Posted on 06/30/2022 6:46:44 AM PDT by ConservativeMind
In the largest clinical stroke trial ever run in Canada, researchers have shown Tenecteplase (TNK), a safe, well tolerated drug, commonly used as a clot buster for heart attacks, is an effective treatment for acute ischemic stroke.
"It is truly an important finding that I share with my colleagues from coast to coast. Through this collaboration these findings could revolutionize stroke treatment throughout the world," says Dr. Bijoy Menon, MD. "Tenecteplase is known to be an effective clot dissolving drug. It is very easy to administer which makes it a game changer when seconds count to save brain cells,"
Based on current guidelines, Alteplase (tPA) is the recommended drug for acute ischemic stroke patients. The challenge is the drug is more complex to administer. It takes up to an hour and requires an infusion pump that needs to be monitored. The pump can be cumbersome when transporting a patient within a hospital, or to a major stroke center for treatment.
"One of the reasons Tenecteplase is so effective is that in can be administered as a single immediate dose," says Dr. Rick Swartz, MD, Ph.D. "That's a big advantage, saving critical time and complication. TNK could potentially be administered wherever the patient is seen first, at a medical center or small hospital,"
The AcT Trial compared TNK to tPA in a randomized trial. The results published in The Lancet show that TNK worked as well as, if not better than, the current recommended drug, tPA. TNK attaches itself to the clot for a longer period of time than tPA which means that blood flow is restored faster and for a longer period of time. Along with discovering a better way to treat acute ischemic stroke, the team also established a more cost effective, and efficient way to conduct clinical trials.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
It would have to be an off label use and doctors would need to feel comfortable with dosing.
This shouldn’t be news.
A blood clotting medicine used to dissolve clots in hearts works for strokes too?!
SHOCKED! SHOCKED I AM
My mom had a stroke in 1980. My Father-in-law had one in 1986.
Medical tech has come a long way since then. Hopefully it will be approved by the FDA, it sounds like a great weapon against strokes.
As a Paramedic (and soon-to-be firefighter), I cannot begin to count
just how many times that I am in the presence of a patient who has a history-of
acute ischemic (a clot in the tiny blood vessels, usually in the brain) Stroke
/cerebro-vascular accident...
...and All that my EMT team-members and I can do is get the person
to the closest Emergency medical facility can provide an fibrinolytic-/thrombolytic
IV drip medicine to try and break-up the clot inside the hospital.
But, if only we could have our Medical Director approve of a
National Registry / FDA protocol for this medicine to be administered by EMS
outside of the hospital...
...then we could truly be saving at least 25% more lives in the field than we are right now
WEll. Forget that. We can’t have doctors making decisions about health care. Only the gooberment wonks can do that. They won’t without getting a cut.
One of the single most useful and informational posts on FR I’ve ever seen.
Kudos for being both an EMT and for this info.
>>and soon-to-be firefighter
Many congratulations on your new profession. Well done!
What about the chance of catastrophic bleeds? Ischemic vs hemorrhagic stroke? You did mention history, and there are generally differences in presentation.
Is TNK less likely to cause bleeds than tPA?
Thank you for the work you do.
In my morning prayers, I ask for God to watch over and help policemen, firemen, and emergency workers.
BTTT
You don’t have to wait for a long drawn out approval process.
OTC Baby Aspirin works to prevent and to minimize strokes.
If you have AFib and a stent, like I do. You can be rxed for a blood thinner, and the docs might, probably keep you on baby aspirin once a day or twice a day with the blood thinner.
Become aware of the signs of a stroke, and you might want to take a Baby aspirin if you or a loved one are having symptoms of a stroke.
This study spoke to treating a stroke that has just happened, not how to minimize getting a stroke.
TNK worked as well as, if not better than, the current recommended drug, tPA
.......
this sounds like a marginal improvement at best. but it does give doctors more options. likely there are subtle differences in the way these two drugs react that are patient dependent.
Aspirin Taken Right After a Stroke May Prevent a Second One
By Andrea M. Braslavsky, FROM THE WEBMD ARCHIVES
June 1, 2000 — Chalk another one up for aspirin: Researchers have concluded that giving aspirin to stroke victims as soon as they arrive at the hospital reduces their risk of having a second stroke.
In the first few days after having a stroke, patients are at high risk of having another one, says Richard Peto, a professor at Oxford University and co-author of an analysis published in the journal Stroke. “We found that aspirin didn’t do very much for repairing the damage done already by the initial stroke, but ... it reduced the likelihood of having another stroke in the hospital,” he tells WebMD.
What’s more, he says, it appears to be beneficial to give aspirin to stroke victims right away even if doctors aren’t 100% sure which type of stroke the patient has had.
There are two kinds of strokes: ischemic stroke, caused by a clot that blocks a blood vessel supplying the brain with blood, and hemorrhagic or bleeding stroke, caused by a leaky blood vessel that bleeds into the brain. A CT scan of the head can help a doctor determine if a stroke is the ischemic or hemorrhagic type.
Aspirin, which thins the blood and thereby prevents clots, is currently used to reduce the long-term risks of a second stroke in patients who’ve had an ischemic stroke. But giving aspirin to patients who’ve had a hemorrhagic stroke is considered dangerous, as it can cause more bleeding and more damage.
“Basically, doctors on the whole tend to wait for things to settle down; they wait until they’re sure of the diagnosis — whether it is ischemic or hemorrhagic,” Peto says. “If you start aspirin a bit earlier — the first week or two is the time of highest risk — it’s the time actually when aspirin is most protective. And what we have shown is that you can safely start aspirin early on.”
As your article states, it does nothing to help a current stroke.
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