Some solutions are simple, though not necessarily obvious. The WAKE-UP study, which included 70 participating European stroke centers, has now studied a relatively simple procedure to manage the acute care of stroke patients and avoid potential long-term effects. Best of all, it is available wherever MRI is offered.
In this MEDICA-tradefair.com interview, Prof. Götz Thomalla talks about the use of thrombolysis to treat acute stroke, explains how two different MRI sequences can effectively improve the treatment and reveals what this means for the guidelines in acute treatment.
Prof. Thomalla, what was the reason behind the WAKE-UP study?
Prof. Götz Thomalla: Patients who have had a stroke with unknown time of onset – patients who go to sleep and awaken with stroke symptoms for example – have so far been excluded from acute thrombolytic treatment for stroke, that being a treatment that opens blocked blood vessels to dissolve a blood clot. Currently, thrombolysis is still the only approved and recommended treatment within 4.5 hours of stroke onset since it becomes less effective if carried out after this time window and it involves a slight risk of bleeding. ...
Read the complete interview with Prof. Götz Thomalla at MEDICA-tradefair.com!