St. John's Stroke Center participates in treatment study

Ischemic stroke occurs when a blood vessel supplying the brain with oxygen and nutrients is obstructed by a blood clot. The blockage or rupture of the vessel results in a lack of blood flow to part of the brain.

Deprived of oxygen, nerve cells in the affected region die within minutes or hours after the event, resulting in loss of function of the part of the body they control. Ischemic stroke requires emergency treatment to rapidly dissolve or remove the blood clots in the brain.

According to a St. John’s news release, the goal of this phase is to confirm the results of earlier Phase II studies that demonstrated the potential of desmoteplase to treat acute ischemic stroke patients up to nine hours after the onset of stroke symptoms – three times longer than the currently available treatment allows.

The only drug currently approved for the treatment of ischemic stroke, tPA (Activase(R), must be administered within three hours after onset of stroke symptoms, thus limiting the potential patient population who can safely benefit from the rapid dissolution of the blood clot and the reperfusion of blood supply to the affected area of the brain.

Because most stroke patients arrive at the hospital outside the accepted three-hour treatment window, the majority of patients are not eligible for the currently available treatment, according to Dr. Thomas Habiger, medical director of St. John’s Stroke Center.

“Lengthening that window may expand the number of patients who could benefit from treatment,” he said in the release. “Preserving brain function and restoring quality of life in patients after acute ischemic stroke is the goal of effective stroke treatment.”

The study is a multicenter, multinational, randomized, parallel-design dose-ranging study of more than 150 patients.

St. John’s Stroke Center was created in 1999 and serves patients in 34 counties.