Treating mild strokes with clot-busting drug could save USA $200 million annually, study shows

Treating mild strokes with the clot-busting drug approved for severe stroke could reduce the number of patients left disabled and save $200 million a year in disability costs, according to new research from the University of Cincinnati, USA.

The study led by Pooja Khatri, an associate professor in the department of neurology, examined the public health impact of treating mild strokes with the clot-busting drug intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). It was presented on February 9 at the International Stroke Conference 2011, the annual meeting of the American Stroke Association in Los Angeles.

The research is part of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Stroke Study, begun in 1993 at the UC College of Medicine, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and identifies all hospitalized and autopsied cases of stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) in a five-county region. The NIH also funded the study led by Dr Khatri.