A first: New guidelines back device for treating strokes
Jun 29, 2015, 1:42 PM
This undated photo provided by Covidien shows their stent used to clear blood clots in the brain that cause strokes. The American Heart Association has endorsed using removable stents to open clogged arteries causing a stroke. It's the first new stroke treatment to be backed by the group in nearly 20 years and the first device ever recommended for this purpose. (AP Photo/Covidien, Stan Sholik)
(AP Photo/Covidien, Stan Sholik)
Many stroke patients have a new treatment option — if they seek help fast enough to get it. New guidelines endorse using a removable stent to open clogged arteries causing a stroke.
The guidelines, issued Monday by the American Heart Association, are the first time the group has recommended a device for treating strokes, and it’s the first new stroke treatment in two decades to win the group’s strongest backing. The federal government no longer issues guidelines like these, so the Heart Association’s advice clears the way for more doctors to offer the treatment.
“It is pretty exciting,” and many patients will benefit if they seek help when symptoms first appear, said the head of the guidelines panel, Dr. William J. Powers, neurology chief at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Most of the 800,000 strokes in the U.S. each year are caused by a blood clot lodged in the brain. The usual treatment is a clot-dissolving medicine called tPA, and it remains the first choice.
But the drug must be given within 4
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