Sound Waves Offer Hope for Stroke Patients

The same type of sound waves that pulsate from sonar fish-finders and ultrasound fetal monitors can dramatically boost the power of anti-clotting medicine and help it dissolve brain blockages in stroke patients, a study suggests.

The technique may one day offer a safe way to help up to 100,000 U.S. patients a year, or 15% of the nation’s stroke victims, doctors said.

Imaging specialist Dr. Joseph Polak at New England Medical Center in Boston said more doctors should consider adopting the technique.

The study and Polak’s commentary appear in today’s New England Journal of Medicine. The research was conducted by the University of Texas Medical School at Houston with partners in Canada and Spain.

About 700,000 people suffer strokes each year in the United States, making it the leading cause of serious, long-term disability, according to the American Stroke Assn.

About 163,000 died from a stroke in 2001, third only to heart disease and cancer.

A stroke happens when a clot gets stuck in a blood vessel and cuts off circulation. The drug TPA is sometimes given to break up the clot before brain tissue starves for lack of blood.

In this experiment, almost half of 126 ultrasound patients with blockage of the middle cerebral artery showed restored blood flow or dramatic recovery from symptoms within two hours.

With TPA alone, 30% of patients did.