New drug to aid stroke sufferers

A clot busting new drug will revolutionise the way hundreds of stroke patients are treated, it was claimed today.

Medics from Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust have started using the drug on patients at Sandwell and City hospitals. If administered within hours of someone suffering a stroke it could reverse the symptoms, allowing them to leave hospital within days.

But doctors, who gave a speech on the new drug, called Alteplase, at last night's annual general meeting (AGM) of the trust, said it would only be suitable for around 30 per cent of stroke patients, depending on the type of stroke suffered and the speed with which they got to hospital.

Alteplase can also only be administered following a CT scan.

Deva Situnayake, who led last night's presentation, said: "Stroke is now the leading cause of death in the UK.

"It used to be heart attacks and cancer but there have been reductions in deaths caused by cardio vascular problems and cancer, while death from strokes is increasing.

"We need to move strokes to be seen as a medical emergency from the backwater where it is now."

He added: "We have this clot busting drug which really can save lives and we will have extra nurses coming to the stroke unit in the next few weeks."

The trust is stepping up stroke care as part of a government campaign to reduce the number suffered and raise awareness.

Alteplase is already in regular use in Walsall.

Stroke victims at Walsall Manor Hospital have had round-the-clock access to the clot-busting drug since June 2008 after health bosses expanded an in-demand service.

Ten months on from the launch of the thrombolysis procedure, the town's hospital chiefs made a decision to extend the hours of access to the alteplase drug which is designed to reduce disability.

The AGM was held at West Bromwich's Convention Centre in Kelvin Way.