous treatment attempts for ICH strokes has included going into the brain to remove the blood that leaked out of the broken blood vessels. But it caused additional damage to the brain.
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Trial provides hope for treatment of deadly strokes