Tag Archives: stroke
Anti-stroke drug ‘available later this year’
Anti-stroke drug ‘available later this year’
A new blood-thinning pill capable of preventing thousands of strokes a year could be available to up to a million patients later this year, cardiologists hope.
They are describing Pradaxa as the “holy grail” of blood-thinning drugs and the first major pharmacological breakthrough for people at an increased risk of having a stroke in 50 years.
Up to 1.2 million people in Britain live with a condition called atrial fibrillation (AF) – having a quick and irregular heartbeat – which puts them at an increased risk of stroke. The heart condition accounts for 14 per cent of the 150,000 strokes that happen annually, or more than 20,000 a year.
Carer says “It is a crazy situation; I cannot handle this any more”
‘I can’t go on caring without any help’
by Graham Henry, South Wales Echo
Mar 29 2011
THE family of a stroke victim has hit out at the “horrific” standard of care given to her.
Pensioner Robert Regan, 69, from Trowbridge, Cardiff, says that failures have left him, a stroke victim himself, as his 66-year-old wife Thelma’s 24-hour carer with “virtually no break” for weeks on end.
UK scientists make important blood clot discovery
Thousands of lives could be saved every year, scientists believe, following a breakthrough in the understanding of heart disease.
By Martin Beckford, Health Correspondent 12:01AM GMT 17 Mar 2011
Researchers have discovered that a protein known to regulate cholesterol is also linked to the formation of the type of blood clot known as thrombosis that can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
They believe that by developing drugs that can control the important protein, called LXR, they will be able to prevent thrombosis and also control cholesterol levels.
It could help the fight against heart and circulatory diseases, which kill 191,000 people a year in Britain – accounting for one in three deaths in the country.
Professor Jon Gibbins, Director of Reading University’s Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research, who led the research, said: “While blood clotting is essential to prevent bleeding, inappropriate clotting within the circulation, known as thrombosis, is the trigger for heart attacks and strokes – which kill more people in the UK each year than any other disease.
“This ground-breaking study paves the way for new and more effective medicines to prevent thrombosis.”
The new paper, published in the journal Blood, details how scientists discovered the “double life” of the protein LXR in cardiovascular disease.
