Hope for stroke victims in Mater-ucd study

A BREAKTHROUGH by Irish researchers could prevent stroke sufferers from having a potentially devastating second attack.

The team found inflammation of fat buildup in the walls of the corotid artery, which supplies blood to the neck and head, can predict early stroke recurrence.

The finding means patients who are at very high risk of a second, often more debilitating stroke could be identified through diagnostic imaging tests.

They could receive intensive treatment including surgery to reduce or remove the excess fat or tissue known as plaque. Strokes kill more than 2,000 people a year in Ireland – a higher death toll than from cancers of the breast, prostate and bowel combined.

Currently, one in four patients who have a mini-stroke due to carotid plaque will experience a second stroke within 90 days.

The findings made by a team at the Mater Hospital and University College Dublin are based on a study involving 60 patients, all of whom had suffered a mini-stroke. Of the 60 patients, 13 had a recurrent stroke within 90 days.

The research found there was a very significant association between plaque inflammation and those 13 patients.

Mater Hospital consultant neurologist Professor Peter Kelly said: ‘This could fundamentally change the way in which we target and treat patients who present following a mini-stroke.’

About 10,000 people are admitted to Irish hospitals each year after suffering a stroke. DONALD SUTHERLAND, 76, talking about the late Italian director, Federico Fellini (1920-1993) for whom he made Casanova, in 1976: ‘I loved him. He loved me. He used to direct me while sitting on my knee.’ Most unusual!

isaac@dailymail.ie