MD Buyline shares information of a new method to determine which stroke patients benefit from intravenous administration of thrombolytic agents. Also, find out how to determine which of those could suffer dangerous bleeding events from the treatment. For the full article, visit http://www.mdbuyline.com/blog/mri-predicts-effectiveness-ct-scan-tissue-plasminogen-activator-tpa-intravenous-medication-stroke-patient/.

1. MRI Predicts Effectiveness:
MRI vs CT Scan
MRI Predicts Effectiveness Over CT scan for Tissue Plasminogen
Activator (tPA) Intravenous Medication for Stroke Patient

2. Researchers at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine
have developed a new method to determine which patients would
benefit from intravenous administration of thrombolytic agents
such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and those who could
suffer dangerous bleeding events from the treatment.
Currently, when a patient suffers an ischemic stroke they undergo
a CT scan to visualize bleeding in the brain before tPA is
administered. Patients who meet the criteria to receive tPA are
able to receive treatment within three hours, but no more than
four-and-a-half hours, after the onset of a stroke.

3. tPA is typically given intravenously although it can also be given
directly into the artery to improve the patient’s chance of recovery.
When it comes to treating stroke, time is a key factor and the
sooner tPA can be administered the better.
However, in some cases the damage is too great from the stroke
and treatment with tPA could cause bleeding in the brain.

4. In the study led by Richard Leigh, an assistant professor of
neurology and radiology at the Johns Hopkins University School
of Medicine, researcher found a tool that predicts with 95 percent
accuracy those patients who will and will not benefit from
treatment.
The study was published in May 2014 issue of Stroke and
involved the use of a computer program that allowed physicians to
see how much gadolinium, the contrast agent injected during an
MRI scan, leaked in the brain from surrounding blood vessels.

5. From there they were able to identify a threshold to how much
leakage in the brain was considered dangerous in 75 patients
enrolled in the study. The researchers then applied this threshold
to the records of these same patients to determine how well it
would predict who had suffered a brain hemorrhage.
From there they were able to identify a threshold to how much
leakage in the brain was considered dangerous in 75 patients
enrolled in the study. The researchers then applied this threshold
to the records of these same patients to determine how well it
would predict who had suffered a brain hemorrhage.