Dell Seton Participates in Global Thrombectomy Study

Austin, Texas – Each year, more than 795,000 people have a stroke in the US.

Dell Seton Medical Center at UT Austin recently participated in a groundbreaking global study on an operation that offers hope to patients with more severe brain attacks.

“The study proved that a procedure called thrombectomy was very effective in a group of severe strokes for which there was no treatment so far,” said Dr. Steven Varah, principal investigator of the study at Dell Seton Medical. Center.

The study involved patients with ischemic stroke.

“When a stroke occurs, blood flow to the brain is interrupted due to blockage by a clot in an artery, usually a blood clot,” explained Dr. Warah. “When this happens, parts of the brain are deprived of blood, and if the blood is not restored within enough time, some of them die. What does this therapy do? tube into the brain, draws out the clot and quickly restores normal blood.”

Dr. Varak said that in the past, thrombectomy was performed and considered beneficial only for patients with less brain damage, or “smaller core.”

“There is another group of strokes with much more severe damage, called the large nucleus, that we have not been able to cure,” he said. “But what this trial proved is that treating these large hearts with a thrombectomy, which pulls a clot out of an artery in the brain, was very effective in improving outcome.”

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This particular study included 352 patients in six countries with the most severe type of stroke. Participants were randomly assigned to either mechanical thrombectomy or conventional stroke care, which included blood clot-busting drugs such as TPA.

The researchers found that patients who underwent thrombectomy had significantly better clinical outcomes and were three times more likely to become functionally independent after three months.

“So even those who may have some degree of disability were much more likely to be able to walk on their own if they received treatment than without it,” Varah said. “So, in general, the chances of a good outcome – that is, being independent or, if somewhat dependent, still being able to walk independently without anyone else’s help – are very significant, much more beneficial than not being treated. .”

The study was published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.