Latest Treatment Option Offers New Hope for More Stroke Patients

Physicians and specialists at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center have introduced stent thrombectomy as a new treatment option for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. Based on results from the DAWN clinical trial, the endovascular stent thrombectomy procedure, which utilizes the Trevo Retriever to remove blood clots in the brain, offers better outcomes and substantially expands the traditional six-hour treatment window to up to 24 hours for AIS patients.

In the DAWN clinical trial, researchers randomly assigned 206 stroke victims who arrived at the hospital between six and 24 hours either stent thrombectomy or standard medical therapy, which involves patients receiving IV medications to dissolve the blood clot.

Ultimately, the DAWN clinical trial demonstrated that nearly half of patients (48.6 percent) who underwent stent thrombectomy experienced a significant decrease in post-stroke disability and improved functional independence at 90 days after treatment. Conversely, just 13.1 percent of patients who received standard medical therapy experienced a decrease in disability.

“Time is of the utmost importance in the treatment of a stroke. Oftentimes patients wake up with stroke symptoms and we are unable to identify when the stroke actually began,” said Chethan Rao, MD, a stroke specialist at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. “The milestone DAWN study introduces a powerful treatment option we are now making available at Baylor St. Luke’s for stroke patients right here in Houston.”

The Comprehensive Stroke Center at Baylor St. Luke’s in Houston’s renowned Texas Medical Center is dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of stroke and welcomes the DAWN study results as a new era in the treatment of AIS patients.