Tuesday, January 21, 2014

A new blood test could help doctors drill down into what caused a patient to have a stroke

This may help the specific reason but why not take a little bit of that blood and determine the type of stroke so tPA may possibly be given?  And get it done in minutes.
Drop of blood analysis
Blood Test May Help Spot Stroke
Or the  tricorder

The cause of stroke here:
http://medcitynews.com/2014/01/new-blood-test-stroke-help-doctors-identify-ischemic-stroke-originated/?
Clinical trials are underway for what could be a first-of-its-kind blood test that would help doctors determine what caused a patient to have a stroke.
Developed by Cincinnati-based Ischemia Care, the test isolates RNA from whole blood and examines immune responses, with the goal of differentiating where an ischemic stroke originated in a patient’s body.
Stroke is normally diagnosed through physical examinations and diagnostic imaging. But in about one-third of cases, doctors aren’t able to identify a cause. Being able to determine whether the stroke originated in the heart or in the blood vessels could have a huge impact on how patients are treated and on preventing recurrent strokes, said CEO Jeff June. About a quarter of the 800,000 Americans who have a stroke each year will go on to have another one, which carries a higher risk of death and disability.
The idea behind Ischemia Care’s test, ISCDX, is that a physician would order it for patients who present with stoke symptoms. They would draw a vial of blood, send it to the company’s CLIA-certified lab and expect results within four to five days. That’s a critical time frame because most patients who have a stroke are hospitalized for five to 12 days, June said, so if physicians know what caused the stroke within that time frame, they can get a patient started with the proper treatment regimen before leaving the hospital.

No comments:

Post a Comment