|
Extra oxygen may help stroke patients
Last Updated: 2005-04-11 12:31:23 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - 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.
Stroke severity scores were similar in both groups to begin with, but tended to improve with oxygen therapy after 4 hours, and improved significantly after 24 hours in oxygen-treated patients," the researchers report in the American Heart Association's journal Stroke.
The average amount of brain damage visible on an MRI was significantly reduced after 4 hours in the oxygenated patients, and blood flow within the affected brain regions improved.
"Our research also suggests that oxygen therapy may be a practical means of extending the narrow -- 3-hour -- time window for administering the clot-busting drug TPA, which is the only (US) FDA-approved acute stroke treatment," Singhal added.
SOURCE: Stroke, April 2005
Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
|
