Contributed by Ron Gara| 22 February, 2005 22:55 GMT
Investigators were stunned to find that reducing bleeding in the brain by just one teaspoon of blood improved the chances of patient survival by nearly 40 percent.
Study participants who took a drug commonly prescribed for hemophilia to treat a severe type of stroke experienced reduced bleeding in the brain, fewer deaths, and better neurological and clinical outcomes than patients who received a placebo. The lead investigator in the study termed the results "stunning."
The multi-center, international study, led by
Columbia University Medical Center researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia, shows that recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) has the potential to be a significant advance in treating bleeding stroke (acute intracerebral hemorrhage, or ICH).
The work is published in the February 24 issue of the
New England Journal of Medicine.
Current Treatments Not Effective
ICH is the deadliest and most disabling type of stroke -- more than one out of three ICH patients die within one month of onset and only 20% regain functional independence. Physicians have long been frustrated by a lack of effective therapies to improve survival outcomes or recovery; current options are only supportive.
RFVIIa currently is entering phase III trials as an investigational treatment for ICH. If approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it will become only the second emergency treatment for stroke in more than three decades. The first was TPA, approved by the FDA in 1996.
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