Island stroke patients to be part of worldwide study on drug that busts up blood clots
CBC
Some stroke patients in Prince Edward Island will be part of a global study aimed at improving stroke outcomes — by finding the best way to use a blood-clot-busting drug to help patients in emergency situations.
Health P.E.I. is contributing to the study, which is looking at the most effective dosage of Tenecteplase. The drug is already used on the Island.
“We're trying to find out if a lower dose of this drug is safer but still does the good job of breaking up blood clots and rescuing a brain from a stroke,” said Dr. Heather Williams, a neurologist and the chair of Health P.E.I.’s stroke steering committee.
She said patients will be recruited for the study through emergency departments.
“If somebody comes in with a stroke and they're eligible for a clot-busting drug, then the emergency doctors will be calling me to see if patients are eligible for the trial," she said.
“If they are, we'll be treating them as quickly as possible so they get this potentially life-saving treatment, and then we'll be talking to them about the research after that emergency phase of their care has taken place.”
The study will also look at whether Tenecteplase can work for patients who are on blood thinners, and whether pairing it with a neuro-protective drug called NoNO-42 can help prevent brain cell death.
“What's happening during a stroke is that part of the brain is under a lot of stress and releasing toxins into the environment. And this NoNO-42 molecule helps to reduce the number of toxins that are being released by the brain,” Williams said.
“So we hope to save more brain cells by preserving their integrity while we're waiting for the blood flow to be restored.”
NoNO-42 has ties to Prince Edward Island: scientists at UPEI helped make it.
Dr. Andrew Tasker, professor emeritus of neuropharmacology at UPEI's Atlantic Veterinary College, was one of them.
“To know that we were part of it in the beginning and to have watched the evolution of the process, and now to see it on the verge of hopefully rendering some significant benefit to these patients and the families and their caregivers… it's great,” he said.
While NoNO-42 is still at the trial stage, Tasker said every indication so far has been positive.
“This is not going to completely stop [the effects of a stroke], but it may well save some people from dying who would have otherwise,” he said. “And it may well make them more functionally independent after their stroke.”
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