Stents 'save lives in stroke patients'

Stents could be key in helping stroke patients where other treatments fail, according to new research.

Scientists at the Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute in Miami placed stents in the blocked brain arteries of 19 acute stroke patients where other drugs had failed.

The stents were found to open the arteries in 95 per cent of patients, resulting in 63 per cent of patients having minor or no defects.

If the stents had not been applied, it is thought that death or severe disability would have occurred in 80 to 90 per cent of patients. With the treatment 26 per cent died from major strokes.

Dr Italo Linfante, director of endovascular neurosurgery at the Institute, said: "Our findings suggest stents can work when clot busting-drugs and clot-removal devices do not, and are a safe and feasible option."

Meanwhile, research published in the British Medical Journal has found that powerful painkillers such as ibuprofen are not safe for the heart and can increase the chance of death from conditions such as a heart attack or stroke.

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