Stroke drug could treat wider group
People who have suffered severe stroke, including those aged over 80 years, could now be treated with a clot-busting drug. Alteplase, or rt-PA, is currently given intravenously to patients within four-and-a-half hours of suffering an acute stroke.
People who have suffered severe stroke, including those aged over 80 years, could now be treated with a clot-busting drug.
Alteplase, or rt-PA, is currently given intravenously to patients within four-and-a-half hours of suffering an acute stroke.
The risks associated with alteplase are akin to major surgery because it can cause bleeding and death, and therefore it is not usually recommended for severe stroke or elderly patients.
However, the largest-ever trial of the drug including a large number of over 80-year-olds found there was no increase in deaths at six months and survivors had less disability.
University of Sydney Professor Richard Lindley, who instigated the trial in 2000 while at the University of Edinburgh, said there was still a greater risk of death within the first seven days of treatment.
However, he said it was encouraging that the severity of disability from stroke was lowered across the trial, which surveyed 3,000 patients, with more than half aged over 80 years.
Until now, less than 100 patients in this age group had been included in all trials of the drug combined, Professor Lindley said.
“I’m delighted that we’ve got evidence that the elderly benefit at least as well as the younger patient,” he said.
“This is very, very good news, because a third of all stroke in Australia is now in people over the age of 80.”
