Aspirin, Statins And Even Oxygen Of Benefit To Stroke Patients

With the additional daylight hours from Daylight Savings Time comes research shedding new light on the benefits of aspirin over coumadin. Remember, however, that these studies are done frequently and the conclusion changes just as often! Also, there is a new class of drugs believed to be superior to aspirin. Additionally, statins, which reduce cholesterol, give stroke patients a better chance of being sent home from the hospital. Moreover, it’s been found that oxygen therapy helps reduce deficits due to stroke. So, it was an interesting month for stroke-related news. Read on…

New research suggests people at risk of developing strokes caused by narrowed arteries in the brain should consider aspirin instead of a common anticlotting drug. A national study found that aspirin worked just as well as warfarin in stroke patients with narrowed brain arteries. More than 500 patients at 59 sites across the country were studied. Those on warfarin, which is marketed as Coumadin, suffered a higher death rate and more major bleeding compared to those who took aspirin.

Study: Aspirin Beats Warfarin For Blocked Brain Arteries
http://www.thewbalchannel.com/health/4332280/detail.html

Researchers said a new class of drugs they developed may be more effective and safer than aspirin at preventing deadly blood clots. The new drug class, called PI 3-kinase inhibitors, may prove useful for in treating heart attack and stroke patients as those conditions can be caused by blood clots, said researchers from Monash University and Cerylid Biosciences Ltd., both in Melbourne.

New drug class may be better than aspirin
http://www.newz.in/large35.asp?catid=22&number=4576


Researchers, led by Dr. Majaz Moonis, found that patients who were taking statins before they had a stroke had a 70 percent better chance of being sent home from the hospital than stroke patients who were not on statins. The study of 1618 patients detected a robust benefit even if patients began the drug just 4 weeks earlier, suggesting the drug has protective effects beyond lowering cholesterol. Moonis, at the Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center Stroke Prevention Clinic in Worcester, said the benefits were even more striking for patients prescribed statins for the first time within 1 week after the stroke.

Statins May Cut Stroke Disability, Deaths
http://www.obviousnews.com/breakingnews/stories/obviousnews-556175.html

Extra Oxygen May Help Stroke Patients For some patients suffering a sudden stroke, extra oxygen therapy improves their clinical symptoms deficits and brain abnormalities seen on an MRI a small, pilot study suggests The study was performed with "a carefully selected group of patients," lead investigator Dr. Aneesh B. Singhal of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, told Reuters Health. "Our results, though preliminary, raise the exciting possibility that stroke patients...may benefit simply by breathing large amounts of oxygen as soon as possible after symptom onset." Singhal and colleagues randomly assigned 16 patients who had started to have a stroke less than 10 hours beforehand to 8 hours of treatment with high-flow oxygen delivered via facemask, or to normal room air.

Extra Oxygen May Help Stroke Patients
http://www.obviousnews.com/breakingnews/stories/obviousnews-555451.html