July 31, 2014
Fifteen minutes may seem like an insignificant amount of time, but it can drastically change a stroke victim’s life. A new study reveals that following a stroke, for every 15-minute delay in the receipt of the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a stroke survivor is robbed of a month of healthy, disability-free life. It’s why getting stroke treatment fast is so incredibly important.
According to lead author of the study, Atte Meretoja, M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc., “Clot-busting treatment works equally well, irrespective of race, ethnicity or gender. Speedy restoration of blood flow to the brain is crucial for brain cell survival everywhere.” This means that administering tPA quickly is vital to the stroke survivor’s quality of life post-stroke. In fact, the study also found that every minute the treatment was delivered faster gained patients an extra 1.8 days of healthy life.
Read more about this remarkable study on the importance of getting efficient, immediate stroke treatment, and contact Continuum, the leading provider of private home care in St. Louis, MO and throughout the greater St. Louis area.