Deans' stroke musings: Study looks for faster, cheaper way to diagnose mini-strokes

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Study looks for faster, cheaper way to diagnose mini-strokes

Does this doctor realize the problem with looking for proteins in blood?

Blood Test for Brain Injury May Not Be Feasible

That is because proteins that are triggered by brain damage are prevented from reaching the blood system in levels necessary for a precise diagnosis.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://globalnews.ca/news/1862399/study-looks-for-faster-cheaper-way-to-diagnose-mini-strokes/

Calgary researchers are trying to find a blood test capable of detecting when patients are experiencing a form of mini-stroke called a transient ischemic attack (TIA). A TIA occurs when a blood clot causes part of the brain to stop working. Symptoms are often temporary, but catching a TIA is critical because they can often be followed by a major stroke.

“There is a 10 per cent risk of going on to have a big stroke after having these transient symptoms, and the highest risk period is in the first 24 to 48 hours,” said Dr. Shelagh Coutts, a neuroscientist with the Hotchkiss Brain Institute.
Dr. Coutts is currently leading a study to try and find a better way to diagnose TIAs: trying to develop a simple blood test that can measure any proteins that may be associated with these types of attacks.
“We’re looking to develop a panel of protein markers in the blood that we can send off and either get a red light that says this person can’t go home, they’ve had a TIA, or a green light that a patient has almost certainly not had a TIA and they can go home.”
Coutts believes up to 150,000 Canadians visit emergency departments with symptoms of a TIA each year. Each patient requires up to $2,000 worth of scans and tests before doctors can make a diagnosis. If the research is successful, a $5 blood test could be used instead.
Over the next four years, researchers in Calgary will ask patients who come to the Foothills Hospital with symptoms of TIA to participate in the study. If patients agree, a blood sample will be sent to the Genome BC Proteomics Centre at the University of Victoria for analysis.
Symptoms of TIA and stroke include numbness or weakness on one side of the face or body and problems with speech. Anyone suffering from these symptoms should call 911 immediately.