stroke

More Than 1 in 10 Taking Aspirin for Their Heart Are Inappropriately Doing So

January 14, 2015 By Jeffrey Strain 6 Comments

study: 11% of patients taking aspirin for their heart shouldn't be

Many people have heard of the regimen of taking a daily low-dose aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) to help ward off heart attacks, and for certain people, it’s a routine which has the potential to save their life. On the other hand, a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggests that more than one out of every ten people taking a low-dose aspirin regimen is actually doing more harm than good to themselves. Another study last year from Japan indicated aspirin didn’t help older people avoid their first heart attack, but it might be beneficial in preventing some cancers.

According to the study, nearly 8,000 patients (7,972) of 68,808 patients being treated by cardiologists across the US, or 11.6%, were taking aspirin even though they had a low risk of having a stroke or heart attack over the next ten years. While some may say “better safe than sorry,” the problem is a daily aspirin can cause other health complications. Aspirin thins a person’s blood, which can cause excessive bleeding and even an hemorrhagic stroke. For this reason, it’s only recommended for people who have a significant chance of a blood clot related issue.

The study didn’t look at people who had already experienced a stroke or heart attack, but those who were attempting to prevent the first one from happening. They did this by using date in the American College of Cardiology’s PINNACLE registry.

Women were far more likely to be misusing aspirin than men. The study found only 5.3% of men were taking aspirin when it shouldn’t have been recommended, while 16.6% of women fell into this category. The study also found those who were incorrectly taking the aspirin were much younger than those who were properly taking it. Those who properly taking the aspirin averaged 65.9 years in age, while those who weren’t were an average of 49.9 years in age.

The number of patients not using aspirin correctly varied widely from cardiology practice to practice, In the worst case, 72% of patients were taking aspirin when the risk factors didn’t warrant it. On the other hand, there were also practices where 100% of patients were correctly taking aspirin in conjunction with their risk factors.

The study found only a slight regional difference in the percentages of patients incorrectly taking the daily pills, therefore concluding geography played no part in why patients weren’t taking it properly. 10.6% of those living in the West were taking aspirin inappropriately, while 11.3% of those in the South, 11.4% of those in the Northwest and 12.2% of those in the Midwest also did the same.

The big question the study fails to answer is why patients aren’t properly taking aspirin. The study isn’t able to ascertain whether the cardiologists are giving patients inappropriate directions to take the aspirin, or if the patients have taken it upon themselves to take the aspirin without consulting their cardiologist. Aspirin can be purchased over-the-counter, so there is nothing stopping patients from getting it on their own.

What the study does seem to imply is there should be better communication between doctors and patients when it comes to a low-dose aspirin regimen. Cardiologists need to make sure the patients they prescribe aspirin to will benefit from it, and even if they don’t prescribe it, they need to let patients know why they shouldn’t take it on their own.

(Photo courtesy of Keith Ivey)

New Cholesterol Drug Could Cut Strokes and Heart Attacks in Half

September 1, 2014 By Emma Harrison Clark 3 Comments

Study: a new cholesterol drug can cut heart attacks and strokes in half

Good news has come to light for patients in the battle against cholesterol. An experimental trial by Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has proven to cut the number of heart attacks and strokes almost in half. The clinical trial was analysed retrospectively, which means the results are not yet conclusive, but it’s still huge news for millions of patients that suffer from cardio-vascular risk — a disease directly linked to high cholesterol.

The injectable drug is called alirocumab. It targets a protein called PCSK9 and lowers LDL, which can simply be described as the bad cholesterol in our bodies.

Amgen and Pfizer are developing similar drugs which may be on the market as early as next year, netting the companies millions in profit if approved with patients lining up to lower their chances of heart disease. The study has been named Odyssey Long Term, and it’s still underway with 2,341 patients participating.

There will be a requirement for a larger clinical trial to determine efficacy, but Regeneron is reporting consistent results of LDL reduction in the nine large studies it has done this year. The research came to light back in July, but it was only presented on Sunday in Barcelona at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology. Thos participating in the study were less likely to develop serious cardiovascular issues, including heart attacks, cardiac arrest, stroke and chest pain which required hospitalization.

Researchers are understandably optimistic about the trial findings thus far. “To have this result emerge so quickly in this study is very encouraging,” said Jennifer Robinson, the study leader and a cardiologist at the University of Iowa. But the president of the American College of Cardiology, Dr Patrick T. O’Gara, has commented that although the results are “biologically plausible” it’s important to exercise caution due to the retrospective nature of the findings.

The best treatment for cholesterol at present is statin treatment, which is pill based. Should alirocumab be approved, it could be combined with this treatment as a bi-monthly injection for maximum effect. Alirocumab will be especially attractive to those who can’t take statins because they either don’t work properly, or they have negative side effects.

Big pharmaceutical companies will be working hard over the next year to get the drug approved and to market. And with cardiologists calling it “the best news we’ve had for cholesterol management for a decade,” patients can certainly be hopeful.

(Photo courtesy of Okko Pyykko)

Strokefinder Cap is One Time You Want Your Brain to Be Microwaved

June 16, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 3 Comments

StrokeFinder is a helmet made of microwave sensors to detect stoke cause

For anyone having a stroke, time is of the utmost importance. During a stroke, brain cells die at an alarming rate, and the quicker a patient can get diagnosed and receive proper treatment, the better chance they have of avoiding permanent brain damage. The problem is that before a doctor can prescribe the correct treatment for a stroke, he must first determine the cause of the stroke.

The majority of strokes are caused by a blood clot in the brain which cuts off blood flow. The recommended treatment for this type of stroke is to quickly use drugs (within 90 minutes) which help to clear the blood clot. This, however, is not the only way a stroke can occur. In about one in five cases, the stroke is caused not by a blood clot, but by a burst blood vessel. In these cases, if the medication to treat the blood clot were to be administered, it would cause catastrophic bleeding in the patient, which would likely result in death. This is why it’s so important for the doctors to quickly determine the correct cause of the stroke.

Currently the only way to determine what type of stroke has taken place is to use a CT scan. While there are a few of these devices which are carried by ambulances, they are extremely expensive, and it’s not practical for every ambulance to be equipped with one. That means the patient needs to be taken to a hospital, and given a CT scan which can waste a lot of precious time in determining the cause of the stroke. There’s a new device being developed in Sweden which may one day change how quickly a stroke diagnosis can be made.

The new device, which currently is only a prototype and has been nicknamed the “StrokeFinder” by researchers, has 12 antennas arranged around the head in the shape of a helmet. One at a time, each of the antennas sends a low-powered microwave signal through the persons skull while the other 11 antennas analyze changes which have occurred as the signal has passed through the patient’s brain. By looking at the microwave patterns, the device is able to detect bleeding in the brain. The best part is the device is portable and only takes a few seconds to work.

The microwave helmet isn’t perfect, but it shows a lot of promise. The first pair of clinical trials tested 45 stroke patients, and the results from the stroke finder were compared with CT scans. The findings from these trials were published online by IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

The trials showed the device was able to correctly identify all 19 patients out of the 45 who were suffering from cranial bleeding. While this was wonderful news, the device also gave a number of false-positives. The stroke finder indicated five patients who were suffering from blood clots might have cranial bleeding. The researchers plan to work on the algorithms to decrease the number of false-positive detections in future trials. The first trials with the device being used in ambulances are planned for this fall.

(Photo courtesy of Gunilla Brocker)