A stroke or cerebrovascular accident is a prevalent medical condition. There are more than a million cases per year in India, and the numbers are much higher globally. While traditional treatments save lives, researchers and scientists keep looking for new approaches that are more effective and cause fewer side effects.

New Breakthroughs

• Stent Retriever Therapy

Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) has been in use for the past two decades. However, a new mechanical thrombectomy involving a stent is perhaps the most notable breakthrough in stroke treatments. Resonating with the heart attack treatments, tube-based clot removal to restore blood flow in brain arteries could be highly effective in acute stroke therapy. If the treatment is performed within three hours of acute stroke, it significantly reduces the chances of permanent disability.

• Stem Cell Treatment

Researchers at Stanford University – School of Medicine have found that injecting a modified adult stem cell into a chronic stroke patient’s brain is highly effective. It improves motor functions effectively without any life-threatening side effects. Interestingly, patients continued to show improvement even after six months of surgery.

• Endovascular Procedures

The use of less invasive endovascular procedures, such as the detachable coil technique, has increased and shows excellent results. Such treatments involve platinum coil insertions into the femoral artery to induce an immune response from the body.