Clot-busting drugs for unwitnessed stroke

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Canadian researchers suggest basing emergency stroke care on the time patients were last seen as normal.

The researchers analyzed the outcomes of clot-busting drugs -- only recommended for stroke patients within 3 to 4.5 hours of symptom onset -- based on when the patients were last seen in their usual state of health or "time last seen normal."

Dr. Demetrios Sahlas of McMaster University in Hamilton found the "time last seen normal" patients did just as well as those with witnessed strokes. These patients, with no more disabilities when discharged from the hospital and no more likely to require discharge to a nursing facility, were also 65 percent less likely to suffer bleeding in the brain. Less than 8 percent of the "time last seen normal" patients versus 12.1 percent of those with witnessed strokes suffered this potentially serious complication of treatment, the study said.

"The patients treated based on 'time last seen normal' may have had their strokes minutes or hours after they were last seen, so overall they may have been at lower risk," Sahlas said in a statement. "This study provides added justification for extending the window and taking all comers -- not just those witnessed having their strokes."

The findings were presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference in San Antonio.