So neurologists quickly order an injection of Levovist, an ultrasound contrast agent, to try to clear up the sonic noise and reveal the basal arteries in question. The drug, air bubbles encased in sugar particles, does its job.
Blood flow is restored to the brain.
Patient recovers fully. All within 40 minutes of admission to the hospital. Maurer and colleagues in the Neursonology Research Group at the University of Wurzburg in Wurzburg, Germany, presented the case study today at the International Neurosonology 97 meeting here sponsored by the World Federation of Neurology and the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University. While the Wurzburg case is matched by similar stories in American academic medical centers and others in the world, Maurer said that such cases still don't occur often enough. The real-life drama comes amid a growing consensus by doctors that the window of opportunity for emergency stroke treatment with thrombolytics and other therapies may be as narrow as three hours after the first onset of symptoms.