SAN ANTONIO \u2013 When someone arrives at the hospital with signs of a stroke, doctors will assess how long the person has been having symptoms.<\/p>\n
If it seems there is a clot, doctors have some options, including using IV medication to bust clots or doing a thrombectomy, a procedure that pulls a clot out.<\/p>\n
Those decisions are made based on the time window from when the patient\u2019s stroke likely started.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a saying, time is brain. It\u2019s always better to come earlier, like as soon as you can, when you have any stroke symptoms,\u201d said Dr. Sujani Bandela, a vascular neurology specialist for University Health and UT Health San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Bandela co-directs University Hospital\u2019s Comprehensive Stroke Center<\/a>, overseeing groundbreaking clinical trials expanding care for local stroke patients.<\/p>\n One of those trials is expanding the time window of when they offer IV medications that break up clots.<\/p>\n \u201cUp to just a few months ago, we had four and a half hours as our time window,\u201d Bandela said.<\/p>\n However, many people don\u2019t recognize the symptoms and don\u2019t get to the hospital soon enough. That\u2019s why what the University Hospital has found is a big deal.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was evidence and benefit in pushing that time window for IV clot-busting medication for up to 24 hours,\u201d Bandela said.<\/p>\n Another trial, which just started, is called SELECT LATE, which has to do with thrombectomies, procedures in which doctors remove clots. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was available for 24 hours. But with recent studies, they have shown that we have been able to push them out to even 72 hours in some select patient populations,\u201d Bandela said.<\/p>\n University Hospital is one of only three hospitals in the state enrolled in this trial.<\/p>\n Now, they are spreading the word to other local first responders.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in the process of like educating multiple groups about it and our EMS, San Antonio Fire Department, our ER, and initiating all these because this is brand new information,\u201d Bandela said.<\/p>\n