We don't want any hospitals left out. Stroke is also being referred to as a brain attack to give it the same sense of urgency as a heart attack. Wigglesworth said designating a limited and select number of stroke centers for emergency medical services purposes would not address the needs of the vast majority of patients who arrive at hospitals by means other than an ambulance. It's less than 10 percent, more like 6 percent. More often, he said, stroke patients are driven to a hospital by a family member.
Strokes also occur as a complication of other diseases, for which patients are already hospitalized.
The newest weapons against stroke are clot-busting drugs knows as tissue plasminogen activators, or TPAs. In 1996, the Food and Drug Administration granted marketing approval to the first such drug, Activase, which was developed by Genentech Inc., a biotechnology company based in the San Francisco area. Neuron Therapeutics Inc., a Malvern biotechnology company, is working with researchers at Thomas Jefferson University on a new stroke drug, called Revoxyn, which is an oxygenated fluorocarbon nutrient emulsion. The drug is designed to limit the brain damage typically associated with strokes by bypassing damaged blood vessels and delivering needed oxygen directly to the brain. TPAs are most effective when administered within three hours of of attack, which is why both Dayno and Wigglesworth believe educating people about the symptoms of stroke is critical.