Stroke patients in UK "missing out on treatment for brain clots"

Thousands of stroke patients in the UK may be missing out on a treatment that involves physically unplugging blood vessels in the brain, research suggests.

Scientists estimate that about 9,000 patients with blood clots in the brain – a tenth of the total – could benefit from mechanical thrombectomy (MT) each year. Currently, fewer than 600 patients a year undergo the procedure.

The catheter technique uses an expandable grabber or suction to clear clots from large blood vessels and is said to be more effective than relying on clot-busting drugs.

Dr Martin James, one of the researchers from the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital, said: “Delivering mechanical thrombectomy to the 9,000 people who need it will require major changes to the configuration and skill sets of existing acute stroke services.

“We must work quickly to establish what needs to be done so that more people in the UK can benefit from a treatment which can dramatically reduce disability after a stroke as well as cutting associated costs to the NHS and social care.”

The study’s authors analysed all the available results from clinical trials of the procedure and compared them with the prevalence of stroke in the UK. They concluded that large numbers of British patients who qualified for MT were not being offered the treatment.

Between 8,770 and 9,750 stroke patients admitted to UK hospitals each year stood to benefit from the procedure, said the researchers, whose findings were presented at the UK Stroke Forum Conference in Liverpool.

Very few UK hospitals have enough specialists and the necessary support to provide MT treatment 24 hours a day, they claimed.

Co-author Professor Phil White, from the University of Newcastle, said: “Mechanical thrombectomy is a highly effective treatment for acute ischaemic stroke, with eight clinical trials showing a significant reduction in disability after stroke if it is used immediately in the right patients.

“The challenge is to make this technique more widely available, as current figures suggest that fewer than 600 patients receive this treatment each year in the UK.”

Stroke patients in UK "missing out on treatment for brain clots"