We have regularly written about the role of technology in our medical care. Here, we look at a new procedure for reducing the impact of strokes.
Direct Carotid Puncture: A Procedure for Reducing the Impact of Strokes
Recently, a team of researchers from the Yale University School of Medicine published a study in the Journal of Neurosurgery on a new procedure to treat difficult strokes. Within their study, they examined the use of direct carotid puncture (DCT) as a treatment method.
For a reader-friendly synopsis of this project, we turn to Futurity.org:
“When we age, the blood vessels become more twisted. Like the knots of a tree. Thus, it becomes more difficult to navigate up to the head,” says Charles Matouk, associate professor of neurosurgery at Yale. In 5 to 10% of stroke patients, this problem makes standard mechanical thrombectomies nearly impossible.
“We know that time is brain for the patient,” says coauthor Nils Petersen, associate professor of neurology. Every minute a stroke goes untreated, 1.9 million neurons die. As a result, immediate treatment is key to saving lives and avoiding disability.
The researchers wanted to see if DCT could offer a safe alternative to accessing the brain from the groin. This procedure involves inserting a catheter through a patient’s neck, right into the carotid artery, and then doing a thrombectomy.. DCT would allow doctors to access the clot much more quickly. Therefore, bypassing an abnormal vascular system. But experts have long considered the procedure riskier than other routes to doing a thrombectomy. The results were promising. Surgeons could complete 19 of the 20 DCT procedures they tried to perform. Of this group, 84% of the patients (16 people) had clots successfully removed.
To read more from Futurity.org, click the image.
