Stroke therapy ‘holy grail’ sought

Medical researchers are seeking the “holy grail” of stroke treatment in an attempt to break new ground for patients.

The Glasgow-based team hopes to extend the amount of time viable brain tissue, known as the penumbra, can be treated around the “dead” area after stroke.

Currently clinicians use clot-busting drugs in a treatment only licensed for four-and-a-half hours.

Dr Celestine Santosh, neuroradiologist at Southern General Hospital, said: “This obviously has major limitations as one-third of all stroke patients don’t know the time of their onset of symptoms. However, research shows that the penumbra can stay viable up to 48 hours after a stroke so it gives us more much-needed valuable time to treat the patient.

“Therefore accurately identifying the penumbra is really the holy grail in stroke.”

Dr Santosh is working with the hospital’s neuroradiology and clinical physics departments, and the University of Glasgow.

Research centres on a technique called Glasgow oxygen level dependent (Gold) which uses an MRI scanner, oxygen-rich liquid and oxygen to identify the penumbra. Human stroke trials are expected to begin in Glasgow in 2015.

Dr Santosh said work is focused on getting oxygen to the right area.

“We realise this is a unique project which has the possibility to change the way we diagnose and treat stroke. It is a giant step forward in stroke treatment and is simply a no brainer for research,” he said.

“We need to look at giving oxygen to viable tissue so that time is no longer the surrogate marker. If it works here, there are also other conditions we can begin to look at using this treatment for, including cardiac and cancer.”