New findings could improve treatment after stroke
Published: Monday, Feb 26th 2024, 11:10
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Successful recovery after a stroke depends on bridges to neighboring blood vessels. This new finding by researchers at the University of Zurich (UZH) could improve the treatment of stroke patients, as the university announced on Monday.
Patients with less effective connections between the blood vessels in the brain, the so-called collaterals, had a poorer recovery after a stroke, as the researchers led by Susanne Wegener showed.
In an ischemic stroke, the blood supply to the brain is interrupted due to a blockage in a blood vessel. To treat a stroke, the blocked vessel must be reopened with medication or a catheter.
Flooding in the brain
The researchers have now been able to show that patients with poor collaterals experienced a kind of flooding in the brain after blocked blood vessels were opened. Blood flow was restored quickly and excessively. According to the researchers, this excessive reperfusion led to bleeding in the brain and increased mortality in tests on mice.
The researchers then confirmed these results from the studies on mice in humans: Excessive reperfusion of the brain also occurred in them and their recovery was worse when the connections between the blood vessels were poor.
According to the University of Zurich, these potentially harmful effects of too rapid reperfusion after therapy have been neglected to date. "Future therapeutic measures should aim to improve the function of the vascular bridges in order to enable a favorable, gradual reperfusion after the stroke," said Wegener.
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